30/09/2013

Do miracles really happen?

Tonight I explored the REquest website that our friend Alex who works for Youth for Christ recommended to us after one of her lectures at Cliff Bible college.
On the main page, choose People and under the name of George Müller the sub-heading that caught my attention said :  do miracles really happen?

George Müller was popular with the children in his school in the Prussian town of Heimersleben, where his father was the tax collector. But his friends were not a good influence. Together they were often caught, lying, stealing, gambling, and frequently getting drunk. Eventually Müller, aged 16 years old, was caught by the police for stealing and spent nearly a month in prison. Nothing changed when he went to Halle University until, when he was 18, he had become sick and tired of the way he was living. He decided to become a Christian. The change was dramatic and he was so keen to tell others about this that very soon he decided to become a missionary.

In May 1829, he travelled to London for Bible training but after a few weeks became very ill. He was advised to move to the West Country to recover, and it was at Teignmouth that the plans for his life changed yet again. Here he married Mary Groves, and met Henry Craik, who was to become a life-long friend. In Devon, both George and Henry served as pastors of small chapels and, unlike most pastors, they decided not to accept any salary. Instead they asked God to supply their needs without telling anyone else about them. In 1832, Mary, George and Henry moved to Bristol to share in the care of two large chapels there, and they followed this same principle there, and did so for the rest of their lives. In 1834, Müller set up the Scriptural Knowledge Institution (S.K.I.) to provide practical support for missionaries.

Bristol had very poor sanitation. The water was dirty from terrible sewers. Soon after Müller arrived, the city was devastated by an epidemic of cholera, and many hundreds of people died. George and Henry visited the sick people, trusting God to keep them from catching the disease. So many people had died that there were hundreds of orphans with no-one to care for them. Many were reduced to begging in the streets. George Müller wanted to do something to help, and it was this that started his life’s work for God.

George and Mary prayed about this great need for some weeks. They shared their concern with other Christians. Müller saw this as an opportunity to prove to the people of Bristol the reality of faith in God, who answers the prayers of those who trust him. Day by day more gifts of money arrived, some just a few pence, others hundreds of pounds. But Müller was determined never to get into debt. He waited until £1000 had been given specifically for an Orphan Home before he rented No. 6 Wilson Street. This was a large terraced house in the centre of Bristol.

The first Orphan House was opened on April 11th, 1836 for orphan girls aged 7 and over. Within a few weeks, this was filled to capacity with 30 girls and two Christian ladies to care for them. Müller was saddened to have to turn away younger orphans and so, six months later, he rented another house (No 1) in the same street, together with a piece of land for a playground. Within a month this house was furnished and opened for infant girls and boys.

In October1837, Müller opened a third house (No 3 Wilson St.) for 40 orphan boys aged 7 or over. All Müller’s children were given good clothes to wear and enjoyed clean, warm homes. They were brought up to share in some of the household duties. They never went hungry although, unknown to them, the stocks of food frequently ran out. Day after day gifts were brought to the Homes, rarely more than enough for one or two days but never too little.

As they prayed and trusted God amazing things happened. For example, one morning with no bread or milk with which to prepare breakfast, ‘grace’ was said and God thanked for what He would provide. Just then, the doorbell rang and there was the baker who could not sleep during the night and had got up and baked a whole batch of bread for the orphans. The milkman, whose cart had broken down in the road outside and who needed to off-load the churns of milk to repair the wheel followed shortly after. Although resources were often stretched, Müller and all his staff continued to trust God, as this note from one of the Homes shows:

“With potatoes from the children’s garden and with apples from the tree in the playground (for apple dumplings) and 4s 6d the price of some articles given by one of the labourers, we have a dinner. There is much needed but the Lord will provide.”

With so many children in one city street, there were some problems. Neighbours complained about the noise at playtime and this lasted a long time since the one playground was only large enough to be used by the children from one home at a time. Occasionally the drains became overloaded, and the water supplies were inadequate. Müller also began to dream of open spaces with clean, fresh air and walks for the children, of gardens where the boys could grow crops and girls could hang out the mountains of laundry.

