Tag Archives: Ireland

Happy St Patrick’s Day.

 HAPPY ST PATRICK’S DAY
 Did you know that St Patrick’s Day, is the second biggest festival celebrated in the world after Christmas?  Why?  Ireland, this small island on the edge of Europe has many diaspora all over the world.  And where ever the Irish are they remember the Irish Patron Saint, Patrick.  It is a day for the wearing of the green.
St Patrick’s Centre lit up with green lights.  St Patrick’s grave is situated in the graveyard of the Church behind this centre.
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Wherever you live in the world I am sure you have heard of St Patrick.  Maybe you have Irish ancestors.  We travel to Canada and we meet people there who love Ireland even though they have never been here.  Some of our friends there have some relative in their  family line that came from Ireland.
Many people come to visit Ireland wanting to see where their ancestors come from.  Even some presidents of America claim to have Irish ancestors.  Information on the Internet has helped people with their searches.  We have had American students visit Ireland and they break into tears when they see the homeland where their forebears lived.
The Irish are in different parts of the world for various reasons.  In the 1800s there was a terrible famine in Ireland.  The population dropped to 4 million, because of death and exile.  In the 1600s some Irish were sent into Europe and the East Indies as slaves by Cromwell.
Down through the years the young people left Ireland for work in England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and America.
Patrick came and lived among the Irish and through his love, and example he brought the love of God to the people.  It is said he used the Shamrock a small plant with three small leaves to explain the Trinity, three persons in the Godhead.  The Irish wear the Shamrock on St Patrick’s day.
Early Christians travelled to Scotland and down into Europe as far as Slovakia.  Brendan was in  Switzerland in 2012 to celebrate six hundred years since St Gallian went there from Ireland.
With living on an Island the Irish became sea faring people.  They built small wooden curraghs. The Irish monks travelled by small curraghs up the rivers of Europe.  St Brendan travelled with others to the land we now know as Canada on a boat made of wood and sealskins.
At one time in the nineteenth century there were eight million people living here.  Many lived in small holdings but were able to grow oats and potatoes, kept a few chickens.  A cow would have been kept for milk. They were able to live off their produce.  Porridge was made from the oats and the women made their own bread.  Soda bread and potato bread can only be bought in Ireland.
I grew up on a farm.  My mother baked bread, we had chickens, we had milk from the cows.  We did not go hungry.  Only on a Sunday did we have a chicken, a stew or soup. We lived well and dad and mum reared ten children.  We did not go hungry.  We were content.
We have a Christian heritage that has come down the generations from the days of St Patrick.  In the twentieth century many missionarys went from Ireland again to the nations, especially into India and Africa and set up schools and hospitals.   My mother’s sister worked in Nigeria around the 1960s.
Ireland had become infamous in the 1970s because of the war in Northern Ireland.  Injustice, bitterness, hatred, division and poverty erupted into war between people from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds.  What a shame it has brought to the name of Jesus.  Nations have looked at us and said God is love.  How come Christians are fighting one another.   In Russia and India people heard of the bombs and bullets.
In Chronicles the Word of God says “If my people will humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways I will heal their land.”  People began to pray.  I attended a woman’s prayer group.  We represented the different denominations in our country.  As we prayed we found the only One who brings forgiveness and reconciliation, Jesus.  Before he died on the cross he said about those who crucified him,  “Forgive them because they know not what they do”.  After thirty years the war ceased.  Thanks God for his mercy.
Ex President Clinton visited Derry recently and encouraged us that he is travelling all over the world to negotiate peace between warring groups.  He uses the example of the Northern Ireland as a place that lives in peace after thirty years of war.
May we travel again as missionaries of the Gospel, like St Patrick and bring the love of God, forgiveness  and reconciliation to the nations.

We built This City. Daily Prompt. Downpatrick, in Northern Ireland, the Place where I Live.

