Always get up again!

'Reading week' ...and I have a rest from travelling down to ESSL. 

A couple of days ago, in need of a break, I headed outside from my day of reading into the best sort of day, in my opinion - cloudless, azure-blue sky, glorious sunshine straining to be warm but with a crisp sharpness, daring to bid goodbye to Winter and beckoning a tentative welcome to Spring. I felt joyful to the point - I don't know if you have ever have these moments - of feeling like pretending to be in a musical, dancing along the street before bursting into song, and proclaiming that this is the best day to be alive and - was I not already married - expecting the love of my life to be waiting for me at the end of the road! (As it was, I'd left the love of my life earning a crust in front of his computer back at the house.) BUT meanwhile it was still a glorious day, especially after so many rainy days!

This is actually my local High Street

Buoyed by the afterglow of expectancy following the mission 10 days ago, I asked my spirit to be alert to any conversations or encounters Holy Spirit might want to send my way whilst I was out for my 'quick walk.'

Apart from a couple of friendly exchanges in shops and a chat with a friend, nothing really seemed to present itself. As I headed home, I noticed that the traffic flow had stopped as a man hobbled slowly across the road, his right hand protruding very limply and looking almost purple, from a linen sling. He almost dragged one of his legs behind him as he crossed the road. I suddenly wondered if this was someone God had sent my way to speak to and pray for. Could I pray for him and see his hand and leg restored to full strength? 

Walking on, I kept looking back to check he had reached the other side of the road, half wondering if I had gone too far to return to him and wrestled with my thoughts.....

...One dilemma I have is that Jesus healed those who CAME TO Him. Could I just walk up in the street, offer to help and pray without any sort of invite!?! ...

I stopped to watch what he would do next, seeing him peer into a shop window. I stood and wondered what to do. I stood asking myself questions I would have been better asking myself earlier, in preparation for something like this happening. Can I go up to him and offer to pray? Didn't Jesus wait to be asked? What if...?

In retrospect, I see how our minds, as intelligent as they may normally be, can talk us out of so much from an earthly stance...and by the time I looked up again, getting my nerve up and deciding, 'Have no fear!!!', he had disappeared.

I spent some of the walk home kicking myself and feeling I had let this guy down - and God too; God, because He got no extra glory and the guy because his limbs remained restricted. I played over in my mind the amazing outcome there could have been for that guy had I stepped aside from my fear of 'What if...?' and was reminded of the quote; 

'Stop telling God how big your problems are and tell your problems how big God is.'

So, going to bed that night, still brewing, I picked up one of the books I am currently reading, 'Unwrapping Lazarus', opening it up to where my 'bookmark' rested. I was about to set the bookmark aside but my eyes were drawn to it. It is one of my scripture memory cards. On it was written Psalm 25:3a - 
'Defeat does not come to those that trust in You'

I almost put it down but hovered with it awhile. Then, in 'one of those moments', I turned it over and read another verse... (I use both sides)

'I tell you the truth. Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do greater things than these because I go to the Father'

John 14:12

I held the card in my hand for a few moments, turned it back and back again; reading and re-reading; suddenly having a sense of angel faces straining in on me over my shoulder and willing me on. 

'Get it? Get it? GET IT YET???'

Yes. I got it and I smiled. (the angels sat back with a big sigh of relief and a bit of backslapping!) I was not defeated. My Father hadn't given up on me. When I am faithless, He remains faithful. My tank of Hope and Expectation was flushed full. I have prayed for the guy in the street and part of my prayer is that he will come by again on Saturday during our time out with the Healing on the Streets team.

Then just today, when asking someone's advice about some things I am questioning, I was encouraged by a verse they shared from John 5 and in particular verse 6.

Jesus is near a pool that is frequented by disabled people. He approaches one man who has been an invalid for 38 years and ASKS him, 'Do you want to get well?'

I must have read that so many times before and not registered what happens! (If I was God, I would be smacking my forehead with my palm at this point, but I know HE wouldn't - and it as well for mankind that I am NOT God!!)

On top of that, I was reminded (same someone) Jesus gave us the GO! His heart to bring the Kingdom of God to the world is BIG. He didn't choose the world's obvious choices of people to pass that message on. His team includes me! The best conversations to have about it are with Him. I'll enjoy that. So will He. But we'll enjoy having others in on the chat too. 

How deep is Your love?

I was on my way to bed.

Then I flicked the wrong button to turn off the TV, ended up changing the channel instead and landed in the film, 'The Invention of Lying' starring Ricky Gervais. I almost turned it straight off because I don't really like the stuff he has made since 'The Office' but my attention was caught by someone telling another person some awfully frank and hurtful 'truth' they thought about them! And I thought, 'How cruel!'