After praying about it for a long time, George Müller shared his ideas with other Christians, and a plan for the future began to unfold. Large gifts started to come in for the building of a new Orphan House. Müller was able to purchase 7 acres of open land at Ashley Down on the outskirts of Bristol.
After his death in 1898 many expected the work to run down but, under the leadership of Christians with the same trust in God, the homes on Ashley Down continued to care for orphans. When the orphan work ceased in 1986 – almost 100 years after Müller’s death - almost 18,000 orphans had been cared for. 
I also found an article George wrote about faith and here is the passage that struck me the most. 

When I first began to allow God to deal with me, relying on Him, taking Him at His Word, and set out fifty years ago simply relying on Him for myself, family, taxes, travelling expenses and every other need, I rested on the simple promises I found in the sixth chapter of Matthew. Read Matthew 6:25-34 carefully. I believed the Word, I rested on it and practiced it. I took God at His word. A stranger, a foreigner in England, I knew seven languages and might have used them perhaps as a means of remunerative employment but I had consecrated myself to labor for the Lord, I put my reliance in the God who has promised, and He has acted according to His Word. I've lacked nothing - nothing. I have had my trials, my difficulties, and my purse empty, but my receipts have aggregated thousands of dollars, while the work has gone on these 51 years. Then, with regard to my pastoral work; for the past 51 years I have had great difficulties, great trials and perplexities. There will always be difficulties, always trials. But God has sustained me under them and delivered now out of them, and the work has gone on. 
Now, this is not, as some have said, because I am a man of great mental power, or endowed with energy and perseverance - these are not the reasons. 
It is because I have confided in God; because I have sought God, and He has cared for the Institution, which, under His direction, has 100 schools, with masters and mistresses and other departments which I have told you before.
To read more, click here
Do miracles happen in our lives?  I believe that they do, you may not even know that they are. Still the Lord who loves us, looks after us well, his children.

27/09/2013

Messy church rocks!


This afternoon, Steven and I went to messy church in Weston.We met up with Phil, the rector, Gill, the messy church team leader and the other members of the team.Once again, the village hall was full of children and parents. On the play list was my favourite song : Who is the king of me? J.E.S.U.S. The kids loved it!
We gave thanks to the Lord for all the good things that He provides us with. The most popular activity was the following, you had to design bracelets or necklaces with food bits, such as grapes, candy floss, sweets, cheerios and  strawberry strings. Have you done messy church before, it's a lot of organisation but good fun!


Photo

24/09/2013

Stop at 6 pm every Tuesday

and pray for your


Children
Schools &
Community
This idea was conceived and developed by my friend Jen whom I met at Cliff Bible College at the beginning of September. Join us then here or type https://twitter.com/Pray_at_6
Blessings. N.

The Degradation of Christian Women under Islam

The Degradation of Christian Women under Islam
Muslim Persecution of Christians: June, 2013

by Raymond Ibrahim at the Gatestone Institute
A church in the Syrian village of al-Duwayr, after an attack by Islamist militiamen. (Image credit: Syria Report)
Meanwhile, in Egypt, U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson was urging Christian Copts not to protest Muslim Brotherhood rule, even though they would suffer under it most. According to Al Azhar, the world's oldest Islamic university, Islam is a religion of peace.

The degradation of Christian women living in the Islamic world continued in the month of June. In Syria, after the al-Qaeda linked rebel group conquered Qusair, a city of the governate of Homs, 15-year-old Mariam was kidnapped, repeatedly gang raped according to a fatwa legitimizing the rape of non-Sunni women by any Muslim waging jihad against Syria's government, and then executed.

According to Agenzia Fides, "The commander of the battalion 'Jabhat al-Nusra' in Qusair took Mariam, married and raped her. Then he repudiated her. The next day the young woman was forced to marry another Islamic militant. He also raped her and then repudiated her. The same trend was repeated for 15 days, and Mariam was raped by 15 different men. This psychologically destabilized her and made her insane. Mariam became mentally unstable and was eventually killed."

In Pakistan, Muslim men stormed the home of three Christian women, beat them, stripped them naked and tortured them, and then paraded them in the nude in a village in the Kasur district. Days earlier, it seems the goats of the Christian family had accidentally trespassed onto Muslim land; Muslims sought to make an example of the Christian family, who, as third-class citizens, must know their place at all times.

