Thanksgiving Day in the USA is November 23 this year, but Canadian Thanksgiving Day was last week Monday, October 9. This post is therefore late, but I forgive myself because (1) I haven’t been well, and (2) my Thanksgiving weekend was spent between fresh concerns for Israel, and hosting some amazing house guests. So my aim today is to prove that a good post “is better late than never.”

I’ve had so much to thank God for since my last testimony post[i] that I’ll pick up from where that left off – last summer into fall. Without sharing details, I can say that in the months leading up to that time I’d been separated from the close Messianic congregation with whom Mike and I had been in fellowship for six years, including some members who’d been with us in an earlier Messianic congregation since 2013. Sensing that I should not ‘kick against the pricks’[ii] I had resigned myself to this separation, but God, my Heavenly Daddy, knew how lonely and restless I was, and decided to do something about it.

PART 1. So, He worked in a mysterious way one morning in August 2022, as I combed my hair in front of the mirror. My dresser was next to a large window, from which I had pulled back the blinds to let in natural light. As my eyes flitted between the window and the mirror, I remembered a lilting song that my sweet friend Allison and I had sung together in a grade 12 or 13 song competition at our girls’ school. It began with, “Beyond my open window, each sun bright morning brings,” and I think the next line went, “The fragrance of the thorn tree, the sound of restless wings…” (We’d learnt that song in the early 1970s, so it’s not surprising that I couldn’t find it just now on the internet.)

However, El Olam (the Eternal God) for whom the 20^th-21^st Centuries are a mere blip on His timeline of eternity, had reminded me of that old song to direct me toward a blessing He had in store. Step 1 of His direction came as a thought: “How can I contact Allison?” I had reconnected with a few old high school friends on a pre-Covid visit to Jamaica, but Allison hadn’t been able to join us. So I thought, “I can call one of those other friends and ask for Allison’s number.” Once I followed that prompt, Daddy God began to pull back a veil, initially revealing two things that morning. (1) The friend I chose to call actually had a very deep need to talk! Unknown to me, she and her husband had lost their son a few months prior, and her grief was palpable.  We spoke for a very long time, and then I prayed with her and for her, promising that Mike and I would continue to remember her family in prayer. (2) I heard that our high school A-Level Class of 1970-72 was planning an October 2022 reunion in Jamaica, in preparation for which there was a lively WhatsApp chat that I was invited to join, although I couldn’t fly in for the reunion as some others were planning to do.

I did get Allison’s number, and when I called her the revelations continued. First, I discovered that she had become a passionate intercessory leader at her church. From our footloose teenage background of American-influenced ‘Black Power’ idealism – perhaps early evidence of what my distinguished daughter has termed ‘Remote Acculturation’[iii] – God had led us both into the sure-footed stance of service to His higher power. So now, after all these years, we again found ourselves on almost the same page – but this time a page with God as both header and footer.  I was ‘blown away’ at what He had done.

The next revelation came as I caught up with other old school friends via the WhatsApp chat. An amazing number of us – certainly the most frequent and vocal participants – had also become ardent Believers and active ‘daughters of encouragement’ – in the spirit of Acts 4:36 and in other ways. Again I was wowed by the LORD’s work, and I imagined that many adults in our teenage years must have been praying for us. But here’s my actual testimony from all of this … here is what God was doing for me. He Who knew not only my lonely estate at the time, also knew what was coming toward us in the year ahead, so He was surrounding me and others with ‘new’ intercessory support!  Sure, I was still close to a group of praying friends based in Toronto, but God knew that as concerns multiplied we would all benefit from broader intercessory networking. So although the reunion came and went, and although some months later I was able to gather in Jamaica with a few of those involved, still the chat continues – mutually uplifting, mutually supportive, an absolute God-thing for such a time as this!  In this context, ‘such a time as this’ is not referring to the horrendous global events that are bringing us all to our knees, but the kind of personal events that attend many women moving from their 60s into 70s, such as the increasing frequency of illness and death of relatives, friends and husbands – all of which we have experienced together in the past year.

PART 2. Fast forward to July 2023, and the LORD granted me a partial re-connection, mainly online via Zoom, with members of the Messianic congregation that was still dear to my heart. This has been a great blessing, a good and perfect gift coming down from the Father of Lights, worthy of mention in my personal thanksgiving to Him. In this group, I am even more ‘on the same page’ doctrinally than I am with other groups, and can participate more freely in discourse and prayer without risk of detracting from the spirit of agreement. Here also, I receive prayers to which I can say a complete “Ahmein.”