I won't go into the telling the story of the film - you can read it here - but it - and the rest of the film made me think about love and in particular, about God's love for me.

This scripture is a prayer - 

that I will KNOW this love that SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE! 

How can I KNOW something that surpasses knowledge? 

One insight I have is that, on my first day of training to be a midwife, back in 1981, our twelve-strong group had a tour around the labour ward. I watched a midwife monitoring a mother in labour - checking baby heartbeats; altering the drip-rate of the intravenous infusion that was hastening labour for this overdue baby; bleeping machines, tangled wires, overactive equipment, accurate instructions, groaning pain, sweaty anxiety - all seemed scarily overwhelming at the time. I thought I would NEVER, EVER be able to be on my own in a room with a situation like this and see a baby at the end - a live baby and the growing of a family! Day one was almost my last day! BUT, I stayed and of course, over the 18 months, with over 50 deliveries to my name, I qualified. I learned - slowly at times but surely and with help. I didn't do it on my own. I had instruction from those with knowledge; guidance from those with experience and sometimes, even their very hands literally on top of my own, guiding me in what I needed to do. The book and brain knowledge of practising midwifery that seemed impossible to contemplate in black and white, all fell into place when experiencing it in actual, live technicolour! 

'Ahh!' I realised. 'THAT's how it feels to...'well, you probably don't want to know but 'hands-on' makes the experience complete and suddenly, the jigsaw builds, the picture gets bigger and clearer as pieces fall into place. 

What seemed, at one time, to surpass MY knowledge - ever becoming a competent midwife - came within my grasp. As my understanding and experience increased - study and practical work - my knowledge increased - I knew better what to do, what to expect and who to ask if I didn't know.
Whilst I don't expect my knowledge of the love of Christ to be anywhere near complete this side of heaven, God opens paths and doors throughout the whole of my life to show more of that love to me.

One of the things I have been learning at ESSL is to appreciate and believe how much I am loved by my heavenly Father. He EXPECTS me to grow in the knowledge of His love for me. He WANTS me to. He goes out of His way to show it to me. What I have to do is to expect, want and receive everything He gives out - and then ask for more...which gives Him a chuckle, I am sure! I am His beloved. I am His joy and delight. He approves of me and accepts everything about me, just as I am. He will never love me more - or less - than at this very moment. He is deep, deep, deep in love with me. One reason His love surpasses knowledge is that, every time I think I know how much He loves me, He shows me more - through a new revelation in His word; through a beautiful sunset or a wonderful smell or taste; through music; through the company of friends and family or even through unexpected kindness of strangers (one reason each of us should try to give a stranger a hug every day!!)
This is the key to then go out into daily life and take that love with me - letting it make a difference in every situation I find myself in. My Father would find joy in seeing me go out of my way, out of my comfort zone and out of my inclination sometimes, if I am honest, to love others. But the thing He wants most, is that I know Him and His love for me because

everything else flows from that.

I will round up with an amazing story of a special touch of God from our mission trip that I talked about in my last post. 

Mike, from the church, myself and another guy who I didn't know and who was going through a hard time, went out on a treasure hunt one day (see my previous post if you don't know what one of those is) We had found no clues and got cold so decided to go to a coffee shop for a hot drink. As we chatted, it turned out that this guy's name was 'Jim'. Both Mike and I had this name on our lists!!! So I said, 'Jim' - it looks like YOU are our treasure!' As we chatted, it turned out that 'Jim' wasn't actually a christian but was indeed on a journey to wanting to know God. So we talked together for a while, with Mike and I sharing a couple of our own experiences of God and telling 'Jim' how special he was to God. He replied that he didn't feel like he was, nor did he feel he was at a point where he wanted to give his life to Jesus. He did, though, let Mike and I pray for him and we ended asking God to give 'Jim', that very day, a special blessing that would show him that God loved him. 

We finished up our drinks and headed back out into the street. 'Jim' popped over to the cashpoint as Mike and I waited some yards back. 

As 'Jim' was returning, he was stopped in his tracks by a stranger who we heard ask 'Jim', "Are you a 'Smiley'?" Mike and I looked at one another and wondered what this was. I confess to wondering if it was trouble? 

Well, it turned out, 'Jim's' surname was 'Smiley' and this guy was a cousin of 'Jim's', that he had never met - nor knew existed - who recognised 'Jim' as possibly one of the family simply from his facial features!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The guys chatted a while and exchanged phone numbers and the cousin went off on his way! 'Jim' came across to us shaking his head in disbelief and muttering the same! 'JIM!', we said, doesn't that just show you how amazing God is? What are the odds of that happening at this very moment and in this very place?? How mind-boggling is our God?! Mind-boggling enough to love us out of our minds, is how! 

