Yesterday morning I woke up feeling a little sad. I had been dreaming about my Dad who died earlier this year. As I slowly gained consciousness from my deep sleep, I could still hear his voice in my head. It wasn't a ghost - I don't believe in ghosts - just a very strong memory of his voice and the way he used to greet me with a big sloppy kiss on the lips. I know, not appropriate, but it was his way of making up for the 10 years that we were apart. So, I woke up feeling loved and cared for by my Dad and then I remembered that he isn't here any more.
November has crept up on me and here we are now at day six. On Monday my sister sent me a message suggesting that we should have the stone on Dad's resting place inscribed in time for his birthday on 22nd November. That is a lovely idea - but then, that would be finally admitting that he has gone, wouldn't it? Since 26th April there has been a whirl of activity to take my mind away from these personal feelings. First, there was the three weeks spent in England organising the funeral, sorting, cleaning and clearing Dad's house, closing bank accounts, stopping pensions etc etc. Three frantic sleepless weeks which ended with a day out at Drusilla's Park with A, courtesy of a kind officer at THQ. Then the flight back to Brasil and a pile of work waiting for us when we arrived. We did have a holiday in July but P. was ill and so there was no time to think and ponder.
I thought it would be easy to forget about my dream but the emotions came flooding back when we visited an elderly member of our congregation in the afternoon. A. is 86 years old; three years older than my Dad when he died. I felt a little resentful of the fact that God had allowed her to live a little longer than my Dad - a silly childish thought, borne out of grief, that didn't linger for long as she told us her story and showed us a small book of photos with Amigos (Friends) written in biro on the back. As she showed us each photo (my husband was with me) she pointed to a person and said, 'She has died', and another, 'That was my best friend, she has died', 'That was my son - he died aged 36', 'That was my husband - he died 8 years ago'. I looked into her eyes and she looked sad. I said, 'As we get older, we see many people we love die, don't we?' She nodded silently. I could have moved the conversation on but I wanted to stay with her in the moment and acknowledge her sadness. I wanted her to know that someone else understood her sadness and her feeling of loss.
She gave us each a bowl of raisin and vanilla ice cream and then I shared some verses of scripture with her. Ephesians 3 v 14 - 21 - we used this passage of scripture during our Corps Anniversary weekend in October - it's one of my favourites. I had no idea what I would say to this lady but when I finished reading I found the words just flowed out of my mouth. 'You live in this beautiful apartment alone, but actually the truth is that you are not alone. When you wake up Jesus is here and when you go to sleep at night Jesus is still here, watching over you and waiting for you to wake up so He can walk with you through another day. His love is so wide and long and high and deep that it absolutely fills this apartment and this is our prayer for you today, that you would be surrounded and uplifted by His love'.
As I had read the scripture her eyes had lit up and as I shared these words of encouragement her face seemed to shine. She had seemed so sad when we were looking at the photos but now she was smiling and shining. You might think that I am exaggerating, but for me, at that moment I could feel the presence of Jesus fill the room. This old lady was inspiring me and I could feel my own spirit lifting as we both shared the same hope in Jesus.
I am so glad that my Dad met Jesus before he died. When I was a child he used to say, 'Once you're dead, you're dead', which is why he fought so hard to stay alive, I think. Then, one night, in his early 70's, lying close to death in the ICU of the N.H. Hospital, he prayed a simple prayer, 'God, if you get me out of here, I will go to your house'. I love the grace of God. He accepted that prayer. Dad survived his aortic aneurism and after two months in hospital he returned home. God had answered his prayer and so Dad started to attend the church nearest his house. I am not sure which was the biggest miracle!
I had the amazing privilege of praying with my Dad just a few hours before he died. It was my sister's sudden inspiration that she should put her mobile phone against his ear while I spoke into my computer in Brasil - the magic of skype! I really wanted to be there with him and for that moment I was. I prayed that God would heal him in body, mind and spirit, that angels would surround his bed and watch over him and that he would know the presence of Jesus. Dad died 12 hours later.
So, maybe God has inspired my sister once again. Maybe we should get his stone inscribed for his birthday. All I've got to do is choose some words, write a cheque - and accept that he is no longer here.
Yesterday was a special day for me. It was a busy, working day, but Jesus stepped into my busy schedule, surrounded me with His love and gave me hope through the eyes of an 86 year old lady.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
ANOTHER MIRACLE
Last Sunday (13th October 2013) we enrolled 4 new Junior Soldiers (junior members of our church); my son, A, and three girls from our Sunday School who live in S, a road that is a 20 minute walk from our church. When I share with you this story you may agree with me that it is probably a miracle that the girls were there on Sunday.
The girls come from three different families and along with many other families they live in the same building. Each family lives in one room that has a bed, cooker, fridge and other belongings and they all share a shower, toilet and sink which are situated in the corridor. The families pay an extremely high rent to live in this unsuitable accommodation. Next door to this building is a place that has a steady flow of young men coming to and fro from it all day long - you would probably call it a drug den. This year we have conducted open air services in this road and I have made visits to the families during the week. Every Sunday morning two members of our Sunday School team go to S. at about 9:30am to walk the children to and from the Sunday School which begins at 10am.
