Tag Archives: Christianity

Unto us a Child is Born

Posted in Family Friday, My thoughts, Prayer by
We all loved Nora.  Then one day Shann and Brendan started praying for another baby. They said, Mummy we want a baby brother as well.  They thought babies just come to order.  They had childlike faith.  Eighteen months later Aaron was born.
Aaron was a beautiful baby. The scripture says, Moses was a beautiful baby.  When Moses was born Pharoah had the midwives kill all the male Israelite children because he feared the nation of Israel would grow too strong.  But when Moses’ mum saw that Moses was a beautiful boy she defied Pharoah’s decree and hid the child and kept him alive.  No abortion for Aaron.
The Mary Rankin, in Coleraine was an old style maternity home where you could have your baby and your GP would attend.  It was staffed by caring midwives.  It didn’t have the clinical atmosphere of a hospital.  It was only a five minute walk from our home, over the bridge across the river Bann.
When my labour increased I packed my bag and Brendan and I walked over to the home.  Labour continued throughout the night.  Aaron was in no hurry.  It was time to have my baby when the night shift had to change.  Instead of leaving the night nurses stayed on to see the new baby.  The new staff were in the labour ward as well. The doctor was also iin attendance when the baby arrived. The circus had come to town.
Brendan and I had been sharing our faith in Jesus with the night nurses. At this stage of our journey we were also both baptised in the Holy Spirit.  We both spoke in toungues.  When I’d have a pain I would begin to pray in the Holy Spirit as long as the pain lasted.  I believed Jesus would help me through my labour without it being unbearable.
It was like a prayer meeting in the delivery room with six nurses watching and the doctor pacing the floor.  At one point the nurse helping me said “Angela lift up your leg,” and just then a massive labour pain kicked in and I yelled at the top of my voice, “Lift up The Lord,” and Brendan and I started loudly speaking in toungues. Aaron was born in revival.  A healthy ten pounds ten ounces boy was born with no complications on April the eleventh near Easter time.  I later met two of the nurses who attended that revival who told me they became pregnant shortly afterwards.
This morning in Zante there was a little boy in a high chair at breakfast.  He reminded me of Aaron.  He was calling “Abba, Abba” to his daddy.  God wants us to call him Abba – Daddy.  There is no other God who wants us to call him a child’s first word to his father.
We now had four children, two under two years old. We bought a big pram, an old fashioned type, that could hold one baby at the top and one at the bottom and a week’s shopping underneath.  It was a bit like a stagecoach. The pram was the only vehicle we owned.  I took my babies out in the pram for walks, shopping or to visit friends.  All recreation was within walking distance.
One day I went to visit one of the well-off ladies from the prayer group.  Her husband was a business man and they lived in a posh end of town.  I was half way up her driveway with my pramful of life when the husband put his head out the window and roared “My wife is not at home.”  He obviously wanted to keep us well away from his big house. I can still feel the sting of those words.
I took all my children to church.  I carried the youngest baby in a sling tucked close to me so if the child cried I could breast feed the baby discreetly, or so I thought.  One day a man complained that “I should not be feeding the baby in church.”  I was discouraged.  One man did not want me visiting his wife and another complaining about me feeding my baby in church.  Then I read the scripture in Joel  2:16 about calling the nursing mothers and the infants at their breast into the solemn assembly. God did not disapprove of my breastfeeding in church and I would feed a whole lot more before it was all over.
Growing up my son Aaron was not like the rich man shouting out the window for the poor to go away. Aaron excelled at sports and athletics but he was not proud.  His circle of friends always included the weak and rejected.  He really loved all classes of people.
Now Aaron has a son of his own also called Aaron, as well as two wonderful little girls, Sara Joye and Eilish.  He is married to Marta from Slovakia.  Brendan and I now travel to her country and share about how God has healed me.  Aaron and Marta inspired us to translate my book Staying Alive into Slovakian. To date 5,000 copies are distributed in Slovakia..  Through this Slovakian connection we now have also translated the book into Italian.  Seems like we are publishing our books into the language of the spouses of those children in the stagecoach pram.
Way to go. Pressing on!