Posted in Ireland, My thoughts, Nations, Prayer, Provision by
Next Monday, the 17th March is St Patrick’s day.   There are celebrations all over the world on this day.  In America green beer is sold.  When my husband was in China on St Patrick’s Day the locals gave him a can of Guinness.  He said it was the best can of Guinness he had ever drank in China.  It was the only one!
The Irish people have spread all over the world and that is why most countries have heard of St Patrick.
St Patrick  is celebrated as an man who lived among the Irish in the fifth century.  He preached the gospel of Jesus and did many signs and wonders among the people.  It is recorded that he drove the snakes out of Ireland.  There are no snakes in Ireland.
The town where I live is called Downpatrick.  It is claimed that St patrick is buried here.  Many tourists come to visit this historical place.
The people of this town have lived at peace with each other during the recent troubles in the seventies.  Every Good Friday all denominations of Christians walked through the town behind a wooden cross.  People took turns to carry it.  The people of the town demonstrated their unity, when in other parts of Northern Ireland people were being murdered.
I believe there is a blessing over Downpatrick because of it’s history as a centre of Christianity and civilisation.  There are many schools and colleges in our town.   Christian brothers set up a school for over eleven year old boys back at the beginning of the twentieth century.
They brought education to the poor.  My children attended this school.
I was praying for a bigger house for our growing family.  I needed more space.  I believed that God would provide for us a big family, like he provided for the tribes that went into the Promised Land.
About that time I read in the bible “Look for the ancient pathways where you will find rest for your soul.”  Jeremiah 6 v 16.  Downpatrick is an ancient pathway where Christians have lived for many centuries.  St Patrick may have walked down the pathway or street where we live.
My husband and I believe that God can speak and guide people.  God showed my husband in a dream to get in touch with a man who lived in Downpatrick.  This man, some months later helped us get the big house we now live in.   It has seven bedrooms, two kitchens and two living rooms.  We will be ever grateful to our friend who helped us find a home here.  He helped us when we were in need.
Downpatrick has been a blessing to our family.  Our children were welcomed into the schools.  Their friends’ parents welcomed them into their homes.  The local soccer club and Gaelic club were somewhere safe for my boys to play, supervised by responsible caring volunteers.  It felt as if we always lived here.
We joined with other Christians to pray in unity.  We were blessed.   Where brothers dwell together in unity there The Lord commands a blessing.  Psalm 133.
Since we moved here as we prayed with others for our town,  new things have come here.  A new hospital is built, a new cinema, two new schools, and a new supermarket.
Where I came here I met other families that returned here to rear their children.
Downpatrick is a pleasant and safe place to live.
We have a vibrant Art Centre that gets funding from the government.  Downpatrick punches above its weight.
It has a pleasant climate.  It rests in the lee side of the Mourne Mountains.  The rain falls on the mountains, so we receive less rain than other parts of our country.   We often had our dinner outside in the summer time.  We could never do that in the last town we lived in.
There are beautiful local parks and coastlands.  Within seven miles we are at the beach.  Coney Island is nearby.  It is made famous by the Van Morrison song.
As people live together in harmony the Mayor of our town will have an easy job.
Soon we are moving to a smaller house not far from Downpatrick.   I will always be grateful to God for leading us to live in Downpatrick.  I am thankful to all the teachers, coaches, friends and neighbours who helped our family and have made our time in Downpatrick a happy one.
you too can be guided by God in your life.  He will speak through dreams or circumstances that may arise in your life.  God loves you.

How to Heat a Two Hundred Year old House.

Posted in Dreams, My thoughts, Nature, Provision by
This week I got a harvest of wood.  Last summer a friend asked me if I had a wood burning stove.  I told her I had four.  I bought two of the burners very cheaply.  Many people nowadays prefer gas or oil for their heating.  Cutting wood is hard work and wood is in short supply.  I had the workers, all I needed was the wood.
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She told me her neighbour had left stacks of broken logs in her part of the grounds where a few trees had been cleared.  I was delighted with her offer.  My stack of logs needed replenished.  In the autumn I went out to see this new source of wood.  My boys did not have to do the heavy work of cutting down the trees or chainsawing thick trunks.  They pulled out logs from the stack in sizes manageable to carry to the van.  Two days work supplied us with wood we are still using.  The boys chop the wood back in our garden and store it.