Then, stepping into August, the LORD brought another surprise. Mike and I have to periodically put ‘credit’ on the cell phones we use in Jamaica, to avoid ‘losing’ our numbers. When I temporarily turned on that phone to do this, an unfamiliar WhatsApp chat popped up before me. It was a ladies’ fellowship group from the church we still attend when in Jamaica, which had been our church home for 20 years before we migrated to Canada. Shortly before the end of our last visit, I had requested for my Jamaican phone number to be added to their chat, but had neither followed up nor remembered about it once we returned to Canada and put the Jamaican phones away. The message I ‘accidentally’ saw in August prompted me to request that my Canadian number be added. So in short order I was also able to have that circle of ‘church sisters’ as regular contacts instead of just reconnecting on ‘snow bird’ visits.  

PART 3. As a backdrop to all of the above, more frequent medical intervention had become necessary for me, so I had given up on part time employment, and wanted to rally more prayer for an extension of my earth-life. Can you see why God had set me up to reconnect with all these groups of praying friends?

My constantly close group of friends in the Greater Toronto Area is actually part of the Diaspora from our original Jamaican congregation. In this group, more than any other, we share all our highs and lows with typical Jamaican candor, so they knew that as Canadian Thanksgiving weekend approached I was not at my best. Can you guess what our Heavenly Father whispered in their ears to do? Well, I’ll tell you.  Six of them made a plan to drive for almost five hours to our home ‘in the boonies’ on Saturday afternoon with a large turkey, seasoned Jamaican style, and other ingredients, to give us and our family a Thanksgiving Sunday treat! Through bad weather and road construction delays they came, to pamper me and Mike, to meet some of our grandchildren they hadn’t met before, and to reconnect with our children who used to be students in their Sunday School classes back in Jamaica. On Sunday night we celebrated further in sweet corporate worship to our God, in the Breaking of Bread, and with uplifting testimonies of God’s work in their lives – some of which we hadn’t heard recently, and most of which our younger generations had never heard before. On Monday morning – the official Thanksgiving Day – we had another devotional time, in which they blessed us with their memories of positive impacts that Mike and I (as the eldest among them) had made on their lives at our church back in Jamaica.

What a wonderful Heavenly Father we have!  He had sent them to bless us, we had all gathered to give Him thanks, and He ended our time by showering us all with encouragement, upliftment, and a sense of His own thanks to us all. Then He piloted them safely back home to the GTA. Praise the LORD!

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[iii] See https://innovation.umn.edu/culture-and-family-life-lab/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2020/01/Ferguson-Tran-2017.pdf

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[i]   See Part 2: A July-October 2022 Testimony

[ii]  See https://www.gotquestions.org/kick-against-the-pricks.html

Meditations from 1 John 4:7

Some weeks ago, I listened to a pastor preach on some verses of 1 John 4, and the Holy Spirit elaborated in my mind especially on verses 7-8, which read, in the NKJV that I had taken along for that service:

“Beloved, let us love¹ one another, for love is² of God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love³.”

That is a familiar verse to most of us who were raised in church, or have done some New Testament Bible study.  We would have learned that the ‘love’ mentioned there in English is more clearly defined by the transliteration of the Greek text. The first ‘love’ mentioned is the verb agapaō, meaning “to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly… (in a social or moral sense).” The second ‘love’ mentioned is the noun agapē, meaning “brotherly love, affection, good will, benevolence … charity.”  The last ‘love’ underlined above, as defining God’s character, is also agape.

Against that mental backdrop, the Holy Spirit began to focus my mind on the phrase “one another” in the first line – “let us love one another,” and contrast that with the kind of ‘love’ described in 2 Timothy 3:2-4, where last-days populations will tend toward being “lovers¹ of themselves, lovers² of money, … unloving, (and) lovers of pleasure.”

The first Greek word used for ‘lovers’ in that 2 Timothy passage is philautos, meaning “loving one’s self, too intent on one’s interest, selfish,… fond of self, lover of own self.” The second Greek word used there for ‘lovers’ is philarguros, meaning “loving money, avarice … fond of silver, avaricious … covetous.”

All of the above contemplations did not take place as I listened to the preacher that day, but I made enough jottings of what the Holy Spirit was also saying, that I could complete the mini-Bible Study later.  So my take-away from 1 John 4:7-8 was finally completed as follows. (1) The love we are to display is an ‘action word’ – a verb! It’s not just a word to espouse; we need to demonstrate / act out agapē.  (2) We are to love “one another” – not just ourselves. John knew that we don’t need encouragement to love ourselves. That is a ‘survival instinct’ characteristic of human nature, which according to Scripture we must subject to agapē if we claim to know God – the One who will take care of us while we demonstrate / act out His love to others.  (3) The love of money and love of pleasure are just expressions of the self-love that starts Paul’s list of unworthy loves in 2 Timothy 3. In fact, the passage disqualifies these unworthy emotions from being classified as love by use of the word “unloving.”