So be encouraged. Be on the lookout. God is out to love you

....and who knows who He will use to do it! 

As this song says, 

HE LOVES US

Mission: LOVE

I have been back from our mission trip to a church in a town down south for 24 hours now and have spent a very lazy day - apart from getting some shopping in. Hubs indulged in Supernoodles and sausage, I think, whilst I was away with a bowl of cereal thrown in last evening - this latter is our usual fallback.

SO! As promised, a bit of a report as to how it all went.

I think everything that took place over the time could be summed up in the picture here to the left - a shower of love all over the town!

Our 10-strong team stayed for four days, each lodging in one of the church family's homes, which would have been worth going for alone, such was the each-way blessing of my own stay with one of my team in the home of a wonderful family.

Our mission time was spent:-

- Opening and being present in the new church cafe

- Treasure Hunting on the local streets

- Free hugging outside the church

- Just asking God to open up any sort of conversation around where we were 

- Giving prophetic words to members of the church, leaving encouragement and expectation in hearts and spirits

- Other random bits and bobs

Each one of these encounters brought tangible changes to the atmosphere in this town - a town others warned me was dead but I found it a great place to be and a really open community to having the  love of God poured out over them - even if they didn't quite know that that is what it was. Our team, together with members of the church congregation, were Love Guerillas in that place

Overall, we saw 3 or 4 people come into a living, saving relationship with God either in the streets or in the cafe - two of those came into church for the Sunday service; numerous people had a touch from God in their lives that was either obviously significant or just one of the steps on a journey towards knowing God's love for them

My own personal favourite meeting was with two elderly ladies as we set out on a Treasure Hunt (I will give an explanation of this at the end of the post in case any reader is interested) One of my clues, 'red shopping trolley', prompted me to run over the road to these lovely ladies - Jean, and Joan who was pulling the trolley. To cut a long story short, we had a lovely conversation, a couple of hugs each from myself and my hunting buddy and prayed God's blessing on them. To our delight, we bumped into them a little later as they had found their way to the cafe we had alerted them to, and spent another lovely half hour or so, hearing more of their stories and savouring with them a whole bunch of extra hugs. It was such a joyful encounter - for us as much as them.

Another Treasure Hunt with my buddies got us into a conversation with a mum, who was out with her daughter and two grandchildren. She had no money for food as her benefits had been unexpectedly stopped and she had had no luck finding a job in 174 applications. We prayed for her and suggested they go down to the church Cafe in this freezing weather for a cuppa and a cake (free until the shop gained some legally required certification). Later, not only did we see them still there but the mum had been given some supplies, allowed the pastor to pray for the little girl's eyes and a short while later, this mum prayed to ask Jesus into her life! WOW!

The church Cafe is an amazing opportunity - right outside the bus stops and a short walk to the main shopping street. Inside, not only will people get food and drink refreshment, but also refreshment of spirit and emotions. It will be staffed by church members whose heart is to love people in kindness and service - not just by serving but just talking, listening and encouraging folk who drop in.

The 'Free Hugs' times were WONDERFUL - just standing on the steps of the church with our signs, giving free hugs to all and any who passed and would brave us :D Here is a YouTube clip compiled by Ben Alldis from the church. Though it was a COLD day, we had the best time - the BEST! and you could just feeeeel the place change atmosphere...Keep it up ACF hahaha! As for me - I may just shove a 'Free Hug' sign in my bag and do it anyway - anywhere!!

SOOOoooooooo many conversations. SO many opportunities to show God's love in different ways! 

If I may, I will end with a wee story of an encounter I had, pinching the idea from Bill Johnson who told a similar story about his wife, Beni.

I had popped into the art shop just up the road from the church. I had a beautiful, green velvet handbag, very similar to this picture, that I had rescued. One of my daughters was 'throwing it out'! (I KNOW! I KNOW! What sacrilege!!) ...well, giving it away to a local charity shop. She wouldn't let me have it because I have enough bags!!  BUT I snook it out and have been using it. As I rooted through my bag looking for my specs, the assistant exclaimed, 'Oh! What a lovely bag!' and I thanked her and told her how I came by it. She was equally incredulous as I was! I wandered around the shop and into my mind came the Beni story (patience, readers!) I bought a couple of things and asked where the original lady was and found out her name. Then, before I went off to find her, I took out a carrier bag and emptied the contents of my beautiful green velvet bag into it. Finding my lady, I approached her and said, 'Excuse me. I would really love to give you this.' and offered her the bag. She protested that she couldn't possibly take it. I replied with a big smile that I would really love to bless her with it. 'God loves to bless us with surprises and I would really love you to have it - then when you use it, remember that God loves you and thinks you are wonderful.' She took it very gratefully and let me give her a big hug.

