Christine

I feel that there are many ways in which our Lord Jesus is working in my life at present.

On our return to the school where I work, we started our training day with prayer and a time for quiet reflection led by the school Chaplain.

We had to imagine that we were walking along a leafy country lane on a beautiful summer's day until we came to a gate that we went through into a field lined with tall shady trees. We were encouraged to imagine sitting under one of the trees and laying down the heavy rucksack we were carrying, this being full of all our cares and concerns.

We were able to sit under the tree for a while and then asked to leave the shade of the trees but to leave behind the rucksack together with our cares and concerns. We had to choose a special box to take with us from an assortment of gifts that had been lying next to us.

This gift was special and as we walked back towards the gate Jesus walked in to meet us. We had to note the way He greeted us and what He said to us especially about the gift we had received. He then blessed us and we walked out and back up the lane.

This was a very powerful time of reflection and one that we could repeat individually at any time we felt the need to. What a beautiful way to start a new term and we felt that Jesus had totally refreshed us. It was like leaving your cares and concerns at the foot of the cross and spending time in Jesus' presence.

We were only a few weeks into this autumn term when I was asked to go on a school day trip to France with certain members of staff and 40 year 5 and 6 girls. I said I would love to go as long as the family were happy. However, there was another problem stopping me and that was that I didn't have a current passport. This needed to be renewed and the trip was only a fortnight away. My Headteacher suggested I could fast track it by taking the application to the Post Office. I prayed hard about this and asked the Lord if it was His will that I went to France and, if so, if my passport would be returned in time. I rushed about over the week-end getting a new photo and form that I took to the post Office on Monday morning. The week went by but although my old passport had been returned there was no sign of the new one.

That Sunday at church I felt the Lord saying ‘don't worry the passport will arrive in time you just have not waited long enough.'

I was convinced it would arrive Monday but it was not in the delivery. So I rang the Passport Office and after several transfers was told that it would arrive by courier by 5.00pm.

I again started praying as in was nearly noon and I knew that I would be out for most of the afternoon collecting my grandson from school. About 12.15pm there was a ring on the bell and there was a courier handing me a white envelope containing my new passport. Praise the Lord I said and when the school heard the next day it had arrived there was a loud Hallelujah, thank you Lord.

The trip stared at 6.00am at the school and by 6.15am we were all seated and saying prayers before pulling away. We were kept in prayer all day by the Sisters of the Convent and school staff and our fellowship group had also prayed for us. It was a fantastic day in Boulogne doing all the things you do on school trips and even the Shuttle journey was not as bad as I had feared. This type of trip is such a responsibility but I felt that our Lord had made it easier and all went well even arriving back on time at 7.00pm. What a blessing and privilege this day was to all of us.

My Husband, Ian, has been very worried about retiring completely from work and we have been holding the situation up in prayer. As the day drew ever closer the less he seemed to worry about it until now he seems quite at peace about it. Nor am I worried about the future as we are sure that the Lord will provide all we need and has reminded us to take each day as it comes.

God's mercy to us is in each new morning and each new day is a gift from Him. He gives us many blessings even to the bus arriving to get me to work when I think I am going to be late. He stretches out time for me so that I am able to fit everything in.

Even with the troubles we have experienced, Ian and I know we are blessed by the Lord Jesus the beautiful family He has given us as well as our church family here at St. Erkenwald's. Here we can ever increasingly come into our Lord's presence and in our fellowship group where we can support and pray for each other as well as learning mare about Jesus. I have the added blessing in my life of being part of God's family where I work and belonging to part of a worldwide community.

If you want to see the power of the Holy Spirit moving in people's lives by answering their prayers and working in the community around us and hearing the message of Jesus, then come and join us at St. Erkenwald's. You will be made very welcome.