THE PATHWAY AND FAITH

Our God is simply amazing! He knows everything; He sees our needs (He sees all our desires but promises to satisfy our “needs”: I want a 1960’s Fender Strat - (that’s a guitar by the way) but I defiantly do not “need” one!!) He loves us without condition and He delivers on His promises “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not to harm you”

We set out on our walk in our Christian life and at the start we are usually excited, buoyant, energetic, enthusiastic, infectious etc. And after we have been on that walk for a while and we find it’s a long and sometimes difficult one the edge goes off of our excitement, we are less enthusiastic not as “up” as we possibly should be and we wonder if we are on the correct path and if we should keep going.

Well Father God has given us a tool we can use to maintain our focus and to keep our enthusiasm and to boldly march out on the pathway He has set even when it is beset with obstacles and hurdles to get over:

FAITH

But what is that?

Politicians tell us to have faith in their policies but they let us down. Leading figures in sport, entertainments etc. ask us to put our faith in them but they let us down. Mum and Dad, Husband and Wife, Son and Daughter, Friends and the Church all tells us we can trust them but they let us down. We are not too good at this.

BUT God does not let us down. He will ALWAYS fulfil the purpose and plan He has in my life and yours. He will ALWAYS deliver on the promises that He makes and on that foundation alone we can place our FAITH

I know my path has been laid out before me by Almighty God. I do not always know where the path will lead and I cannot always see the end of that path but I know that God has a reason for everything going the way it does and being the way it is. It's not always clear to us but it is His plan nonetheless.  That’s where we can use that tool, that piece of armour He gives us – FAITH – sometime hard to define and explain but I know I am guided by my Faith and it means I know my pathway is going to bring a good outcome even if I don’t know how I will reach the end I know that the end will be what God has called me into

So we can sit down on our posteriors and do nothing and stay really safe and never be on the true pathway and never realise what it is God ultimately has planned for us OR we can take a step forward onto the Pathway accept that we may make mistakes and know that we are trusting on God because we cannot do this thing on our own and we can use the FAITH that God has given us all and finally reach the destiny that Daddy has prepared for me/us

God Bless

A New Start

Well January 7th 2013 was definitely a new start for me.

After spending 6 months out of work and using the Job Seekers Allowance system to try and simply "tread water" for my family and me, God delivered on His promise.

It is not the first time and it will not be the last time that I quote from Jeremiah 29 and verse 11:

" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

But when you are right in the middle of your life falling apart, your finances in rack and ruin (even if much of it was your own fault) when you receive nothing but rejection at job interviews for the strangest of reasons which are never explained ("We feel you would not fit our company culturally" - WHAT???!!!) and when you keep "trying" to do things your way, it's hard to embrace the truth of that verse, the promise from God and remember that God NEVER breaks His promises.

Whilst I did not experience anything approaching the things Job went through I do feel as though I was given a glimpse of the circumstances he was presented with. And Job remained firm on God's promise despite the circumstances he found himself in. And the truth is I am sure Job must have thought at times "what have I done??" he stood firm and trusted God.

Well I do not claim to be a Job, but I do declare that even with doubts in my mind at times I continued to seek after God, continued to ask Him to open the right doors to give me the right opportunities to show me the right path and I declared that I would hold onto the promises declared in Jeremiah 29.

The plans He has for us are to prosper us to give us a hope and a future.

Well PRAISE GOD that is exactly what He did. Not just giving me THE JOB (within the business world) that if I had free choice to walk into every job, this would have been the one, but to go beyond that. Isn't that just like a loving Father. Not satisfied with giving us what we ask for and what we need (a job, an income) He goes beyond that and blessed me with a salary that is the highest I have ever been paid. HALLELUJAH. I don't say that to boast I say that to give the glory back to God. And when I eventually finish the current story I am trying to write about where we are now, it can be clearly seen why that additional blessing is so important right now.

But then God KEEPS ON BLESSING:

During my last year with Heinz I worked with a simply amazing guy, a Christian, whom I miss and love dearly, Peter Eilers. We have maintained contact through Facebook and one day I truly hope that we can get together again. Peter and his wife have moved back to the USA and are living in Seattle. I cannot tell how fantastic it was to work alongside this Christian brother. Also during the last year I had discovered three or four other Christians in the wider procurement team, Peter had introduced me to a weekly prayer group that met and even amongst the new employees that came on board during 2011/12 a really strong Christian guy joined and tried to start a similar prayer gathering in the new European office in Zeist Holland. So things were really quite exciting in the company.

So last week during a "chat" conversation with a colleague at my new company IBM, I mentioned that we had been blessed with six children. This lady had just returned to the business after maternity leave hence the discussion around children. I had probably used the word "blessed" twice. She typed into the chat box "I hope you don't mind me asking but are you a Christian?" A very quick reply went back with "No I don't mind and Yes I am" - There was an almost audible hallelujah - "so am I" came back the message. I was the first other Christian she had found in the organisation - I just think it was another one of those very special Godincidencies.......................

So a promise from God fulfilled, a new start, a financial blessing and to top it off within the first 4 weeks I make contact with another Christian

Just hold onto His promises, His timing and His goodness will pour out into your life

Amen