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I visited my friend this week to thank her and she said we are welcome anytime.  Brendan and the boys decided to gather in some wood before they returned to university.  It started to rain the day work was to start.  But undeterred Brendan and the boys headed off. The rain stopped.
We had storms recently.  In the middle a Eileen’s garden was a tree that had fallen in the storm.  Brendan and the boys cut it up and now all the tree is in my back garden.
When I moved to our present home which has seven bedrooms, fourteen years ago I was wondering how were we going to heat it.  It is two hundred years old and had some fire places and some oil heating.  To keep us comfortable may be costly.
I had a dream.  In it I saw a stack of wood, a stack of coal and a stack of turf.  I believe God was showing me he would supply the fuel for my big house.  To the back of our home was a small wood that needed cleared for houses to be built.  That was our supply of wood for a few years.
One spring, trees were washed up on a local beach in a big storm.  I discovered it and alerted Brendan.  In no time, with the boys help, we had the van full of wood.
Another friend, who lived in a big estate offered us any fallen trees.  So God supplied the stack of wood, and the turf and coal.  From time to time we bring home turf from Kerry when we return from holiday.  I burn coal only on the cold days.  So I have not had a big bill for fuel in the years we have lived here.
When I had the dream I was reminded of the poem by Padraic Colum.

Old Woman of the Roads

O, to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped up sods against the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall!
To have a clock with weights and chains
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled and white and blue and brown!
I could be busy all the day
Clearing and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on their shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store!
I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself,
Sure of a bed and loth to leave
The ticking clock and the shining delph!
Och! but I’m weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there’s never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!
And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying Him night and day,
For a little house – a house of my own
Out of the wind’s and the rain’s way.

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When the chilly winds and rain of winter blow, we are cosy in our big house with the home fires burning.  My son said he misses the warm fires when he is away.  I even have a dresser of my own with the Delph.

In Canada

Posted in Canada by
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There is a promise in God’s word that says “I would have fainted unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.” (Psalms 27:13 NKJV)

