Faith

Let Them Know

This is a parody of Frozen’s “Let It Go“, about evangelism. I wrote the lyrics, and directed and edited the filming. I hope it encourages children and young people, and all Christians, to tell the world about Jesus.

Signs and Wonders

“I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” (Isaiah 45:3)

I remember reading that when you lay cheek to cheek with someone and feel their eyelashes flutter it is called “butterfly kisses”. I also remember reading someone coin the term “butterfly blessings” for little things she noticed God doing throughout the day. I often think of this when thanking God for good things that happen in my day.

Everyday I am surprised and awed by the many little things that God does to show me He is there for me and strengthen my faith. In the past, I have earnestly prayed for a sign from God and He has answered my prayer. Just like the majestic miracles in the Bible, God still speaks and acts today.

When I was a teenager, I took part in a beach mission telling children about Jesus. However, I was going through doubts in my own faith at the time. I prayed desperately for a sign that God was real. One weekend, I went to a church I had never been to before, and the priest suddenly ripped up his sermon notes!

“I don’t usually do this”, he said.

“But God has a message for somebody here.

He wants to tell you He is real”.

I knew it was a message for me, and told him so after the service, in tears. He prayed for me and my twin sister and said we would bring many people to God. I treasure this prophecy in my heart.

Since then, I have had lots more signs from God, both great and small. One time, when I was working for the church, I had a period of low self esteem and wondered if God loved me or not. I prayed about it, and within the space of a few days God showed me this Bible verse-

³⁸For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 8: 38-39).

I read it in my Bible daily devotional (www.youversion.com- download the Bible app), the next day a sermon was preached on it, the next day I sang the song “Jesus’ Love Is Very Wonderful” with my toddler group- the lyrics are “Jesus’ love is very wonderful, so high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t go under it, so wide you can’t get round it, oh wonderful love!” These things are often called “coincidences” by the world, but I prefer the term “Godincidences” I heard somewhere.

The way I met my husband was miraculous. I had always wanted to get married before I turned 30. At 28, I had been single for about 4 or 5 years, my twin sister was married and pregnant and I was desperate for my husband. I had gone on hundreds of dates with different people from Christian dating sites but not found my ideal man, a man full of hunger for God but also one I would be attracted to and have fun with. Every night I would cry myself to sleep and pray, safe in the knowledge that God hears me and counts my tears. “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (Psalm 56:8)

On my 29th Birthday I met a gorgeous Christian man on the dating site http://www.christianconnection.com the same site my twin had met her husband. We talked on the phone and a week later we had our first date at a Church in London, followed by Pizza Express. We discussed the Bible and Jesus the whole time and I felt an attraction to him like never before. In church I had a vision/imagining of me in a wedding dress and both of us standing at the altar. I dismissed this as wishful thinking, but that night, he called me and told me something amazing. On his way home, he had been thinking about me and wondering who I was in his life. Suddenly he saw a light and a voice from Heaven said “son, this is your wife.” I didn’t know what to think when he told me, but time would tell. Time told its ancient tale and we fell passionately in love. Less than three months later, on fireworks day, the love of my life proposed. We married six months after that, with Jesus firmly in the centre of our relationship. I celebrated my 30th Birthday a newly-wed of three months!

God’s timing was perfect as I had come out of a tumultuous time in my faith due to bad relationships and confusing heresies/cult theologies. I needed my time of singleness to focus on God and grow strong in Him so my desires matched His when I was looking for my husband. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) God also showed me the story in the Bible of Abraham sacrificing Isaac, he went to sacrifice Isaac but God stopped him and he saw a bull in a bush, a better sacrifice. I had to sacrifice my feelings for my ex and trust God had a better plan for me- my true love husband. God healed my broken heart. (“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”. Psalm 34:18) He also showed me a picture of Jesus encouraging a girl to give Him her teddy she was holding tight- behind His back was a gigantic teddy. This really spoke to me- He had something much better in store.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you’, says the Lord. ‘Plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'” (Jeremiah 29:11)