Christmas Gift from God

Posted in Family Friday by

It takes three days to settle into a new situation. Today all the changes have caught up on me. I awoke dehydrated, jet lagged and itchy from mosquito bites and a bee sting. After breakfast we decided to take a break from the sun, stay in our room and caught up with newspapers.

In the cool of the evening we took a walk down by the beach. We sat down and little sparrows flitted about our feet. Look at the birds of the air they neither sow nor reap yet their Heavenly Father looks after them.

Brendan, me and our two children moved to Coleraine. Brendan was going to attend university there as a mature student. Shann was attending primary school and Brendan was at play school. I was not working. I had time on my hands. I desired to have another child. I had read in the Bible that children are a blessing from The Lord. I asked God for another child. I believed he is the author of life. He answered with a baby girl we called Nora.

My baby was due near Christmas. A friend of my husband visited us. He invited us over to London to stay with his family for Christmas. He was returning by car so all four of us could travel with him. No Ryanair or Easyjet then, or even the money to pay for all of our travel. I was excited at the opportunity to get a HOLIDAY. We said yes.

I went to see my doctor to tell him my plans. He thought I was crazy to think of travelling such a distance when my baby was due. I said to him “Well, Mary travelled on a donkey seventy miles to Jerusalem.” He had nothing to say. He gave me some notes to take with me. My friend took me to their doctor in London. He did the necessary checks. All was okay. We all enjoyed the adventure, Christmas dinner and toys for the children. Our hosts were very generous to us. We were like the sparrows, being cared for.

While there I went to the local church. Some people met to pray. I decided to go along to get some prayer. There was some women there who were from Kerry in Ireland but now lived in London. Even though I was from the North of Ireland they welcomed me as a daughter. Just being from Ireland united us.

Nora was born on the twenty eighth of December. The delivery went well and baby and me got out of hospital after two days. We returned to Ireland in early January. Our new ex Irish friends sent us out with their prayers. As I was waiting to board the boat at Liverpool, a priest was waiting on the gangway. He saw I had an infant with me and he offered to pray for us. My new child was well covered in prayer.

Around the time of her birth, changes were happening in my husband’s life. He would spend time carrying her in his arms and looking into her face. Something was happening in his heart. Perhaps our daughter was radiating love to her father and he to her. He spent many hours with her. Our new baby brought us closer as a family. The two older children enjoyed having someone else to look after and play with.

Nora is an answer to my prayer. God sent her into our lives. She is special. She brought a lot of healing to my husband as he helped me care for her. He enjoyed the little bundle in his arms. She drew out the nurture and care that only a father can give.

Not only is Nora special to us she is special to her husband and to God. He is watching over her. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow her all the days of her life. Psalm 23 NIV.

My First Born Son

Posted in Family Friday by

Jesus says ” Come to me all you are are tired and weary and I will give you rest”.
I believe God cares for me and he desires to give me rest when I need it. September or October time is good for us to take a break when the children are back at University. God is good to all mankind. He wants people everywhere to know he is good. What he has done for me he can do for you.

I trust him to provide a holiday for Brendan and I every year. We need the refreshment. Need time together to fall in love all over again.

Psalm 23 says “He leads me beside green pasture and still waters to restore my soul.” Very often this Psalm is read at funerals. I don’t want to wait till I die to go to green pastures. I believe he can give me green pastures here on earth. Zakynthos is one of the places of green pastures and still waters for us. There was rain on the island the day before we arrived. Everywhere is looking so fresh.

It is mid day now. I am sitting ten feet away from the water’s edge. Little sun lights are dancing on the water. The sun shades are flapping in the breeze. We can now enjoy the beauty and sun of far away places that I used to watch in the movies.

At this time of year the sun is not to strong for our fairer Irish complexion. Time in the sun provides my beauty treatment for the year and vitamins for my bones. There is a scripture that says “The sun shall not smite you by day or the moon by night.” I do not get sunburn. I know when I have enough.

