Well, I’ve decided that since I do not have regular access to the internet (*sniff*), I have resigned myself to do a monthly update of what’s been happening in the ‘Styx’ of Staffordshire. Well, for all those who are logging from Immanuel’s Church website, I hope it will be a worthwhile read. This month was another weepy month at times. When you think of all that you have to do, for instance finishing a 100,000 word thesis, thinking about looking for jobs, and just the future in general…it is overwhelming and you just break down and cry. I don’t remember when it was, but Chris just came over to visit me and I ended up crying on his shoulder for about an hour – well… shoulders as the first one got quite damp. You’re in this tunnel and you know that somehow you have to get to the end of it, but you don’t know how far you are until you exit it. The light looks so faint and distant at the end, but you can’t turn back because you’ve gone so far. And to be honest, sometimes the words are not in my head for prayer. At the moment, I’ve doing Bible readings from the Cover to Cover series and my mind is on a million and one things. Ashamedly, it seems as if I’m just going through the motions of it all.
It’s been a tough month for Chris as well. God has continued to bless him with health and he’s still involved with delivering newspapers, but he’s now seeking to change that and enter the IT profession. He’s applied for several positions and there has been no response for most. I continue to pray for him to find favour with an employer so that he can move on. But it is very disheartening when you don’t see anyone responding to your job applications. The thing is I have to hold on the fact that God has promised a future, and we both know that it is not in delivering newspapers, and God wants to promote him. Walking in faith is an extremely difficult thing to do, but it’s the best path to take.
Philippians 4:4 (NKJV) says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice! Even in the difficult times when I don’t feel the impetus to pray, and when things seem that they’re not going the way I want to I need to reflect on what good has God done for me. And God has been very faithful to me, even when I am not faithful. My left knee has been giving me trouble on and off this month, but every time I have asked God to heal me, He has! Not instantly at times, but I will wake up one morning and realise that my knee isn’t hurting me. Just recently my stomach was painful with spasms and the ‘horrible unmentionables’. Chris asked if I wanted him to pray for God to heal me, I said yes. After Chris prayed, I didn’t feel particularly better, but I got this image during the brief moment of him praying of my stomach being healed. It is very difficult to put into words, I even tried drawing it for Chris and it didn’t come out the way it was in my head (probably because I’m not a very good artist!). But a few moments later, I realised that there was no longer any pain in my stomach! So God is good…all the time!
I want to share with you the miracle God blessed me with this month, which I testified about in Church on Pentecost Sunday. I have a bike, her name is Bessie and she’s quite an old bike. But we have a good time cycling to the train station and about town, etc. Now, Bessie’s a road bike, so she has two sets of brakes for each tyre – one set is horizontal under the handlebars, the other is on the outside of the handle bar. For over a month, the horizontal brakes for the back wheel weren’t working because the brake pads had worn down; and so it wasn’t touching the rim of the wheel. Fast forward a few weeks later, Chris has a dream that I’m riding on my bike on a cliff near the sea and whilst cycling I speed up going faster and faster until I reach the end of the cliff and fall to my death. Not the nicest dream I know. Being from Jamaica, I read a lot into dreams, but I didn’t really think much about this one when Chris shared it with me.
A couple weeks after this, he mentions in passing if I’m going to get my brake pads sorted. I said I couldn’t afford it and it will just have to go as it is. Anyhow, the next day, out of curiosity – but I now recognise it was the Holy Spirit leading me; I called a couple bike shops to find about the cost of replacing my brake pads. I went to the one with the better price and that I had more confidence in. The mechanic wasn’t sure he could fix it that day, but he said he would try to squeeze me in. I left my bike with him and he said to come back in 20 mins. When I returned, I saw he was still fixing my bike, so I asked him if I should give him some more time (not having a watch on, I thought I may have come back earlier than expected). He turned to me and said ‘You’re lucky to be alive!’ I was a bit shocked by his statement, because I never knew worn brake pads were that serious! But he continued, ‘Your cable just snapped in my hand! If you had been cycling when this happened, you would have been in serious trouble’. Just then I had a flashback to Chris dream of me going faster and faster on that cliff. If my brake cable had snapped when I was cycling, which I was planning to the next day, I’m not sure if I would have been able to stop myself without causing some serious damage.
