My 2011 testimony given at Church on 1/1/12

19 months ago in May 2010 I was baptised & gave my testimony. I talked about the changes in my life that had happened since having Charlotte and how I’d seen God at work through those changes, like when he prunes a vine back. I remember saying that following the loss of my job and home I felt lost, but, through understanding the situation and working through it, and also God speaking to me about working with those in need in our community that although I didn’t know what the future held, I felt on the edge of something exciting…..

But I have to be honest and say that losing my Dad suddenly 6 months later & Charlotte being ill on & off for the next 6 months is certainly not what I had in mind when I said exciting.

& yet  here I am, excited about sharing with you and saying  that 2011 was an exciting year when I think about my faith, my spiritual growth & how God has answered prayer & there’s so much I could share but don’t want to go on for too long! lol
Many were there when a GP friend & I spoke at the Church meeting in March, when we truly believed & praised God that he had healed Charlotte of Leukaemia after her illness in January. A couple of weeks later I went on my own to Green Pastures Christian retreat centre for 3 days, to rest, to be quiet & spend time praying and reading my bible, seeking some strength & peace about everything that had happened. On the 2^nd evening after the prayer meeting the duty leader spoke to me and asked if I would like her to pray for me & said that whilst we we’re in the chapel God told her she needed to pray for me.  I accepted her offer and she put her hand on my shoulder & prayed. I was just blown away that God had touched me like that through her, it reassured me at a time I needed it that I was on the right track & he was there with me & lifted me so much.
Charlotte was diagnosed with Leukaemia on 19^th May & I’m sure many like me were shocked & confused having believed she’d been healed. Medically what happened was very unusual, but I believe God was at work in the situation and knew that it was too soon after Dad’s death for me & the family to cope with the effects of a diagnosis at that time & all that that brings. However by May when she was diagnosed, following my experience at Green Pastures I was so much stronger and gained more strength from so many verses that people gave to me during those first few weeks following her diagnosis, especially in hospital. Charlotte’s illness has allowed me to speak about my faith so many times to many people and I don’t know how I would have coped without God by my side. He has answered our prayers as Charlotte has stayed on the base level of chemo treatment and bone marrow tests have always had positive results, she has continued to gain weight without a nasal feeding tube which a lot of children have to have & despite a low or non-existent immune system at times & being at school she has remained well on the whole for the last 5 months, with only 1 night in hospital. Charlotte has grown in confidence & is very mature & independent when it comes to her treatment. She is due to start her 2^nd intensive 8 week phase of treatment on Friday, it having been delayed a week as her blood counts were too low following a virus over Christmas. Then she goes onto Maintenance chemo, which is basically oral chemo at home every day, with monthly visits to the hospital for an IV chemo drug, this goes on for the remaining 73 weeks of her treatment & it won’t be until after 5 years that she would be given the all clear…but I have no doubt at all in my mind that she will be fine. It’s a situation that makes you count your blessings as I’ve met children who don’t have a good prognosis and don’t know how parents cope in that situation without a faith.
In September we met another challenge which would lead to some worry & hard work when our landlords informed us they were selling our home & we would have to move.  I really wanted to stay in West Moors, for Charlotte’s school & our family & friends. After checking the private rental market I felt pretty despondent about where and what we were going to be moving to. Most properties were out of our budget or not very suitable and so although still praying I thought we would end up relying on the council to house us on the day we had to move out of our old home.  When we’d moved 2 years earlier our prayers were answered amazingly when a bungalow suddenly became available across the road from our old house at exactly the right time. I have to admit that although I was praying I was almost thinking God pulled something off last time but I can’t dare hope he’ll do it again, it would be asking too much. Then out of the blue a lady from a local Leukaemia charity contacted me on Facebook, she had seen from comments on there about having to move. She invited us to view a 3 bed chalet bungalow and I thought this can’t be right, I even went back to the lady & checked she did realise that we wanted to rent & she confirmed she did. I was puzzled as I knew the rent would be out of our budget but thought, she knows that, so began thinking, what if it happens, it would be unbelievable, it was almost like God had provided so amazingly for us last time, he couldn’t surpass that surely! I went along & met them at the property & I looked round, although I didn’t need to, I was just waiting for what they were going to say. They told me what the rent would be, which as I thought was out of our budget, & then she went on to say that the Charity would support us guaranteed for the next 12 months and then review. I was blown away; it was almost too much to take in. I came away for a few hours to think & pray and knew it was just right and our prayers had been answered, far & above our needs or what I hoped for.
Finally as if enough hadn’t happened this year, my other sister Nicola got back in touch in November after stopping contact with the family 4 years ago. She’s come back with news that she, her husband & my 14 year old niece have all been born again, they’ve changed so much. Praise the Lord!  You know a lot of people criticise Facebook & social media, but through my diary on there during Charlotte’s illness my sister was not only able to catch up on what happened but also on my journey with my faith, which has contributed to a new relationship with her, not just as sisters, but Sisters in Christ.
So in some respects I was right when I said I felt I was on the edge of something exciting in my life, but do you know that what I’ve learnt is that as Christians we are actually all always on the edge of something exciting…as God knows the plans he has for us, even if we don’t.
I then shared the following verse: Ephesians 3:20