Reflection

As usual my life has been incredibly busy. That's not a complaint. I am an activist and I will always find something to do, even if no one else makes demands upon me. As it is, knowing that I am quite a motviated person, I do get asked by others to get involved in a variety of things, some of which I should probably say no to. I am much more disciplined over this than I used to be and the important things usually to do get done, including Sabbath Rest.

However if you are at all like me, you will understand what it is to always have a longer list of things you want to do, explore, have a go at and read about that you can ever hope to do. Physical stamina and the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day mean I never get to the end of a list.

I am not really frustrated by this, just thankful to God that he has made the world such an interesting place. Sometimes people mistake my work ethic for duty, or being driven to prove something. There was a time when that was true. The Holy Spirit gloriously delivered me from that. I am however still as busy but it's because most of the time I relish life and the opportunities for service which come my way. I do not understand what it is to be bored or not to be bothered. What is that like? It must be awful, not to find prayer, the Bible, the world, people, and life fascinating.

Anyway, just so you know, sometimes the reason why there are long gaps between blogs, it's because I'm doing something else and blogging was the next thing on the list to do but didn't quite make it before the time ran out!

Bye for now. I'm off to get stuck into prep for Sunday and ..........................................

God bless

Carol

Pray for a Day

It's Pray for a Day at Pill Corps again. Once again we have had dozens of requests for prayer, which we will bring before the Lord throughout the day.

In addition we will be praying for a list of things for our own Corps and each seeking God for his anointing and power.

Then on Saturday, it starts all over again as Lori Richards and I are responsible for setting up the prayer rooms for the Territorial Congress and will be spending most of the week-end providing prayer cover for the meetings and praying for the UKT

That's brilliant as far as I'm concerned. I can't think of many other better ways to spend a week-end.

Let's believe that God will mightily bless the Salvation Army in the UK and do much more than we can ask or imagine!

God bless

Carol

Jonathan and his armour bearer

Do you ever get the feeling that God might be asking you to look again at a particular part of his word?

Just over a week ago at Prayer School, part or our study was to look at prayer roles, one of which was armour bearer and the story used as an example was 1 Samuel 14:6-15.

Yesterday at the Remembrance Service, our local Baptist minister chose the same reading for his sermon. This morning, whilst eating my breakfast I browsed through TV channels onto one of the God channels, which was showing a preacher at the New Frontiers Conference in Brighton. He was preaching on 1 Samuel 14:6-15!!

Anyway Pill Corps, be on the alert I get the sense that this a word for us to chew over on Friday at the Prayer Day.

God bless

Carol

Results of anointing by the Holy Spirit

"There are four great results that follow the anointing, four evidences that can neither be disputed or counterfeited:

- victory over sin

- power in service

- the fruit of the Spirit

- a burden for souls."

(Oswald J. Smith The Enduement of power)

God bless

Carol

From the cradle to.............

Tomorrow I have an interesting day. It starts off in the morning with our Toddler Group, which consists of mostly unchurched parents and their children coming for a morning of activity and chat.
Following this, Alan and I will be off up to the Secondary School for the lunch-time games club. We usually attract between 6-10 kids, some of whom are particularly vulnerable. It is a bolt hole, a place where they are offered a listening ear and where they can build up their confidence.

Then it's off to one of our soldier's houses to celebrate a "significant" birthday and having had our tea and cake we re-visit Smallcombe House to conduct a meeting with the elderly residents there as part of the Salvation Army Social Services Campaign Week.

The old slogan that the NHS provides for health needs from the cradle to the grave is also true of the gospel, except of course that it also provids for beyond the grave, for eternity. I think I am meeting with almost every age group tomorrow at some point or another.

In lots of ways tomorrow is not unusual. It's just another day in the life of an ordinary Corps but it could also be the day someone really hears the gospel for the first time, the day someone gets saved, someone returns to the Lord, someone gets filled with the Spirit. What an immense responsibility to make the most of every opportunity to share the free benefits of a gospel that can meet the needs of every unique individual I will meet tomorrow.

Thank God, he doesn't just pour out anointing for Sundays and Festivals but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and .....................

God bless

Carol