The Smiling Face retreat was small but select.
Nestled between numbers 22 and 24 Elmwood Avenue we knew it was our Psalm 23 shepherd who had lead each one to be at that place, as he smiled out from the flyer, pictured on the October10th blog.
(Above is Brian’s smiling face as he selfied some of the combined US/Ireland Your Smiling Face team)
I begin the last blog by mentioning that we had over the years been sent to all 5 continents At the retreat we heard from participants from Poland, from South Africa, from Korea, from the US (and of course from Ireland : ) wonderful testimonies of how Jesus had set them free!
That left Australasia as the only continent not represented.
Then Father pointed out to me that the following weekend at the Come Magnify the Lord worship gathering, much to our surprise and delight, Barbara, a friend we hadn’t seen in many years came forward to testify about the time we visited their church in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.
I recalled singing On the Day You were Born for the first time there. A Māori lady then shared about a vision she had as we were singing, of Jesus coming on a long white cloud. The Maori name for their country, Aotearoa means, ‘The land of the long white cloud’
Barbara then went on to remind me of how the next day we went to the highest spot in the region to sing Lord Jesus we Enthrone You and invite him to take his place as King throughout that land. She recalled a tourist standing nearby had ambled up to us and said, “I know that song. We sing it in our country too.”
I recalled that on the identical spot where Barbara now stood and spoke, exactly 50 years previously, the Come Together in Jesus Name choir had been given a prophecy by David Matthews (who died earlier this year, after 77 years service here on earth.) He quoted the scripture,
‘Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.’ (Jn.12:24)
At the time the leadership team received this word as from the Lord, and even though it seemed in the natural, the musical had a lot more ‘mileage’, we decided to give it back to God, and let it ‘die’.
And now here we were again, 50 years later, hearing stories about this hospitable church being filled with students from the four corners of the globe, and our own ‘Jubilee’ event tokening the same broad reach, and a real depth of life changing testimonies!
The number 23, as illustrated in Psalm 23, represents ‘Death and Resurrection’.
After embracing the word about letting something die 50 years previously, Father had brought us back to exactly the same spot, to witness the faithful fulfillment of his promise in,
…….The Church of The Resurrection🙂
At the worship gathering, Keith sang a beautiful song he had written for us. Here is the snippet we caught……
indeed, “The plans of the Lord will stand for ever; the purpose of the Lord from age to age.”
We had now witnessed this personally in this place, as the story of the last 50 years had unfolded.
Towards the end of the evening someone initiated prayer for us. Words came about sowing in tears but reaping with joy, about a harvest of 60, 80 and 100 fold, about an anointing going with us. As the first word was given the microphone suddenly came love, and out boomed…..”Paul, the best is yet to come.’
We only had to wait until the following weekend to experience the beginnings of that word being fulfilled.
More in next week’s blog🙂