A story for Harry

Have you ever picked up a Bible and found the words on the page echoing the words in your mind?

I have the Youversion Bible app on my phone and on facebook. They have a verse of the day. Millions of people use this app. Yet on more than one occasion that verse of the day has spoken directly into my heart, as if it had been chosen just for me. How do they do that? How does God do that?

I could tell you about those, but today is a story for Harry.

When Harry's nursery first mentioned 'autistic spectrum disorder' we weren't surprised. But we were surprised to hear just how withdrawn he had been at nursery and alarm bells began to ring. Panicked, I rushed to the school he was due to start at the next academic year. They were brilliant. Two wonderful members of staff gave me an hour of their time to listen and talk and plan how to support him. It turned out that the teacher he was going to had taught a little boy that year who was very like our Harry. So she had the training, the resources, the expertise, and they assured me they were ready to go. And they were- Harry has blossomed from the day he walked into that school.

As I walked away with a weight lifted off my shoulders, I thought 'wow, God really went ahead of us and prepared that school place for Harry. I didn't see this coming but God did.'

Fast forward a few months to D-day- diagnosis day. As I sat waiting for the final assessment and Harry's diagnosis, I thought about that day and how God had gone ahead of us. I picked up a little book of Bible promises given to me by a friend, opened randomly and this is what I read.

           The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake
           you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
          (Deuteronomy 31:8).

One of my favourite blogs is at rachelwojo.com. She has a post on the names of God and one is JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH- God is already there.

So Harry- this is your promise from God. He goes before you and is with you. God's clever like that.

A story for Alice

Dear Alice,
When you were born, God sent an angel.

You know about angels from the Bible, don't you? We just heard about lots of them in the story of Jesus' birth. The pictures of them are usually big and shiny and they must be a bit scary because they always say 'Don't be afraid.' And they bring messages from God. Well this angel wasn't like that at all. In fact she was a real person (although you never know!)  but she definitely had a message from God.

Your birth wasn't very easy for you or me, and we were both very tired afterwards. There was a lovely midwife looking after us, who brought Mummy chocolate, and told me to cuddle you because you were upset. So the first night you were born you spent snuggled up to Mummy or Daddy.

The next day we found out you had to go to the hospital in the ambulance (we were in the birthing centre run by midwives not doctors.) Daddy was at home so it was just you and me and I was pretty scared. The lovely midwife was helping me to get ready, and I asked her to wait while I sent a text to our friends at church to ask them to pray for us. The midwife then asked if she could pray with us before we went down to the ambulance. So we sat together and prayed before we went to the hospital.

It might sound like a little thing, but to me it was a huge encouragement. The fact that this particular midwife was on duty at the right time, that she found out I am a Christian and was brave enough to offer to pray with me told me that God knew exactly what was about to happen and he was right there with us. The next week was very tough; you had a lot of tests and you also got ill in the hospital, so you were asleep for a few days. I couldn't feed you- first I wasn't allowed then you were just too sleepy. And changing your nappy without getting wires caught in it was so hard. But I was so grateful that I had had those few hours after your birth cuddling you and feeding you.

Sometimes its hard to see where God is and what he is doing. But if we look hard enough, if we look in the details and ask him to show us where he is, we will find him. The presence and prayers of that lady helped me through the next few months as we talked to doctors and wondered what was going to happen, what to do for the best. It helped me to trust God, to know that he walks with us. And I hope this story will help you too as you grow.

Because God doesn't ever leave us. He doesn't make mistakes or take his eye off the ball. And he is there with us no matter what we are going through. You are 'fearfully and wonderfully made'.

 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39