As I went off, smiling broadly and joy-filled to myself, I was amazed that I didn't have even the slightest flicker of regret over the bag. I don't miss it but know someone else loves it and hopefully through it, will be reminded of Someone who loves HER.

I did suggest to Hubs, when telling him the story, that I could go out and buy more beautiful bags that I could eventually give away. Strangely, that suggestion was not met with any enthusiasm at all!!

FINALLY...Ok Treasure Hunting....we go out in twos or threes. To start with, we have 5 categories: - Names; - Location; - Appearance; - Needs; - Other. We ask God to give us 'clues' in each category and personally, I put down whatever comes into my head, trusting that my spirit is always open to God. So I will put down a couple of male and female names, location can be an actual place/shop in the area we are in or a landmark eg clock - anything relating to location. Appearance - again anything..hair, clothes, accessories etc; Needs could be physical, financial, practical...eg new job, healing, family troubles, loneliness - just ANYTHING; and other might be anything that doesn't fit into the other categories...eg rainbow, dog, shopping trolley....then we go out and look for clues. I usually head for one of my locations and look for someone with something from my 'appearance' list then go to them, explain we are on a treasure hunt and have asked God for clues..they meet one of the clues and maybe show them the list to see if they fit anything else (though I did once go around occasionally shouting ' Joyce!' to see if anyone would turn   ) Whether they do or not, we tell them that they are God's treasure and He wants to bless them. We ask if there is anything we can pray for and if not, I say well, thanks for stopping but do know that you are a treasure to God and He loves you. 

Most people will stop; some run away as you are talking and say not interested; others are really touched and may even have a conversation but in any case, they go with that mention of God's love over them and we can then leave it to the Holy Spirit to carry on in whatever ways He wants to. Whilst 'no hits' can seem discouraging, we never know what God may have started in their journey and sometimes it is AMAZING how God leads. 

Mission: Supernatural

Whoop!! Whoop!! ....I think!!!!!

Tomorrow I am heading down south on a Mission Trip with NKCC European School of Supernatural Life. I can't tell you where - I may have to kill you....and hopefully this posting will NOT self destruct in five seconds!

To be honest, I don't know what I can say online about the trip - I didn't think to ask BUT I can be vague and general with a toe in the Water of Specific.

We have a team going down to a church where TeamWe will be doing various activities with members of the church community that we hope will impact the local community in many positive ways and inspire those we leave behind at the end to press on in seeing God thrill them. This quote from Kris Vallotton expresses some of my expectations well...

During our time leading the student ministry at church, our vicar, Nigel Di Castiglione, and his wife, Annie who co-led with us, always impressed on us that, as Christians,Children of the King, we carry God's presence and Christ's glory with us and change the atmospheres of all the places we go - a truth that has also been wonderfully reinforced by the leaders at School. Knowing this, believing this and always expecting this, makes the ordinary extraordinary. These inspirational friends, together with our brilliant student team, my fellow pupils at School and, of course, my lovely Hubs, have spurred me on during this journey of revelation, expectation and adventuring together in the things of God.

SO! Back to the Mission. Whist what we are doing isn't set in stone, included will be:

• Treasure Hunting - looking out for folk in the locality that God wants to bless with His love
• Prophetic Activities - these will be varied but may include art, objects and words all giving the recipient some expression  of God's blessing and encouragement to warm their hearts and spirits
• Helping out in the Cafe in the church and childrens'/youth groups on Sunday
• A wild card - at least one (I am saying that in faith because Vicki Schulz said something wild to me on Friday)

I am really excited and deciding not to stand with 'fearful'. What I know is that:

• God will use me. God will use me. God will use me. God will use me.
• He already knows who we will be meeting in all these different areas and activities 
• He loves every person we will come into contact with
• Whatever outcome we see, lives will be changed because we are there, because God is there
• He is even more excited than we are. If He already didn't sleep, He wouldn't sleep for glee.
• It doesn't matter if I look stupid because I will never see most of these people again and the ones I will see again, don't mind 

WELL!! TeamWe...not long now, Buddies 

"Do not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest.' Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest"

John 4:35

Trusting that the white will not be snow!!
Back soon.

Socks off!!