Book Recommendation Knowing God Intimately by Joyce Meyer I’ve know about Joyce Meyer for many years but had not realised quite how much she’s written that is well worth reading. Whilst on retreat at Lee Abbey in Devon last month I came across her book 'Knowing God...
An odd gift By Sheila Jacobs It seemed an odd gift to give. Odder, perhaps, because of the nature of the giving. A young woman from my church had bought an old typewriter – in pretty good condition – from a charity shop. She was pleased with her purchase, but it...
[featured-img]Friends1st NOTICEBOARD – email group I have recently discovered a rather good group email system (for want of a better word) that enables group participants to send messages to the group. I am excited at the opportunity that this gives friends1st to...
On My Own Many people who are single, having never been married, divorced or widowed: refer to themselves as on my own. As a Life Coach, I often counter this with the question “Oh, so you don’t have any friends or family?” Their response is often “Of course I do!” and...
What a difference using an expert makes! As you may know I’ve been running friends1st since 1999 now – and since about month six of having started the business, I’ve always had staff working for me. Now as any of you that run your own businesses will know, staffing...
[featured-img] Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers Redeeming Love was our book club read last year and it’s one that we had the longest conversation about. It’s an amazing read – particularly for Christians but for those with no faith too and I can’t recommend it...
Learning to Listen by Sheila Jacobs I’ve just started something new. Once a month, I am a day chaplain at a Christian retreat house near Chelmsford, Essex. It means, essentially, taking morning and midday Prayers, and generally being available for people who want a...
Prayer for the day I was really struck by this Prayer for the Day which I heard on the radio (BBC 4) by Rabi Rubenstein. “As a young boy, I had my entire life mapped out. I decided that I was going to become an elite guitarist in a band. Although Jimmy Hendrix and...
Is a Christian first date different to any other first date? “Finding a soul mate is a natural desire for all of us – and being a Christian doesn’t make any difference to that desire. However, as a Christian how we go about our Christian first date will be different...
Making Progress I was waiting to see a friend the other day at her yard to see how they where making progress (she’s a keen eventer and has about 12 horses she competes regularly). Her farrier was at the yard and since it was a cold day I decided to keep warm at the...
Rough Diamonds: A new kind of man – tough, trusted, transformed by Anthony Delaney Rough Diamonds is the follow on from 'Diamond Geezers' Men wear masks, to pretend all is well. Men are all too often anxious little boys who never become truly men, rather than just...
Winner Or Loser, Which Are You? I read something this week that stuck with me, entitled Winner or Loser I don’t normally take a second glance at an “In Flight” magazine, but a recent flight gave me ample of time to read this one cover to cover. You see there was this...
[featured-img] Dating guru reveals little known secret to meeting more people, and getting more dates… By Katharine Gray If you’re like most people, you’ll be looking for the quickest way to find your dream soul mate. Dating guru reveals little known secret....
[featured-img] Grace by Sheila Jacobs I’m always amazed at the way Jesus treated people with such grace. I have often spoken (and written) about the woman at the well’s encounter with Jesus (see John 4), but it’s interesting to look at the way He dealt not just...
Where do you live? Many members tell us that they aren’t even getting to make friends with other members because of where they live – i.e. they live too far away from the person they’ve contacted. We had a piece of written feedback about this recently and this was the...
[featured-img]Digging for Diamonds – published by Authentic Media by Cathy Madavan There’s nothing super about superficial! If we want to make the most of life, we have to dig past the surface and explore what we find – because what is hidden always shapes us the...
The Q & A is rather different this month. This is an email received by one of our female members (who’ll remain anonymous) and it’s included here to show you how devastating it is when someone makes the effort to contact you and you don’t contact them back. Please...
[featured-img] Something better I love the stories of Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus doesn’t change; He treats people today as He treated them when He walked the earth. So we can learn about how God interacts with us by looking at how Jesus interacted with people on a...
friendsfirst's founder and Director
I’m Katharine, founder of friendsfirst, the UK’s longest running, and largest off-line, Christian friendship and introduction agency. My amazing team and I provide direct coaching, personal support and introductions to single Christians in the UK and Ireland.
Hundreds of people have married through friendsfirst and many babies have been born, including triplets!
I have a huge passion and energy for life, believing that life is a wonderful gift from God that should be lived to its fullest. When I’m not matchmaking, I like to live on the edge by riding sport horses and leaping large hedges.
I’m happily married to someone who’s completely different to my wish list and I count my blessings every day that he asked me to tie the knot!
I believe God will bring the right person into your life at the right time. If they aren’t there, God hasn’t finished yet…