This is a miracle of timing and how God can sometimes use dreams to warn us of things to come. It’s not a coincidence! God used the Holy Spirit to nudge me to go and get my brake pads checked out. God also gave Chris that dream that he shared with me. Miracles still happen. I’m not sure if I would be in any condition to even type this or function in the way that I am used to if I had ignored the inclination to call the cycle shop. So, God is good. Miracles still happen today. And there’s no better place to be than in the hands of God!
It’s been a tough month for Chris as well. God has continued to bless him with health and he’s still involved with delivering newspapers, but he’s now seeking to change that and enter the IT profession. He’s applied for several positions and there has been no response for most. I continue to pray for him to find favour with an employer so that he can move on. But it is very disheartening when you don’t see anyone responding to your job applications. The thing is I have to hold on the fact that God has promised a future, and we both know that it is not in delivering newspapers, and God wants to promote him. Walking in faith is an extremely difficult thing to do, but it’s the best path to take.
Philippians 4:4 (NKJV) says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice! Even in the difficult times when I don’t feel the impetus to pray, and when things seem that they’re not going the way I want to I need to reflect on what good has God done for me. And God has been very faithful to me, even when I am not faithful. My left knee has been giving me trouble on and off this month, but every time I have asked God to heal me, He has! Not instantly at times, but I will wake up one morning and realise that my knee isn’t hurting me. Just recently my stomach was painful with spasms and the ‘horrible unmentionables’. Chris asked if I wanted him to pray for God to heal me, I said yes. After Chris prayed, I didn’t feel particularly better, but I got this image during the brief moment of him praying of my stomach being healed. It is very difficult to put into words, I even tried drawing it for Chris and it didn’t come out the way it was in my head (probably because I’m not a very good artist!). But a few moments later, I realised that there was no longer any pain in my stomach! So God is good…all the time!
I want to share with you the miracle God blessed me with this month, which I testified about in Church on Pentecost Sunday. I have a bike, her name is Bessie and she’s quite an old bike. But we have a good time cycling to the train station and about town, etc. Now, Bessie’s a road bike, so she has two sets of brakes for each tyre – one set is horizontal under the handlebars, the other is on the outside of the handle bar. For over a month, the horizontal brakes for the back wheel weren’t working because the brake pads had worn down; and so it wasn’t touching the rim of the wheel. Fast forward a few weeks later, Chris has a dream that I’m riding on my bike on a cliff near the sea and whilst cycling I speed up going faster and faster until I reach the end of the cliff and fall to my death. Not the nicest dream I know. Being from Jamaica, I read a lot into dreams, but I didn’t really think much about this one when Chris shared it with me.
A couple weeks after this, he mentions in passing if I’m going to get my brake pads sorted. I said I couldn’t afford it and it will just have to go as it is. Anyhow, the next day, out of curiosity – but I now recognise it was the Holy Spirit leading me; I called a couple bike shops to find about the cost of replacing my brake pads. I went to the one with the better price and that I had more confidence in. The mechanic wasn’t sure he could fix it that day, but he said he would try to squeeze me in. I left my bike with him and he said to come back in 20 mins. When I returned, I saw he was still fixing my bike, so I asked him if I should give him some more time (not having a watch on, I thought I may have come back earlier than expected). He turned to me and said ‘You’re lucky to be alive!’ I was a bit shocked by his statement, because I never knew worn brake pads were that serious! But he continued, ‘Your cable just snapped in my hand! If you had been cycling when this happened, you would have been in serious trouble’. Just then I had a flashback to Chris dream of me going faster and faster on that cliff. If my brake cable had snapped when I was cycling, which I was planning to the next day, I’m not sure if I would have been able to stop myself without causing some serious damage.
This is a miracle of timing and how God can sometimes use dreams to warn us of things to come. It’s not a coincidence! God used the Holy Spirit to nudge me to go and get my brake pads checked out. God also gave Chris that dream that he shared with me. Miracles still happen. I’m not sure if I would be in any condition to even type this or function in the way that I am used to if I had ignored the inclination to call the cycle shop. So, God is good. Miracles still happen today. And there’s no better place to be than in the hands of God!
1 comment:
CP,
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Now, apply that thought to what is going on in your life and take things one step at a time. A year ago, I was very stressed out by things that were piling up and moving away from my family and friends. However, I walked with Him each day and took things one step at a time. Looking back, I see how He guided me through. I'm glad that you have seen His miraculous work in your life recently. Remember Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will guide your paths." (my own paraphrase, but very close to actual verses) I love you and pray that we will soon be able to be together.
Your American CP friend
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