A Testimony

In last week’s message Michael encouraged us to share testimonies of how God has worked in our lives and in last week’s service we heard testimonies of how some of our church family have experienced God’s love and faithfulness. This led me to use this opportunity of sharing something of how God has worked in my life through the years.

My parents were not church goers but my sisters and I had a great aunt who was a regular member of the Salvation Army and she told us that she regularly prayed that we would find opportunities to come to know the true message of the gospel. She was thrilled that her prayers were answered! May this be an encouragement to all of us to pray regularly for those in our families who are not following the way we would like them to follow.

We did attend Sunday School on the Sundays our parents didn’t take us out and we joined a weeknight girls’ class together with some school friends. Our teachers taught God’s word by example as well as by set lessons and they became our friends and mentors. Some of them kept in touch throughout their lives. I attended the thanksgiving service for the last of them just about a year ago. I am encouraged to see those working with the young people in our church making friends with them and showing an interest in their lives and I trust that this kind of ministry can continue and that the young people will be encouraged to continue following Christ throughout their lives.

Through the girls’ class we formed close friendships, without which I am not sure that we would have stood as strongly as Christians. A group of five of us from non-churchgoing families have supported and encouraged one another throughout our varied and active lives as we have worked in countries as varied as France, Ethiopia, Morocco and Afghanistan. When we pray for our young people, may this encourage us to pray particularly that they will be able to build relationships that will help them to stand strong in their faith.

Over the years, I have been very conscious of God’s guidance step by step. At critical stages I have felt in my heart that God was leading me in a certain direction and then as I began to respond to it, it was often confirmed in amazing ways. I even had a recent experience of since kind of thing happening. I have also been amazed by the way when the door to one avenue of service closed, another opened, sometimes even before I had time to think about it! I trust that whatever age we may be, we can be conscious of God’s working in our lives and using us to bless others.

Mary Breeze