My husband’s work involves travelling to the nations and I have often travelled with him.  But this year I stayed home with Angela to help her through her studies and help her keep up to date with university applications and keep life as normal as possible  for her.  She was missing her siblings and we were all feeling our house was a bit empty.
When we moved to our present home there were nine children with us.  There was always activity, companionship, warmth, cups of tea, chats around the fire.  Life was bursting out at the seams.
I have been in turmoil over whether I should stay on in this house.  It holds many memories for us and our children.  I looked around at all the things I had put together to make this house a home.  I have enjoyed living here.  I looked out at the patio area that Brendan and the boys had built.  Patrick had the idea.  We spent many happy times there having meals and barbecues.  Downpatrick is not in Australia.  Ireland is known for its rain.  But the sun shone on us.  There is a beautiful view across the countryside from the patio.  Many an evening we have sat there enjoying a meal watching the sun go down.
If I look out another window I see a paved area that my son John built for us for our fortieth wedding anniversary.  Beyond in our garden is an area we let grow wild.  Brendan had often had a bonfire there with the children around him listening to his stories.  The walls of our home hold many memories.
Summer came round.  Angela finished school and exams and her decision was made about university.  She had a party and had fun with school friends. They said their fare wells before moving on in their lives.  Brendan lit a Chinese lattern for them.  It lifted off the ground and flew away into the distance.  The girls stood quietly gazing upwards till the balloon was a speck in the sky.  The end of an era.  We will all move on.
In September Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, and Angela left for university.  Brendan left for a trip.  It was a long year for me.  I was feeling restless. I had been confined to home for the last months because of a broken wrist.  I had cabin fever.
When Brendan came back from his trip he saw that I was in need of some tender loving care.  I was about to faint!  He booked a trip for a whole month in Canada!  Four years ago when Brendan and I were speaking at a conference in Canada a couple invited us to Dawson Creek.  It sounded magical, as they talked about the snow that they have there.  I thought to myself if I am ever in Canada for a longer period of time I would like to go to that magical place up north.
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Brendan has been to Canada many times over the past twenty two years.  He prays, prophesies and  encourages people.  On this trip I have joined him and I have been praying for healing.  In between we got to enjoy the hospitality of our Canadian friends.  I have certainly got to enjoy the goodness of God in the land of the living this trip.Image
I got to go up to Dawson Creek after all.  We saw the snow, got a sleigh ride and tasted a bit of life there.  David Roch, our host is a chef and we had a great time with him and his wife.  We went to Moby Dick’s in Whiterock for their famous fish and chips with Randy and Christine Emerson. image We went to North View Golf club in Surrey tonight .  There were Christmas decorations, friendly staff and excellent food.  Check it out if you are ever in Vancouver.  Randy brought us to visit someone in hospital and afterwards we went to Max’s, an award winning deli.  We also got to hang out with Ivan Fox in Sechelt.  Thank you.
Jesus said “Who is my neighbour.”  He went on to tell the story of the Good Samaritan.  He helped the man to the Inn where his needs were cared for.  We have been staying at the “Inn” in Canada.  The Canadian flag has leaf on it.  The people of Canada are called for the healing of the nations.  I have received healing in Canada.
God is faithful and good.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  He wants us to have rest and refreshment as well as work.
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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.

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.

NO FEAR

Posted in Family Friday, Nations, Prayer, Provision by

People have often asked us how we managed to rear our fourteen children. If I was to be anxious or worried about the future I wound not be well. I have learned not to be fearful and be at peace.

Recently I visited my brother to give him a present for his birthday. He works on the farm where I lived as a child. He reminded me of a day we came to visit. I laughed. I remembered it well.

When Brendan and I moved back to live in Co Down I was looking forward to introducing my children to the open spaces of the countryside where I grew up as a child. We drove up to the farm soon after we settled into our new home. All the young children piled out of our van and ran about wanting to explore the farmyard. My brother became very anxious. He was worried about some of them having an accident. The government is always warning the farmers about farm safety. My brother could not get over how easy going we were.

Brendan gathered up all our children and took them for a walk in a field where there was plenty of room for them to let off steam in safety. Brendan and I have learnt to trust God will keep our children safe. In Psalm 91 He gives his angels charge over you so you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus tells us not to be afraid. Perfect love casts out fear. As we obey God promises to watch over our going in and out.

Some years ago a family from New Zealand arrived to live in our area. We got to know them. We met up with them and other friends to go for walks. They had four children. Their children were adventurous and had no fear. They climbed on walls, trees, and jumped from great heights. We in this country would be telling our children, “Be careful in case you fall and break a leg.” My husband determined, after seeing the freedom these children had, not to be fearful when our children played.

This last month has been a time of some of my children leaving and others returning. Mary, Hannah and David have returned home after their time in Africa and India. Thank God they are back and looking well. God is faithful. He kept them safe and free from disease.

I remember my son Brendan leaving home to do a world trip after he finished university. That was twenty years ago. His friend’s mother asked me “Are you not afraid for you son going away”. I told her I knew God would look after him because God’ s word promises we are under his daily care. In Psalm 91 says no disaster or disease will come near you.

One morning while my son Brendan was away, I awoke one morning and sat bolt upright on my bed and said the words “My children are not born for misfortune”. This is from Isaiah 66. I was reassured in my spirit that my son would be okay and he would return home safely. Brendan and his friend did some mountain hiking in the Himalayas in Nepal. They needed some water. Brendan drank from the local stream. His friend did the same but suffered terrible tummy upset. I suppose in the rough and tumble of living in our home with a lot of other people, one’s immune system learns to fight off all bugs. After that I learned not to be anxious if any of my family were far away in another country.

