Just before Christmas we received a donation of second hand books and in the box was a small, wooden cross attached to a thin leather cord. I felt compelled to keep it on my desk with the thought that I would give it to someone who came through the doors of our centre who might need a visual reminder that God is with them. I would know who it was for as soon as I saw them.
After our Sunday gathering yesterday, a tall, slim lady walked into our building and asked me if we sell small crosses. It was an unusual request as there is nothing on the front of our building to suggest we are a shop or that we might sell anything. However, I was able to say to her, 'No, but I might have something I can give you.' I picked up the cross from my desk and as I gave it to her she said, 'This is perfect. I want to put it in my father's coffin - the funeral is on Thursday.'
I don't think that God is too interested in putting crosses into coffins but I do think that he set the whole thing up so that this lady could have a conversation with someone about how stressed she was feeling about the funeral, how upset she was that she had fallen out with her brother and how she hoped that everything would go well on the day.
She suggested that her Dad had led her to our church and I suggested that perhaps it was God who was watching over her. 'If He is looking after the little things, like helping you find this cross, then He will take care of the bigger things too', I said. She left with the small, wooden cross on a thin, leather cord and the promise that I would be thinking of her on Thursday, upholding her in prayer.
Monday, 7 January 2019
Saturday, 24 November 2018
Let me get that for you
A few weeks ago I had to carry 12 tablecloths in a plastic bag and they were surprisingly heavy. I was able to walk out of the lift easily as the doors opened for me but when I got to the door leading into the car park I was just wondering how I could balance the bag of tablecloths, keep my handbag on my shoulder and hold the door open long enough to walk through it, when I heard a voice behind me say, 'Let me get that for you'. It was the the young girl who had been in the lift with me and she opened the car park door with a smile and a kind look on her face. She seemed like an angel to me and as I walked to my car my life suddenly felt easier and my burden felt lighter.
I immdediately felt the Holy Spirit say to me, 'Let me get that for you'. I knew what He was talking about and it wasn't the tablecloths. I had been sharing with Him how I wasn't sure how I was going to get everything done; I felt stressed and burdened by my work. He had already been talking to me about this over the summer. P and I lost track of how many sermons we heard, whilst visiting churches on holiday, on the same theme and the same Bible verse; 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and......you will find rest for your souls' (Matthew 11 v 28/29). Even during the half term break we popped into Kidderminster Salvation Army on Sunday morning and on the screen at the front of the hall was the word REST. I had a feeling I knew what the preacher would be preaching.
Soul rest. Rest for the soul. Rest from the striving, the worry, the burden of trying to get it all done and get it done well. He's not telling me to take a sabbatical or a holiday or even a day off; it's a reminder that I need to rely wholly and completely on Him.
We kicked off the week after half term with a prayer walk around the Wood Green SA perimeter before any activities began. Some of our leaders prayed at work or at home that morning and two of us were able to actually walk and pray around the building. At the same time my husband, P, was on the phone to PFS (maintenance) asking them to send someone round to repair the front and back doors of the church building as the locks were not functioning properly. I am not exaggerating when I say that just three hours later I walked down the corridor and saw a maintenance man working on the front doors. Within minutes all doors, both front and back, were secure - there may be some people reading this who agree with me when I say that was a modern day miracle!
The following day an angel literally walked into my office; his name was Angel and he worked for London City Mission. He lived up to his name because he asked me how his organisation could help us. At the end of our conversation I remembered there was something quite urgent that he might be able to help me with - the speaker for our Women of Hope Breakfast had just informed me that she couldn't make it (with very good reasons might I add) and I needed to find someone to fill her place. Would he be able to help? By the following weekend a speaker from London City Mission was booked - one less thing to worry about! 'For my yoke is easy and my burden is light' (Matthew 11 v 30).
Like most church leaders at this time of year I have several Christmas events to organise and I need to find volunteers willing to help provide refreshments at each of these events. Actually I don't, because since the prayer walk someone different has come to me and offered to take responsibility for the refreshments at each event.
