We thank God for His protection
Psalm 18 v 2 (New Living Translation)
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my saviour; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold.
We are a family of 5 (2 boys and a girl), and our two boys share a bedroom in a 1930’s type semi detached house.
Recently we woke up with our eldest boy (5 yrs) saying that something was in our 1yr old little boy’s cot and we needed to come and see urgently. Initially we though he was playing a game and had just put yet another foreign object in the little one’s bed, but when we walked around the corner, we saw that a large piece of the cornice had fallen from the ceiling directly into the place where our 1 yr old normally sleeps.
The cornice was over 1.5 metres long and came down with obvious force crushing one of our little boy’s toys. If the cornice had even partially hit him, the consequences could have been devastating.
We are so grateful to God for His protection that night and praise the Lord that he can keep us safe from the flaws of man and materials!
Sharon & Dan
A Chink in the Armour
"I have done many things in my life that have caused me and those who love me pain & sorrow. I nearly started with ‘There have been’, but I guess sometimes one has to hold up ones hand and take responsibility. So, "I have done" is more appropriate. These and other circumstances have made me quite ill mentally. I have a very low self esteem problem and still suffer from the depression which has previously caused me to have two spells in hospital. How can I love other people when I can't love myself, yet alone allow God to love me? I love God so much & try so hard yet always fall down."
"God, being God, knows all this of course and still finds a way through a chink in my armour. Scripture has a funny way of speaking to you even when the verses you read are totally out of context. I have just started to read a book called 'Humility'. Each chapter starts with a verse or two of scripture and then goes on with whatever that particular chapter is about. The opening piece of scripture for chapter 1 is as follows :- "They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Revelation 4 10-11."
This is what the scripture said to Nigel:-
"You created all things, and by your will they were created.......YOUR WILL! To 'will' something means you want to do it. God has created this whole universe, created a world within, and populated it with hundreds of thousands of life forms, animal & vegetable. Created all these things with bright beautiful colours, wonderful smells and fantastic tastes and still something is not quite right. It's missing something. God is pacing backward and forward, one hand stroking his chin.... EUREKA! It's missing a NIGEL. You created all things, and BY YOUR WILL I was created.
See what I mean? A chink in the armour."
Nigel Y
I firmly believed there was no God
The Alpha Course was a real roller coaster for me!
I thought about doing it for about 18 months before I took the plunge. The problem was that I brought up as an atheist. I firmly believed that there was no God.
I had had problems which were devastating. I struggled through with the help of family and friends and had finally reached a point in my life when things were looking up. However, despite this, I felt very alone and unloved and it was at this point I began to look for the missing link in my life. I thought of doing The Alpha Course but because of my background, I felt almost guilty or hypocritical for even thinking about it!
Then something truly dreadful happened to the one person I knew who did have faith. When this happened, I expected her to be angry, to renounce God and to turn her back on religion. But she didn’t. Instead, she seemed to gain a great strength from her faith. She was strong and calm and seemed to have an inner peace and understanding. I was stunned and couldn’t believe it but I did know that I wanted to understand it. I wanted whatever she had that gave her such peace and inner confidence.
My mind was made up and I booked the Alpha Course. I booked it almost as a “fact finding” mission but it ended up being a real emotional rollercoaster. The course became a sort of healing process for me. I quickly realised that I was living my life in limbo: I needed to forgive so that I could move on and find my own peace. Each week I would mull over what had been said, look things up on the internet and discuss it with friends and colleagues. Some weeks I struggled but as time went on, I became eager to learn and to change. I shed many tears and went through all sorts of emotions.
When the course finished, I decided I wanted to find out more and I started going to Church. After a while, I knew that this was my missing link: I was ready to take that leap of faith. Since then I haven’t looked back.
It’s corny, I know, but I feel like a new person now: most importantly, I feel loved. It’s not easy to follow a Christian path - I make mistakes and slip back to my old ways all the time. But I’m confident that God loves me and that he is my rock. I know now that I don’t have to cope alone. My faith gives me strength and I know that God will always be there for me no matter what.
Jan