If one of my children felt unwell, my husband Brendan and I would pray for him. He would recover with a little tender care and rest. Only if the sickness persisted did I take them to the doctor. My father rang me up one time and asked me “Why are your children never sick”. Other families, he said get colds and flues in the winter. He was amazed.

We even pray for our animals. Brendan had bought a Wolfhound pup. We called it Shadow. He cost a good deal of money. The previous owner sent home a list of food she recommended Brendan should feed the dog. I took one look at the list, fried chicken, eggs, etc and told my husband my children do not even get as good food as she is recommending for a dog. Brendan brought the list to the local pet shop. The man there asked him if this was a human being he was feeding? The shop keeper sent him home with a bag of dog meal.

My husband was away on a trip. It was summer time. My children were playing in the garden with the puppy. They were spraying water on each other. The puppy got caught up in the fun. Later that evening I noticed the puppy was shivering. “Oh no” I thought. “What is Brendan going to say if something happens to the new puppy.” He had invested so much money and would be disappointed if anything happened. I quickly gathered the children together to lay hands on the puppy and pray that God would heal him. Shadow recovered and brought our family much joy in the coming years. He grew big and lived to a ripe old age.

I remember watching a programme on TV around the time we had just moved from Coleraine to Ballynahinch. We had nine children with us. I must have been worried about provision for my children.
The programme was about wild life around the Bramaputra river in Northern India. The biggest animals in the world live there happily. There is room for them all. Water buffalo, elephants, rhinoceros, tigers and leopards roam freely in the rich grasslands along the river. The river often overflows its banks and deposits nutrients to sustain the lush growth. The climate is warm all the time with no harsh winds or cold.

This programme showed a large family of otters feeding on fish in the river. They chomped happily on the abundant supply of fish. After they had gorged themselves they climbed up onto the bank and lay basking in the sun, content with full bellies and safe. A picture of abundant provision. No famine there.

Brendan and I are strong characters and sometimes we jostle for our own space. This programme reassured me there is plenty of space for big characters. I could imagine my children lying happily in their beds safe, well fed and content like the otters. God looks after the animals will he not also care for us. And there would be plenty of provision for my big family with no fear of lack. We could lie down in safety with nothing to disturb us.

Psalm 36 v 6
You care for people and animals alike, O Lord
How precious is your unfailing love. O God.