Something else that was on my mind was the need for one more person on the hospitality rota. Last week, a new lady, called J, spoke to me before the Bible Study began and said that she would like to get involved in the church in some way - 'Do you have any jobs I can do?' she said. She was very happy to add her name to the Sunday rota and I was able to introduce her to the lady she would be working with to make the teas and coffees as she was also attending the Bible Study that morning.
Even today I had another answer to prayer. During the year I had received several invitations to speak at local women's groups, as church leaders often do, but I was sure I had mislaid one invitation. I remember a lady speaking to me but at the time I wasn't able to give her an answer and I was feeling bad that I hadn't got back to her. I couldn't remember what she looked like or where she was from. I attended our Women of Hope breakfast this morning and this lady spoke to me after the meeting and invited me to speak at the Edmonton Women Aglow meeting in January. She told me that she had invited me last year but when I didn't respond she had asked God whether she should pursue it and He told her that I was too busy and that the time wasn't right and so she left it. January is a much quieter month for me and so I was able to accept her invitation and rather than it being a burden I am looking forward to sharing more stories about Brazil with the ladies of Aglow.
So, I guess when God says, 'Let me get that for you', He really does mean it. There is alot of work to be done, especially at Christmas time, but He is going ahead of me and taking the worry and strain away. I don't think that I am anyone special - I think the promise is for anyone. 'Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest' (Matthew 11 v 28). Let him get that for you.
I immdediately felt the Holy Spirit say to me, 'Let me get that for you'. I knew what He was talking about and it wasn't the tablecloths. I had been sharing with Him how I wasn't sure how I was going to get everything done; I felt stressed and burdened by my work. He had already been talking to me about this over the summer. P and I lost track of how many sermons we heard, whilst visiting churches on holiday, on the same theme and the same Bible verse; 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and......you will find rest for your souls' (Matthew 11 v 28/29). Even during the half term break we popped into Kidderminster Salvation Army on Sunday morning and on the screen at the front of the hall was the word REST. I had a feeling I knew what the preacher would be preaching.
Soul rest. Rest for the soul. Rest from the striving, the worry, the burden of trying to get it all done and get it done well. He's not telling me to take a sabbatical or a holiday or even a day off; it's a reminder that I need to rely wholly and completely on Him.
We kicked off the week after half term with a prayer walk around the Wood Green SA perimeter before any activities began. Some of our leaders prayed at work or at home that morning and two of us were able to actually walk and pray around the building. At the same time my husband, P, was on the phone to PFS (maintenance) asking them to send someone round to repair the front and back doors of the church building as the locks were not functioning properly. I am not exaggerating when I say that just three hours later I walked down the corridor and saw a maintenance man working on the front doors. Within minutes all doors, both front and back, were secure - there may be some people reading this who agree with me when I say that was a modern day miracle!
The following day an angel literally walked into my office; his name was Angel and he worked for London City Mission. He lived up to his name because he asked me how his organisation could help us. At the end of our conversation I remembered there was something quite urgent that he might be able to help me with - the speaker for our Women of Hope Breakfast had just informed me that she couldn't make it (with very good reasons might I add) and I needed to find someone to fill her place. Would he be able to help? By the following weekend a speaker from London City Mission was booked - one less thing to worry about! 'For my yoke is easy and my burden is light' (Matthew 11 v 30).
Like most church leaders at this time of year I have several Christmas events to organise and I need to find volunteers willing to help provide refreshments at each of these events. Actually I don't, because since the prayer walk someone different has come to me and offered to take responsibility for the refreshments at each event.
Something else that was on my mind was the need for one more person on the hospitality rota. Last week, a new lady, called J, spoke to me before the Bible Study began and said that she would like to get involved in the church in some way - 'Do you have any jobs I can do?' she said. She was very happy to add her name to the Sunday rota and I was able to introduce her to the lady she would be working with to make the teas and coffees as she was also attending the Bible Study that morning.