My husband told me as a teenager he would pray for a wife exactly like me, even down to the white dress I wore in my profile picture! I am astounded and grateful everyday that God has given me my dream-come-true man, even ticking superficial boxes like curly hair and blue eyes! God loves to give good gifts and two-fold blessings, more than we can ever ask or imagine.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen!” (Ephesians 3:21)

Another major miracle and example of God’s perfect timing in my life is healing me from infertility! I was trying for a baby for 2 years with my husband but had been diagnosed with PCOS which meant I did not ovulate every month. After a year I took clomid tablets and conceived in the third month but sadly miscarried. I tried about 6 more rounds of clomid to no avail so signed up for IVF. While on the waiting list I was going to try letrozole, but I was diagnosed with a prolactinoma so needed to take medicine for that first to try to shrink it. At the same time as this my routine cervical screening test came back as abnormal so I needed to go for futher investigations. It all got overwhelming and I prayed for healing as I had done before, but this time I felt God say “you are already healed” and put a Biblical name in my head. I looked it up and it means “God has healed”. I was so excited and dared to wonder could I be healed from everything? I did a pregnancy test a few days later- and it was miraculously positive! I had not taken any medications as I had been waiting to come on my period first. It was a total miracle! I am so grateful for our precious baby every single day. At 17 weeks pregnant I got the call from the IVF clinic and was able to share my testimony- no meds, just prayer and a miraculous God of wonders! He works so spectacularly to us humans it seems last minute but it is His absolute perfect timing. As my husband recently put it, at 10 to 10pm it looks like nothing’s happening but at 10pm everything can change! God is a God of the 10 to 10!

3 months after my baby was born I went for a cervical smear and, as you may have guessed, results came back clear! This is where words cannot begin to describe the amazing miraculous God I serve in Jesus name.

As well as these monumental signs, I experience daily “butterfly blessings”. For instance, myself and my friend planned topics to teach children in our Bible Adventures after-school club. To our surprise, we had planned the week on Creation to be the exact same week that the entire school were learning about Creation! (I worked in a Christian school). Also, I saw a rainbow in the sky the week before we taught the story of Noah’s Ark. In our club we had a “Signs and Wonders” board to record all these little moments from God, where we get glimpses of His greater plan. Like a ball of string, all the events and decisions in our lives tie up together. As the Bible says,

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,^[g] for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

I recommend to anyone who wants to get closer to God, to pray for Him to reveal Himself. Having a relationship with Jesus is the most amazing and indescribably joyful thing you could ever do. He already knows and loves you (https://www.fathersloveletter.com/text.html), and is waiting for you to come home to Him.

²⁶“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸for“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;^[d] as even some of your own poets have said,“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’^[e] (Acts 17: 26-28)

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Christian Poetry

2 Corinthians 3:17

There’s no greater prison

Than the games inside our heads.

No greater punishment

Than the chains of our brains.

Confusing bruising past

memories.

Poison drip by

drip

From other people’s cups.

his cup split

my skull scattered

our memories spread

down my brain pipe

into my spineless

stomach. Congealed

and waiting.

Poison cast

ironed a prison

heart blocked.

My soul untouched

Too damaged to touch.

A prison of a thousand years.

Only One can set me free.

Bold beholden He

kisses life from bloodied lips.

He rides through death’s door

destroys the forest’s fire

that tangled my sleeping

beauty

His power in flaming sword

casts away spinning

entrails of memory.

I wait

Cold flesh contained

in my glass case.

The poison apple-guised

as love, clutching my heart strangle-hold.

Inside I’m crying but not dead yet.

Silent struggle an echo of

my worldwide brothers and sisters,

grasping, reaching, thorns flashing

through tormenting flesh.

My eyes rise

He is light like the Son

He is light.

My pupils shrink

He bends down to

Breathe

Life!

When God Stepped Down (sung to music)