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Prayer
I imagine that many more people than usual will have been praying during this Lock-down period, prayers for healing, for comfort, for miracles, for reassurance, and perhaps this last will best describe the prayers of Christian believers. I am reminded of many instances in my own life time when prayer and the power of prayer has been very positive. One such time for me occurred in 1958. I was very pregnant with our first child, Doug had been up to London for a meeting with various important Officers. He had recently been very discontent with the “comfortableness” of his job at the Tottenham Grammar School and our general situation though why the prospect of a new baby was not exciting enough I’m not sure. He arrived home late from the meeting to announce, “We’re going to Africa”! Apparently I didn’t freak out at the time but the next day the panic began and I could only imagine the worst, moving so far away to an unknown situation, would we live in a hut with an earth floor? Would there be trouble with the local people, a shortage of supplies, unfamiliar food, etc. etc.?
My Quiet time that day included these verses from Psalm 91.
"You will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday!"
These verses stood out and quieted those fears I was inflicting on myself, gave the reassurance I so needed. We had six and a half wonderful years in Northern Rhodesia which became Zambia while we were living there, Doug doing Teacher Training with African students and we had the privilege of founding, with an Australian missionary lady the Salvation Army corps in Livingstone.
Many years later, retired and living in West London, soldiering at the Staines corps, involved in all the activities for more than twenty five years. The idea to move away from the smoke, the traffic, the noise from Heathrow was suggested. I was not enthusiastic, we had many good friends it would be hard to leave, we were settled and comfortable but the possibility of moving closer to the family was tempting. I asked the Lord frequently for some direction and discussed with many friends my dilemma, should we move or not. Eventually, one friend who was against the idea of us leaving asked in one of our conversations, would you like to take a Promise and produced a Promise Box, where lots of little scrolls with a scripture text printed on them were stored. I took a promise and we waited with baited breath only to find the text said ‘I will be with thee whithersoever thou goeth,’ Was my prayer for guidance too trivial for a ‘go or don’t go’ answer? No, I think not, it was a wonderful reassurance that God would be with me/us wherever and in every circumstance. We came to Bedfordshire and the rest is history. God has been with us, blessed and guided us, what more could one ask.
I pray that those who have been’ unusually’ praying in desperate circumstances will have found comfort and will want to continue in their search for the presence of God in their lives.
Thank you Lord for the power of prayer and the knowledge of your love.
My Quiet time that day included these verses from Psalm 91.
"You will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday!"
These verses stood out and quieted those fears I was inflicting on myself, gave the reassurance I so needed. We had six and a half wonderful years in Northern Rhodesia which became Zambia while we were living there, Doug doing Teacher Training with African students and we had the privilege of founding, with an Australian missionary lady the Salvation Army corps in Livingstone.
Many years later, retired and living in West London, soldiering at the Staines corps, involved in all the activities for more than twenty five years. The idea to move away from the smoke, the traffic, the noise from Heathrow was suggested. I was not enthusiastic, we had many good friends it would be hard to leave, we were settled and comfortable but the possibility of moving closer to the family was tempting. I asked the Lord frequently for some direction and discussed with many friends my dilemma, should we move or not. Eventually, one friend who was against the idea of us leaving asked in one of our conversations, would you like to take a Promise and produced a Promise Box, where lots of little scrolls with a scripture text printed on them were stored. I took a promise and we waited with baited breath only to find the text said ‘I will be with thee whithersoever thou goeth,’ Was my prayer for guidance too trivial for a ‘go or don’t go’ answer? No, I think not, it was a wonderful reassurance that God would be with me/us wherever and in every circumstance. We came to Bedfordshire and the rest is history. God has been with us, blessed and guided us, what more could one ask.
I pray that those who have been’ unusually’ praying in desperate circumstances will have found comfort and will want to continue in their search for the presence of God in their lives.
Thank you Lord for the power of prayer and the knowledge of your love.
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PS.
When we travelled to Rhodesia, we took a minimum of luggage, the rest of our possessions were to follow later. We took Doug’s precious Black Box, the latest in gramophone technology but only two 45 records. One was Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians performance of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’!! The other was The Harry Simeone Choral singing Onward Christian Soldiers! To this day I don’t know if this was a deliberate choice or not!! Click on the image to here the song. |
Note: This series of 'Pause for Thought' started on Monday 4th May. To find these previous thoughts go to the Archive section of the website listed under the 'more.....' tab at the top of the page. On the 'Daily Pause for Thought' section of the website we will only keep 2 weeks of contributions before putting them into the Archive.
Can you help?
In this current situation when our church doors are closed to our normal activities but our work to support those in need continues, our normal source of funds (Sunday Tithes and Offerings) have reduced dramatically. We need your help, so that we continue to be ready to meet the ongoing needs of our community that will undoubtedly impact beyond this lock down period. If you are willing to help please visit our Just Giving Page to make a donation to this work. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bedfordsa