Even today I had another answer to prayer. During the year I had received several invitations to speak at local women's groups, as church leaders often do, but I was sure I had mislaid one invitation. I remember a lady speaking to me but at the time I wasn't able to give her an answer and I was feeling bad that I hadn't got back to her. I couldn't remember what she looked like or where she was from. I attended our Women of Hope breakfast this morning and this lady spoke to me after the meeting and invited me to speak at the Edmonton Women Aglow meeting in January. She told me that she had invited me last year but when I didn't respond she had asked God whether she should pursue it and He told her that I was too busy and that the time wasn't right and so she left it. January is a much quieter month for me and so I was able to accept her invitation and rather than it being a burden I am looking forward to sharing more stories about Brazil with the ladies of Aglow.
So, I guess when God says, 'Let me get that for you', He really does mean it. There is alot of work to be done, especially at Christmas time, but He is going ahead of me and taking the worry and strain away. I don't think that I am anyone special - I think the promise is for anyone. 'Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest' (Matthew 11 v 28). Let him get that for you.
Sunday, 14 October 2018
Surprised by hope
The first thing you notice about S. is that her long, straggly hair isn't washed and you assume that she doesn't really care about what she looks like. But it is S. who is the first person to come to the photo booth at our church family gathering and she says,' Take a photo of me - I want to be beautiful'. When I give her the photo a few weeks later she is disappointed, 'Oh, I am not as beautiful as I thought I would be'.
S. has been sad since her boyfriend died. He was in hospital for quite a long time and she just assumed that he would get better and come home - but he didn't. She was the first to arrive last Sunday when we celebrated Harvest in our church and she said, as she always says these days, 'I miss my boyfriend - he died. I really miss him'. After the Harvest Celebration we shared a buffet lunch and I invited her to join the queue. She just looked at me with sad eyes and I wanted to do something to help her but I just said, 'Whenever you want to - just help yourself to some food.'
So, I was surprised on Tuesday when S. asked me for a Bible. She didn't really say why she wanted one, just that it was a long time since she had read one. I had a look in our box of Bibles and found a secondhand Good News Bible. It wasn't as smart as I would have liked it to be but I felt I needed to give her a Bible now rather than ask her to wait for me to find time to buy her a new one. She almost smiled when I gave it to her. I suggested she begin reading Mark's gospel but before I could say, 'gospel', she said, 'I like the Psalms'. So, I found the Psalms for her and something seemed to light up around her. I moved on and left her with her new found treasure because a treasure it is. Our church isn't open every day and I cannot be with S. every day but when she opens her Bible she will find hope and a new beginning.
God always surprises me. In our Harvest Celebration I had heard the words, 'The fields are ripe and ready for Harvest' and I had said, 'Where, Lord? Where can I go and find this harvest that I long to see?' Then on Tuesday S. asked for a Bible and God said, 'It's here. The harvest you are looking for is right here'.
S. has been sad since her boyfriend died. He was in hospital for quite a long time and she just assumed that he would get better and come home - but he didn't. She was the first to arrive last Sunday when we celebrated Harvest in our church and she said, as she always says these days, 'I miss my boyfriend - he died. I really miss him'. After the Harvest Celebration we shared a buffet lunch and I invited her to join the queue. She just looked at me with sad eyes and I wanted to do something to help her but I just said, 'Whenever you want to - just help yourself to some food.'
So, I was surprised on Tuesday when S. asked me for a Bible. She didn't really say why she wanted one, just that it was a long time since she had read one. I had a look in our box of Bibles and found a secondhand Good News Bible. It wasn't as smart as I would have liked it to be but I felt I needed to give her a Bible now rather than ask her to wait for me to find time to buy her a new one. She almost smiled when I gave it to her. I suggested she begin reading Mark's gospel but before I could say, 'gospel', she said, 'I like the Psalms'. So, I found the Psalms for her and something seemed to light up around her. I moved on and left her with her new found treasure because a treasure it is. Our church isn't open every day and I cannot be with S. every day but when she opens her Bible she will find hope and a new beginning.
God always surprises me. In our Harvest Celebration I had heard the words, 'The fields are ripe and ready for Harvest' and I had said, 'Where, Lord? Where can I go and find this harvest that I long to see?' Then on Tuesday S. asked for a Bible and God said, 'It's here. The harvest you are looking for is right here'.
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