A WEE PEEK – “…This very clear word, which could have been no coincidence, set us forward into prayer and before long, I felt the presence of God illuminating a major issue. At that moment I could see, like a blind man seeing for the first time, my own life and how I’d been controlled by fear…”

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A Release from Fear

PERSONAL TESTIMONY SERIES

On the run-up to the second operation, I had another encounter with God but little did I know, that this moment would be the most powerful I’d ever experienced. It began with a feeling of agitation and at that point, I knew that this was God impressing something upon my heart. So, I turned to some very experienced local Christian friends telling them the story and without going into too much depth, I headed off home having set a date for us to meet. A couple of days later, a friend from Edinburgh gave me a call, believing they had a word for me, and that word was fear. Now, these friends from Edinburgh had never met our local friends, so it was of huge excitement at the beginning the meet, with our local friends saying from the outset, that the issue was fear. When I told them our Edinburgh friends had said exactly the same thing, they were blown away.

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This very clear word, which could have been no coincidence, set us forward into prayer and before long, I felt the presence of God illuminating a major issue. At that moment I could see, like a blind man seeing for the first time, my own life and how I’d been controlled by fear. And it wasn’t a few big things, it was many and I could see that I’d been acting and living in fear, missing opportunities and experiences of peace and joy. Thankfully, when God impacts you in that way, your life changes and from then on, I wasn’t going to live in fear any longer. When I looked back again, it all seemed so clear, but when I looked forward, I now felt even more free and willing to take on any challenge.

It was really quite something and coupled with the deliverance from fierceness & anger, pride and now this spirit of fear, our lives took a dramatic turn. With these issues dealt with, our Christian lives began to snowball, not only in our sense of joy and peace but being finally set forward into our calling of Pastoring and preaching. And it didn’t end there, with this newfound fearlessness, I stepped forward into writing books and creating our first website, all the while thoroughly enjoying our new role of youth and young adult pastors. From then, this new mindset led us into even more opportunities, including stepping down from work to part-time work, to focus on our new Tribulation Soldier Series of Books and building this huge online platform. But without God, none of this would have happened. I didn’t like it at the time, but God dealing with these issues, using my ulcerative colitis illness and operations, cleared my head so that we could eventually live a real life.

A lot of time has passed from then until now and there’s no doubt you can still fear at times. But the overriding trait of confidence in God continues to trump any fear that you might have. It’s from this that you learn, that God, despite the circumstances, is doing a work in a person that even they can’t quite see. Yet, he has this goal in mind and does everything he can to bring that person into their promised land. The journey at times can present like a pregnancy, at times feeling uncomfortable and sore, but when the baby comes, just like the promise, the thought of the pain passes, so that you might enjoy this new thing.

BLOG BLURB – On the run-up to Christmas, we’ll share some more testimonies looking back at some of the things God did in our lives, in the hope that any will see, that he can do exactly the same for you!