Iraq: During the middle of the night, armed men attacked St. Mary's Assyrian Catholic Church in Baghdad; they wounded two Christian guards, one seriously. Later the same day, bombs were set off at two Christian-owned businesses, both near the church; they killed one Christian shop owner, a parishioner at St. Mary's. Since the U.S. "liberation" of Iraq in 2003, 73 churches have been attacked or bombed, and more than half of the country's Christian population has either fled or been killed.
Continue reading, click here
Father, we thank you that we have the freedom of faith and worship in our countries. We ask you in the name of Jesus-Christ our Saviour and King to stop those conflicts, to give wisdom to the leaders of those countries, to strengthen all our Christian brothers and sisters who live in such countries where those atrocities prevail, to help them rebuild their lives and guide us to do our utmost in our lives to spread your message of love, forgiveness and peace. May your will be done in Jesus'name. Amen

22/09/2013

Special Harvest celebration!

Off to The Bank House Inn for a Harvest celebration that is a bit different, with some food and as always, music for all ages. Starts at 7 pm. Have a blessed evening!

Forgiveness



Forgiveness


(Toby Mac)


There is nothing sweeter than find forgiveness cos we all make mistakes sometimes.
No matter how lost you are, you are not too far from forgiveness.
Ask for forgiveness..


The following verse in Matthew (18:21-22)is one of my favorite!


21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, when someone won’t stop doing wrong to me, how many times must I forgive them? Seven times?”22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive them more than seven times. You must continue to forgive them even if they do wrong to you seventy-seven times.




20/09/2013

Pick of the week: Woman wakes from coma, finds out she’s 12 weeks pregnant

Gemma Holmes Refuses Abortion and Gives Birth to Miracle Baby After Waking Up From a Coma Pregnant
Photo credit: Newsy/ITV
A woman awoke from a coma after a horrific crash to find that she was four months pregnant.
Last September, Gemma Holmes was on her moped in Hilperton, England when she crashed into a parked car. Holmes suffered severe head injuries and a broken back. When she arrived to the hospital doctors did not think the 26-year-old would make it.
About three months after the crash Holmes awoke from the coma and was told she was four months pregnant. Holmes suffered amnesia as a result of the accident and she could not remember what had happened going back several years including who the father might be. "I was just in shock," she said of hearing the surprising news.
Doctors advised her that keeping the baby could pose a risk to her health and that the surgery she required to fix her broken back could to be done while she was pregnant. Doctors apparently suggested terminating the pregnancy while Holmes was still unconscious, but her mother, Julie, wanted to wait for her daughter to wake up before making any decisions. Gemma decided that she would carry pregnancy to term, according to the Wiltshire Times "I just thought that if this little baby inside me had managed to survive the awful crash, then he was meant to be," she told ITV.
In May, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Rueben Miracle Holmes via cesarean section.
"I couldn't stop crying when they first showed him to me, because he is my little miracle baby. I was just so happy to see him after everything we've been through," she told SWNS.com.
Holmes is preparing for surgery that will correct her back and hopefully lean to walk again.
"Rueben is the best thing to ever happen to me. I may not remember how he came to me but I've got the rest of our lives to make up for that," Holmes told Reveal.co.uk in May.
I found this story wonderful, Gemma was so brave to take the decision to go ahead with the pregnancy, It is also said that she suffered excruciating pain, since she was unable to take the usual high doses of painkillers. as these might have harmed her baby.  Doctors told Gemma that she couldn’t have a natural birth because it would likely cause her death. Her broken back would not be able to cope with the contractions.
But Gemma’s pain and sacrifice paid off when in May she met Ruben Miracle Holmes for the first time, delivered by caesarian section.
To read more, click here!  


15/09/2013

What is love?

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13

07/09/2013

God's love letter

"The Bible is God's love letter to us, and it describes the Lord Jesus, who said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10."

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

“There is no panic in Heaven! God has no problems, only plans.”

“Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”

“Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.”

Corrie ten Boom