We have settled in well into our new place. It has been a few months now since we moved in. Andrea and I still think it is like living in a holiday place. We are just astonished at God’s blessing and provision for us.
We had a house warming party. People came and went but all in all we had over 80 people turn up. It was a great time and I felt very privileged at the number of people who consider me there friend.
Many have known us for a very long time and have been looking for us to move to the East End of London so we're celebrating with us the open door that had come along.
The church that we go to has changed. Some 18 months ago the church felt right we should have a separate congregation meet in Stratford. And then we felt have a church set up in Bow and now, from January, we are having three separate congregations Stratford, Bow and Shoredich; Andrea and me are joining the Shoreditch congregation.
Kieren and Jenny had a little baby girl back in June meaning we are Grandparents. Mia is growing well and already she is sitting up she is able to turn herself over. It won’t be long before she is crawling and “walking round the furniture”.
All our family stayed in a rented cottage in Hunstanton in Norfolk over the Christmas period. , Richard flew from Berlin, what with all the snow we were getting worried if ever they would be able to make it.
Andrea’s parents are getting frail so were unable to transport themselves to this cottage. I got to theirs by train and drive their car to the cottage. Andrea’s mother was quite grateful that I offered to do this, otherwise they would have been left out.
The cottage, (well it is a large house really) slept 12 people and had 6 bedrooms. It was ideal for us to stay in over Christmas. It was very reasonably priced as well. It was Fiona, Richard’s wife, that did the hard work and found it on the Internet. My family are good bunch but, when we do get together, we do tend to be a bit loud.
The Journey home was quite interesting. I drove Andrea’s mum and dad back and stayed over night there. I caught the train from Clacton to London. All went well until the train stopped between stations. Apparently the train in front of us had inadvertently pulled down power lines. We were going nowhere! It took over three hours to solve the problem.
At my work we have been worried about the cuts and how it will affect our jobs. I am glad though as the boss says we are not expecting to cut jobs until at least 2012. This was a relief.
Andrea too was a little worried. She only works for a small charity who make tapestries. There is less demand now so work has dried up a little. She wanted to continue to express faith to God and was reminded of the verse in the Bible
“ 17 Fig trees may not grow figs,
and there may be no grapes on the vines.
There may be no olives growing
and no food growing in the fields.
There may be no sheep in the pens
and no cattle in the barns.
18 But I will still be glad in the Lord;
I will rejoice in God my Savior.
19 The Lord God is my strength.
He makes me like a deer that does not stumble
so I can walk on the steep mountains.(Habakkuk 3 17-19)
Later on in the month though, God seemed to speak to her from her daily reading of the Bible from Ezekiel 34 v 25-27
25 ‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. 26 I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing.[a] I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them.”
Andrea does not normally get things like this happen to her so she felt it was special. She was encouraged to continue to have faith in God and know He will take care of us as a couple.
In lots of ways it is quite similar to what God spoke to me many years ago from the Book of Isaiah
“Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58 8-11)
I think God has a lot planned for us. I believe many of these words have already been fulfilled in us. We have been a blessing to many people. We have seen God use us to change and affect lots of people’s lives we have come into contact with.