Angela

SEPTEMBER THE ELEVENTH

Posted in Healing, My thoughts, Travel by

On Monday I returned from Scotland after leaving my youngest and last child off to university in Edinburgh. Fourteen years ago Brendan and I left our daughter Mary up to Aberdeen. We returned home to rear nine more of our children. Whew!!!! How did we do it? I can say it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that we accomplished the work. God gave us the strength one day at a time. Thank you Lord.
As I was thinking back I began to wonder what work I will return to do when I go home this time.
I did not have to wait long to find out. A taxi picked me up to take me to Glasgow airport. The taxi driver was friendly but I did not want to engage in conversation. After a while I thought I should respond to say something to him. He asked if I had enjoyed my time in Glasgow. I told him I was leaving my fourteenth child off to university. The questions came fast and furious after that. How old were my other children? How did you manage to rear that big family? You don’t look old enough to have all those children. I felt free to tell him how Jesus had helped me over the years, how he gave me strength to keep going, how he healed me of cancer. It turned out his mother was from Donegal and he was from a family of ten.
When I arrived in Belfast I got a lift with a young man to pick up my car. He was asking me if I had been to anywhere nice. I started over again telling him my story. He said I was too young to have so many children. I went on to give God the glory for him renewing my youth and keeping me alive.
Psalm 103 says He renews your youth like the eagles and satisfies you with good things.
I was feeling quite encouraged as I drove off home.
I saw a sign along the road which said “Potatoes for sale”. I screeched the brakes and turned left off into a side road. I always enjoy fresh potatoes grown locally. You can’t beat freshly boiled new potatoes and butter. I don’t like the packaged potatoes from the supermarket. It has been the staple food in Ireland. The crops of potatoes failed in the mid eighteen hundreds due to disease and many people died or left the country because of the famine. I have always had a bag of potatoes in my kitchen. My children would never go hungry.
One year a young lady from Boston came to help me for the summer, as my husband was travelling to India. Her mum rang her one day and her mum could not believe she was sitting down to a dinner of potatoes and beans! Back home Sheila would live on Mc Donald’s food or her favourite was a Sub sandwich with lashings of Ranch sauce. She was none the worse from living with us.
Sheila was to fly home on September the eleventh, when the twin towers fell. She was in shock as we watched the tragedy unfold on T V. We comforted her as best we could as she cried with her people back in America. She was able to get a flight home a few days later.
I am reminded of another young American woman who arrived into Dublin a few years later on the eleventh of September. Susan was coming to stay with her mum who lived here in Ireland. I met her in the airport. She was in a wheel chair with one suitcase. She had advanced M.E. a fatigue syndrome. It was amazing they let her fly in her condition. A kind friend on the other side in America had helped her get on the plane.
Susan lived with her mum for the next while and with rest, good food, love and the beauty of the Irish scenery she was getting more strength, but could not walk unaided. She came to visit us with her mum. Brendan and I offered to pray for her. The power of God touched her and she rose up and walked unaided. She completely recovered. In time she got married and had a child. There is a story in the bible where Peter and John spoke to a man who was crippled and commanded him to walk in the name of Jesus in Acts 3 v 6.
Back to my story about the potatoes. I met the potato man. I asked him if his potatoes were grown locally. He went on to tell me he used to grow crops himself but had to stop because he had arthritis in his spine and was in constant pain. He brought the potatoes in from Portrush. I soon forgot about the potatoes. I felt compassion for this young man who could not do the work he loved and support his family. I had been healed of cancer and pain and I wanted to tell James that Jesus could heal him too.
I spent the next thirty minutes telling him how I was healed by prayer to God. He told me his wife and children were praying for him. Well I said “God is about to answer their prayers, because I would like to pray for you”. He was agreeable. I believe the next time I call with him he will be healed and restored and growing his own potatoes. God, who made the universe and who made you and I, is kind. He can deliver us from our troubles, heal and restore.

I have just had potatoes for dinner.  Every time I have these potatoes I will remember James. I believe my work is to continue what I did on Monday, telling others what God has done for me.

Angela

Restored to Health – 4th Stage Cancer

Posted in Healing, My thoughts by

On April 5th 2010 I was diagnosed with 4th stage colon cancer.

I had been bleeding from my back passage for three years but had not told anyone.  I thought it was something that would go away on its own, perhaps I had haemorrhoids or colitis.  I had met some people with these conditions and they seemed to be coping.   I was fifty six years old when my condition started.  I had five children still living at home.

Up until then I coped well as a mother of my big family of fourteen children, doing the cooking , shopping, caring and managing the household.  I am a woman of many talents; an engineer, putting in woodburner stoves; a carpenter, my son and I made a big table for all of us to sit at for meals; and a gardener, my sons helped me clear our neglected big garden.  I made nourishing meals on a budget.  A lady I met at an IT class said I should get a job in management.  I continued my job as a mother at home.   Nine children had left home already and had gone on to university.

Being a stay at home mother is not an honoured job in the world.  Some people think you are not right in your mind to have a big family.  As our family grew we got less invitations to visit with friends.   My son was telling me that the hot plates he took out of the oven were a health hazard.  I said back to him, “Having children is a health hazard.”

My energy began to wain and I lost interest in the garden and home.  I did not go outside the home much.  I just kept things ticking over. The children had always helped with meals and my husband picked up the groceries.  I was feeling rejected, discouraged, depressed and hopeless.  My children were getting stronger and doing well at school and work.  Those who were married did not live nearby so I did not get to see them so often.  Everyone seemed to be getting along fine without me.