My husband has travelled to the nations. My son Brendan has married into the nations. His wife Tamara is from Italy. She has introduced us to the delicious home cooking the Italian mothers are so proud of. No more tuna debeano for Brendan. Tamara is from Sardinia another Mediterranean island. It is the number one destination for the rich and famous.

They have three beautiful girls. Brendan had a dream about his second child. He dreamed she would come early and be called Rebecca. And so it was. The dream came to pass.
“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139 v 13.
“Before you were born I knew you.” Jeremiah 1 v 5

As I was caring for Shann and my new son Brendan, I began to realise the seriousness of being responsible for someone else’s welfare. What I did with my life would affect my children. I began to seek how best to rear my children. This started me on my search for God and caused me to change my life. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened unto you.

I was reading in Exodus 20 v 5 to 6 hat God blesses to the thousandth generation of those who love God but cursing comes down the generations to the third and fourth generation of those who disobey God. I did not want my children to be cursed so I asked God to forgive my wrong doings I did in ignorance and I asked him to guide me into the future.

Shann and Brendan were good friends. They taught me to trust God. They got up every morning, knew there would be food for them, and had fun and joy. They trusted their dad would have provided for them. So too our Heavenly Father who created us promises to care for us.

They did not remember if they had a bad day yesterday. They had joy. I learnt from them to forgive and not hold on to the bad things that happened before. Jesus said we are to become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

My son Brendan has a tender heart. He was born into our lives when we were young and wild. A little baby always trusts. He was there every morning looking for care but in return gave back love and trust. Our hearts were being turned to the little children.

Well done, Brendan.

REST

Posted in Holiday, My thoughts by

 

At seven in the morning it is dark here in my home town of Downpatrick, Co Down, Ireland.   As I look out my window I see the main road wind its way out into the distance.  During the week day mornings there is a constant flow of pairs of red lights, cars with people on their way to work in Belfast.  Later there is a flow  of buses and cars into town with school children.  Downpatrick is a hub for education.  We have great primary and grammar schools here, a good place to rear children.

The road is quiet this morning.  I hear the church bells ringing.  A call to prayer.  What a wonderful Christian  heritage we have here in Ireland.  Despite the war,  people still pray.  The bells were silent for a time recently.  I missed them.  I enquired and was reassured the bells would be ringing again.  The  bells ring down through the centuries.   Everyone hears the bells, whether one is Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslem, Chinese, male, female, child or pensioner.  It  is a beautiful sound, memories of home,  neighbours and security.

All is at rest in this small town today.

FATAL ACCIDENT

Posted in Family Friday, Healing, Travel by

I went to school in the country in a place called Drumaroad. It was a two teacher school. The head master was an excellent teacher but was know to be strict. He taught the basics of subjects that prepared one for the grammar school. As well as Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Religion, we learnt Algebra, Latin and Geography. I enjoyed Mathematics and Geography.

Children in my class stood around the maps of the world, as the teacher pointed out faraway places. We learnt the names of towns, mountains and rivers in Ireland. We learnt about the capitals of the nations, London, New York, Moscow, Paris etc. I saw that New Zealand and Australia were at the other end of the world, on the opposite side from us. I wondered if I would ever go there.

Many years on I have had the opportunity to travel to New Zealand, when my daughter got married there. I have been to London, Paris, Bratislava and unusual named places like Quala Lumpar and Dubai.

I was not so good at creative writing. One day the Master asked us to write a letter to a friend who had been in an accident. I started off saying, “I hope you have recovered from your fatal accident.” I did not know what “fatal” meant. I heard the word being used by someone so I thought I would try it out. When the master gave back my work he pointed out my mistake. He laughed. I laughed as well. I did not take offence but I have never forgotten what “fatal” means.

I was remembering this recently. I may have been prophetic then because I have recovered from the fatal disease of cancer. Nothing is impossible with God. Jesus rose from the dead. There is power in His name to recover from accidents and diseases.

I love to tell others what God has done for me by healing me from Cancer. Isaiah 66 says “I will send some of the survivors to the nations, to distant lands that have never heard of me or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory to the nations.”

