Taking the plunge........................ Ruth Johnson
“The Lord delights in
the way of the man whose steps he has made firm, though he stumble, he will not
fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
Ps.37:23-24
At the beginning of June
we left for Spain
with a sense that a new day was dawning for our nation. My belief, and from every prophetic word I read
God’s call was, and is, for us to leave the EU.
How the result of that has shaken-up our government and nation.
On holiday, my friend was lent Hannah Hurnard’s
book “Hind’s feet in High Places”. Its
forty years since I read it, I’d forgotten how good it was. And that led me to call my friend, ‘Much
Afraid’ when she was skeptical about using the water slide. Bravely I declared, “I’ll go down first”. Oh
ha ha! I shot down it so fast I plunged into the water and holding on to my sun
hat came up spluttering! Laughter ensued, and she determining to overcome fear
lowered herself into position. Once in the running water she was immediately swept
downward, and with no control over her speed when the slide ended our last
sighting was of her foot as she briefly skimmed the water before disappearing under
the water.
Undeterred, we enjoyed the slide many times that week. Being shorter than her my hat was constantly
wet, but she mastered the art of jumping off at the end to keep her hair
dry! The Lord showed her that when He initially calls us
we can be fearful, but we need to let His perfect love cast out our fear. In positioning ourselves and saying ‘yes’ to
Him there maybe times when things seem out of our control, but it’s then we
learn to put our trust in God’s promises and His Word. And even if we feel we are drowning He will help
us rise above our circumstances. Our endeavours
may result in a ‘flop’ but if we continue to trust Him we will gain confidence
and overcome. .
Uncertainty and fear is rife across our country, yet this is
a wonderful analogy of how trusting in the Lord changes our perspectives. I am
convinced God loves this nation and is very much in control of our destiny. The Lord’s aim is to rebuild His values and
bless us.
I said ‘yes’ to the Lord in 2010 when I stepped out of my
comfort zone to stand for Parliament. I now
write regularly to my MP about issues I barely understand. This prompted an invitation to tour Parliament on Monday. Afterwards with the beautiful weather we lunched with him
on the terrace before witnessingTeresa
May give her first PM motion on the nuclear deterrent as David Cameron
looked on. The benches were full, there were constant interruptions to debate and question and kept in order by the speaker and his wit especially during Jeremy Corbyn's speech.
Our government needs God’s wisdom, but I believe the Lord’s hand is already uplifting us.
Dear Ruth, I love your anecdote about the slide, but I am not sure we should be making political statements on this blog, which many other readers and writers will profoundly disagree with, for entirely godly reasons of faith and conscience. I for instance think Brexit is a disaster, and would find it very hard to see God's hand in it, because I believe our faith calls us to transcend nationalism and to care for the vulnerable, who are being repeatedly targeted by our current government for cuts the MPs are unwilling to undergo themselves, and fear that Brexit will be even more disastrous for the poor, disabled and unemployed, as the UK seeks to be free of European regulations which protect the exploited, including our Human Rights Act. You are free to disagree with me, but I don't think you should be using this blog to promote your views, and especially not to imply God is on your side. That seems to me close to taking the name of the Lord in vain.
ReplyDeleteWhen you look into the foundations of the EU: see the film "The Rape of Europe" by David Hathaway made ten years ago, and the Brexit movie showing old film footage of how the EU has developed I do believe God wanted us out. However our faith tells us that God is always in
ReplyDeletecontrol and despite the shake-up we now have a greater Christian influence in the cabinet. Teresa May voted to remain but has now committed to look after the marginalised, so lets believe she will. And there's good news too for in the last month 2,000 people in Reading have accepted Jesus as their Saviour and this is spreading to other towns and cities. So let faith arise for Jesus clearly promises that if we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness He will supply our needs. He will never let us down so I am trusting Him to do more than any of us could ever hope or imagine. My blogs are written from my relationship with the Lord, they often contain analogies, but the intention is not to promote a view, but share of His love and grace.
I so agree with you about Brexit, Ruth being a Lydia member and feeling the prophecies were right. I also would so like to read the Hannah Hurnard book, 'Hinds Feet'. Must get round to it some day soon. Thanks for the share.
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