Tensions built up between my husband and me as we were both under pressure.  I would argue a lot.  I began to get annoyed with the children if they did not co operate with me.  I began to get bitter and angry.  Things were not working out the way I had hoped.  I had to get up in the night to use the bathroom and often I did not get back to sleep.  The bleeding continued and my life was spiralling downhill.

I told my husband that Easter Monday that I wasn’t feeling well, that I had been bleeding for a while.  I didn’t tell him the truth.  We went to the hospital and I was referred on to a specialist in cancer.  I was diagnosed with malignant colon cancer, fourth stage.  I had an eight centimetre tumour the size of an orange.  When the nurse told me what I had I did not panic.  I was already numb and had lost the will to live.

My husband rang round my family to tell them the news.  They were sad of course, but they and my husband had courage to believe I would get better.  They began to pray for me.  They showed their love and cared for me.  This began the road to my recovery.  People I didn’t even know prayed for me when they heard I had cancer.  My symptoms changed.  The bleeding stopped and my appetite returned.

I went through five weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in July.  I would get the maximum dose of radiotherapy one can have in a lifetime.  The treatment was given to reduce the tumour before an operation to remove the tumour and part of my bowel.   I had no side effects from the treatment.  I believe I was being healed.

Three months later I was called to the hospital to arrange a time to have the operation.  I knew I did not need an operation.  The doctor wanted to check and arranged a colonoscopy.  The monitor showed there was no trace of the tumour and the wall of the colon was like a baby’s skin.  I have a letter from that doctor to say there was no tumour.  I did not have an operation.

Three years later I am in better health.  I do not argue any more.  If someone annoys me I don’t retaliate.  I don’t get angry.  I try to be more loving and thankful.  I cast my care onto The Lord.  I know Jesus has forgiven me my failures and healed me from cancer so I chose to forgive others and tell others about what God has done for me.

My husband has written a book about my healing called “Staying Alive”  It is available on kindle.  I hope you will take courage from my story.

Angela

Ps. This article was written as I am taking part in the following writing challenge – http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/writing-challenge-health/

LEAVING HOME

Posted in Family Friday, Ireland, My thoughts by
My eldest daughter Shann went to Liverpool university to train as a nurse in September of 1989. It was natural to chose a career in a caring  capacity, because she had plenty of experience helping me to care for her nine siblings.
Before we left her to the airport we had a farewell meal for her.  This was the beginning of a tradition that we have had for each child leaving home.  It was difficult for us as parents to say farewell.  Would she return to Ireland to live after she finished?  Many Irish children have gone to England in the past to study or get work and settled there.
Down through the years many young men and women have left these shores because of famine, forced exile, to find work or to avoid the troubles. The Irish are to be found all over the world.  When young people last century went to America the family would have a meal and get together with friends.  They called it a wake because the family would not see them again.  It must have been heartbreaking for parents to say farewell without the hope of seeing their son her daughter again.  The sadness is often found in the songs and music of Ireland.
Brendan remembers seeing men having to register for work twice a day in his home town.  If they did not find work they had to go to England.  His two uncles went to England and never returned.
Ireland is known as the Land of Saints and Scholars.  Down though the centuries young men and women left Ireland voluntarily to bring the Gospel  to the nations.  We have a wonderful Christian heritage despite the internal wars.  Brendan and some of our children work in the nations.
We left Shann to the airport and said our final farewells.  Brendan was sad to see his little girl wave goodbye. We were all in tears.  The children would miss their big sister.
Many years later, Shann told me she was crying on the plane.  She had mixed emotions; sad to be leaving home but glad to get away as well.  This was Brendan and myself’s first experience of letting our child fly the nest. Parents rear their children but have to let them go as well.  We had plenty of work to do back home to take our mind off our sadness.