I am in Scotland visiting my children, three of whom are at university there. Angela has recently gone to Edinburgh. Abraham is at St Andrew,s, where Prince William and Kate met. Jacob is in Aberdeen, home of the oil industry. I have had the oppportunity to tell Abraham’s friends about my healing. I am giving them something to think about, that cuts across the the secular humanistic thinking of education.

Our God is the God who hears when anyone prays. He has compassion on all he has created in this world. He created all the nations that I studied about all those years ago, as I stood around the maps in that country classroom.

Some people stand out in our lives as having a big influence on us. Master Fitzpatrick is one of those people and I thank God for him. He had knowledge and he wanted to impart it to the next generation.
He was a good teacher. Thank you. He may not have travelled beyond his parish but someone he has taught has gone to the nations. I am sure he helped many others, who have done well in life.

We don’t realise what good we do when we help someone, that can have far reaching effects.

Angela

IF I WERE A BLACKBIRD

Posted in Holiday, My thoughts by

I have a big garden, hedgerows at the front and trees at the back. In the spring it becomes a hive of activity. Blackbirds, starlings and sparrows are busy overturning autumns leaves looking for insects.  They are getting strengthened for the busy time ahead, building nests and rearing young.

One year there were so many blackbirds nesting in the hedgerows, that I wanted to call our house, “Blackbird Cottage.”  It is a joy to hear them sing from early morning in May, when they are flitting to and fro feeding their young.  Sometimes their tones are raised when there is danger about in the form of our cat.

Today I missed the birdsong and all the activity of the birds in our garden.  I wondered, “Where do the birds go for the summer?”  I checked this question out on the Internet and the RSPB website gave the following information.  I quote.

“Firstly, for many birds we are coming to the end of a hectic breeding season.  After all of the battling for territory, courting mates, finding nesting material, gathering food for young and chasing off predators, it is no surprise that some of the birds are looking a little worse for wear.  Late summer is the time to moult all of the worn and damaged feathers to be replaced with a shiny new set that will keep the birds well insulated through the cold winter months.

During the moult, which takes a number of weeks, birds change their ways, becoming quiet and reclusive.  They don’t want to expose themselves to predators whilst they do not have a full set of flight feathers which would make them much more vulnerable.  They will still be around but skulking under hedges.  Also many birds depart to the wider countryside to feast on the seasonal peak of seeds and fruits.”

I mused.  That is exactly how I feel at the end of the summer.  I have been busy with rearing my children, when they are off school or university and there is more work for me to do.  We all stay up later because of the longer evenings, more outings for walks and definitely more cooking and shopping.  My feathers are definitely easily ruffled.  I have bags under my eyes, my nails are brittle, my hair is grey and my skin dry, my legs and arms are weak. If only I could fly away to some resting place like the birds where there is an abundance of fruit and food.

Psalm 55 v 6 says “Oh that I had the wings of a dove!  I would fly away and be at rest.  I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”  Even the birds hide and rest.  God sees our distress, whether it is tiredness, mental anguish, worry about money or concern for a family or whatever trouble comes our way.

Jesus said to take the birds of the air as our example.  Matthew 6 v 26 says,

“ Look at the birds!  They don’t worry about what to eat—they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food—for your heavenly Father feeds them.  And you are far more valuable to him than they are. 27 Will all your worries add a single moment to your life?”

Another comment on the RSPB was from a visitor.  He said  “Robins spend summer on the French Riviera: a popular spot is Juan-les-Pins.  Starlings flock to Brighton for the world famous murmuration festival, while blackbirds fly off to their second nests, usually in Cornwall.”

I laughed.  Birds of a feather flock together.  Starlings often gather together in flight and do acrobatics in the sky.  They dance and twirl to have fun.  It is good to meet up with friends of like minds and hang out for a while.  We are going to a gathering of friends at the end of September.

Some people are rich enough to have second homes in the sun.  We don’t have a second home but we are off to Greece soon.  Psalm 104 v 15 says, “God gives man wine to make him glad, and olive oil as lotion for his skin, and bread to give him strength.”  I will get my heart strengthened, body rested and sunshine to warm my bones.  We are learning from the birds.

Chow

Angela

Bible quotes from the Living Bible