These are my children, Faye, the eldest at 30, Martin 28, with Joshua his son whose 2, on the right is Neil who is 20, and left is Mark who is 19. Sitting on Faye's knee is Craig who is 8. And that's Dave and I taken a few weeks ago.
Having the call of God on my life has been very strong for 27 years. My children have grown up with the knowledge that one day Mum would become a Pastor, so moving to New Zealand to take up studies was a natural process to them. Somehow I think they always knew that one day I would have to leave.
It was hard selling up everything and giving it all to the Lord. Everything we made off the sale of our home is for my studies here. We have nothing material to go back to in England.
It is strange when all of your life is in God's hands; we have no control over our future here and have to wait until God gives the next step in the journey in 3 years time.
At times we've found it tough to have faith, like when Dave's Mum died in April, then while Dave was flying back to England, his Dad died too. He had to bury both parents. He had only been here for 2 months. They were fine when we left the UK. Also my Dad has been diagnosed terminally ill and was given 2 months to live in Feb; he's still going strong at the moment even though he had to have an operation this week.
Sometimes you feel so helpless and it's at these times you have to allow the Lord to be in control.
Dave hasn't found a permanent job yet, and with going back to England it took a lot out of our savings. But we have again had to trust the Lord.
We have received gifts of food and money from various places here in Auckland and from the UK. We have seen God provide for us over the last few weeks, plus He gave me a scripture verse on the 29th March 2007 from Gen. Chapter 22:14 'The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day. In this mount of the Lord it shall be provided'.
I praise God for this verse and I really know God spoke to me. Now I have to stand and see God fulfill His promise to us.
The studies are going really well. I have been challenged and have learnt a great deal about myself, the world and the Lord.
If anyone reading this wishes to ask any questions, then please feel free to do so. I will be happy to answer any queries you may have.
