HERE IS GOOD

To continue, post six and the last of the series. If you have read the previous five posts I have described how I had a “spiritual awakening”, how that affected me and what happened as the result of it. 

After the initial impact I had three months of what I can only describe as absolute blissful peace.  We still had major emotional and financial problems but nothing seemed to touch me.  Could this have been what is known as "Grace of God?” I don’t know, but it felt good. 

Unfortunately it didn’t last forever, but by this time I had the means of dealing with my situation.  It was, to say the least, a very exciting time with many unexplained things happening, one of which was that Davy and I had become concerned about our very dear friend Steve who was becoming fascinated with some of the fringe "ism" groups. I had “coincidentally” recently bought a book on “cults & isms”.  We decided to give this to him and his wife, along with my cherished Bible. 

Giving my Bible away was a great wrench for me but we figured that their need was greater than ours.  When we arrived home that evening, lo and behold, there was a parcel on our door step.  In it was a wedding present from two of the ladies at the church.  A Bible!  Another "coincidence"!? 

The upshot of this is that our friends became Christians soon after attending our wedding at Millmead and Steve then went on to become a great charismatic influencer with a tremendous gift for service. 

Fast forward four years.  Many, many other unexplainable things happened, however, these stories are not about me and, therefore, not mine to tell.  The bottom line is that my time at Millmead was about to come to an end.  Davy’s mother was terminally ill with cancer and we decided to move to Lincolnshire so that we could be near her in her final days. 

The downside of leaving such an inspirational church is that other churches, particularly the few I tried in rural Lincolnshire, felt like spiritual desserts.  I came out feeling worse than when I went in so I spent next 26 years doing my own thing! And, I might add, not very successfully!

A couple of years ago I started getting agitated about this and set off to look for an Alpha Course.  Unfortunately I had just missed one, and was introduced to some of the people that had been on it.  I asked if there were any “lively” churches in the area and was recommended three, St George’s in Stamford, the Community Church in Peterborough and Holy Trinity in Boston.

I tried St George’s and loved it, but it’s about 30 miles from where I live and felt the need to find a church more local to me so I tried Holy Trinity which is only 10 miles away. 

It was Mothering Sunday and as soon as I walked in I felt that I belonged.  During the service Simon, the minister, asked the young people to come to the front and collect potted primroses for their mothers. I found this simple act of love profoundly touching and when a young man gave me one too I nearly fell apart!  I hadn't expected that.  In fact I cried.  If the truth be told I’m just an emotion wreck hiding under a gruff exterior, but please keep that to yourself.   

The mystery is - why did I start agitating to find a church at that particular time?  All I can say is that it’s been a particularly difficult year and I believe that I was guided to solid ground to help me to deal with more of life's "challenges"! J  I feel safe now.  In the bosom of a caring community, learning, one day at a time, how to live a richly fulfilling spiritual life. 

Well, that’s my story from there to here and I must say that, one day at a time, here is good.
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