Last Thursday (10th October 2013) at about 5:30pm, an hour of the day when the road is usually full of activity - Mums picking children up from school, people walking to the shops, children playing out on the road and one or two people selling things from tables on the pavement - two men, dressed all in black with their faces covered drove a motorcycle with no licence plate into the road and began shooting outside the building where our three newest Junior Soldiers live. One mother said to me, 'God was protecting us because usually the mothers are all sitting on the doorstep but on that day most of us were inside.' One of our oldest Junior Soldiers was standing at the door and when her mother heard the gun shots she called her inside. All the mothers called their children into their rooms. They said the shooting lasted 10 minutes.
Our Junior Soldiers were safe but sadly there were casualties. One mother had been taking a shower and her two year old, who has attended our Sunday School, wandered out into the road and was shot in the neck. He is now seriously ill in hospital. It seems that he will survive but may have problems in the future with his voice. A 14 year old girl, who I was told was involved in drug dealing, was shot in the stomach twice and a woman who sells things on a table was also shot.
What was the reason for the shooting? It was reported on the UOL news website as an, 'alleged attempted robbery in the centre of the city, ' and according to the police, 'the two suspects fled the scene.' I cannot comment on that but the people living in the road have a different point of view.
Three casualties is very, very sad, however, no-one was killed and it really could have been alot worse.
I learnt the details of this story while at our day trip with the Sunday School last Saturday and the two girls in our car gave me most of the details. About 15 minutes later, I suddenly realised that I had once again experienced the protective hand of God on my own life. I turned to P, who was driving, and said, 'I was supposed to be there last Thursday afternoon'. You see, we needed to ask the mothers to sign a certificate to say that they gave permission for their children to become Junior Soldiers and we still had two signatures to get. E, L and I had agreed to meet at the church at 2:30pm and walk to S and visit the families as we had done on other ocassions. However, the Sunday before, E suggested that instead of going on Thursday we could just talk to the mothers when we saw them on Saturday during the Sunday School trip. I was a little disappointed that our family visit had been cancelled and I had considered going on my own but I realised that as the girls had said their mothers would probably not be at home that E was right and it would be better to talk to the Mums on Saturday. Even if we had gone at 2:30pm it is possible that we would have left S. before the incident happened but once again God made sure I wasn't anywhere near at the time.
I thank God for protecting our Junior Soldiers and that the children and woman who were injured were not killed and we are praying for a full recovery of each of the victims.
The girls come from three different families and along with many other families they live in the same building. Each family lives in one room that has a bed, cooker, fridge and other belongings and they all share a shower, toilet and sink which are situated in the corridor. The families pay an extremely high rent to live in this unsuitable accommodation. Next door to this building is a place that has a steady flow of young men coming to and fro from it all day long - you would probably call it a drug den. This year we have conducted open air services in this road and I have made visits to the families during the week. Every Sunday morning two members of our Sunday School team go to S. at about 9:30am to walk the children to and from the Sunday School which begins at 10am.
Last Thursday (10th October 2013) at about 5:30pm, an hour of the day when the road is usually full of activity - Mums picking children up from school, people walking to the shops, children playing out on the road and one or two people selling things from tables on the pavement - two men, dressed all in black with their faces covered drove a motorcycle with no licence plate into the road and began shooting outside the building where our three newest Junior Soldiers live. One mother said to me, 'God was protecting us because usually the mothers are all sitting on the doorstep but on that day most of us were inside.' One of our oldest Junior Soldiers was standing at the door and when her mother heard the gun shots she called her inside. All the mothers called their children into their rooms. They said the shooting lasted 10 minutes.
Our Junior Soldiers were safe but sadly there were casualties. One mother had been taking a shower and her two year old, who has attended our Sunday School, wandered out into the road and was shot in the neck. He is now seriously ill in hospital. It seems that he will survive but may have problems in the future with his voice. A 14 year old girl, who I was told was involved in drug dealing, was shot in the stomach twice and a woman who sells things on a table was also shot.
What was the reason for the shooting? It was reported on the UOL news website as an, 'alleged attempted robbery in the centre of the city, ' and according to the police, 'the two suspects fled the scene.' I cannot comment on that but the people living in the road have a different point of view.
Three casualties is very, very sad, however, no-one was killed and it really could have been alot worse.
I learnt the details of this story while at our day trip with the Sunday School last Saturday and the two girls in our car gave me most of the details. About 15 minutes later, I suddenly realised that I had once again experienced the protective hand of God on my own life. I turned to P, who was driving, and said, 'I was supposed to be there last Thursday afternoon'. You see, we needed to ask the mothers to sign a certificate to say that they gave permission for their children to become Junior Soldiers and we still had two signatures to get. E, L and I had agreed to meet at the church at 2:30pm and walk to S and visit the families as we had done on other ocassions. However, the Sunday before, E suggested that instead of going on Thursday we could just talk to the mothers when we saw them on Saturday during the Sunday School trip. I was a little disappointed that our family visit had been cancelled and I had considered going on my own but I realised that as the girls had said their mothers would probably not be at home that E was right and it would be better to talk to the Mums on Saturday. Even if we had gone at 2:30pm it is possible that we would have left S. before the incident happened but once again God made sure I wasn't anywhere near at the time.
I thank God for protecting our Junior Soldiers and that the children and woman who were injured were not killed and we are praying for a full recovery of each of the victims.
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