Finally, the Holy Spirit took me back along memory lane, all the way to where my Dad had impressed on me his favourite Scripture passage – the 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a description of real love – agapē:  

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

(Original posted May 7, 2016)

If you’re old enough you’ll remember Popeye cartoons. Popeye’s secret ingredient, which pumped up his biceps and powered his punch, was spinach. Now, unless you’ve been terribly disadvantaged you’ll also have heard of ‘Jesus’ the Christ (the Messiah), whose powerful deeds in Israel 2,000 years ago were a lot more historic than Popeye’s, and were neither limited to the reach of a physical arm nor dependent on any superfood. Every Jew who knew ‘Jesus’ personally at that time called Him by His Hebrew name, Yeshua; and those who became convinced of His divinity by observing His display of power and His fulfilment of Hebrew prophecies, added to His name the title HaMashiach (The Messiah).

Yeshua, even while He lived in Galilee as a mortal, had the most powerful ‘punch’ recorded in history. Read the Gospels – the story of Yeshua’s incarnation told in the Bible by His disciples Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – and you’ll know about the power of Yeshua’s ‘punch’. It sent diseases packing, leaving their former victims healthy; it sent evil spirits (demons of all sorts) packing, leaving their former victims restored to soundness and self control. It threw curveballs at some secular and religious authorities that they could neither dodge nor hit; it punched down social barriers that no-one else thought to (or dared to) challenge. It left the devil himself defeated at his own game – death. It brought vision to the blind, hearing to the deaf, liberation to captives, elevation to the downtrodden, affirmation to the undervalued, and raised the dead back to life.

Yeshua’s disciples tried to do as He did – to exercise that same ‘punch’ against the devil’s work in their environment – but at first they disappointed themselves and disappointed some others. We read of one such occasion at Matthew 17:14-21 (in the NKJV, AMP, HCSB, JUB, OJB and YLT translations); and Mark 9:14-29, where the disciples failed to help a child tormented by epilepsy, whose father had appealed to them for healing ministry. That father apparently concluded that the disciples lacked something, and that He should go directly to the Source of the power that could heal his son. After Yeshua responded to the father’s appeal and healed the child, the disciples also realized that something was missing from their ‘punch’ and asked their Master what it was.

Yeshua said (Matthew 17:21, Mark 9:29), “This kind does not go out (or ‘come out‘) except by prayer and fasting.” Although the inclusion of this fasting reference is under debate by some Christians based on its exclusion from some manuscripts, the fact that Yeshua underpinned His power-packed ministry with an inaugural 40-days-and-40-nights fast is undisputed (Matthew 4:2, Luke 4:2). Besides, the fact that His subsequent ministry was totally effective against the devil’s influence is also undisputed among believers. The only time that the devil may seem (to unenlightened eyes) to have gotten the better of Him was on the days of His betrayal, capture, trial and crucifixion.

Yeshua countered this predictable misperception in advance by promising His fellow Jews, at His most memorable Passover in Jerusalem (John 2:19, 21): “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up … He was speaking of the temple of His body.” He later explained, this time specifically to the Pharisees (John 10:17-18), “I lay down my life … no-one takes it from me. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.” Later still, as His persecution approached its climax and Peter cut off an attacker’s ear in defence of his Master, Yeshua said to Peter (Matthew 26:52-53), “Put your sword back… do you suppose that I cannot call on My Father, and at once He will place at my side twelve legions of angels?” Then He assured the crowd of witnesses (Matthew 26:56), “All this (His capture, which He had allowed) was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Three days after His crucified body was consigned to a sealed and guarded tomb, Yeshua (in Whom dwelt the Godhead, Elohim) did just what He had said He would. He (as Elohim*) raised His ‘dead’ body back to life to demonstrate His victory over the devil, death and the grave; and to use the now glorified body on earth for forty more days. (*See Colossians 2:9, Ephesians 1:17 and20, Romans 8:11, and Acts 1:3.)

The source of this power that Yeshua had at His disposal was divine. However, this unmatched power could only have been exercised through a mortal body because Yeshua had totally submitted that mortal body to Elohim, through prayer and fasting.

(To be continued) 

Are you like me when it comes to making notes from a speaker’s message and then putting them away somewhere, without much further benefit?  Well, added to that failing, I also had a bad habit (past tense) of writing these notes on loose papers or on pages in the wrong book, rather than in a journal dedicated to the purpose. Now, all of you very disciplined note-takers who are NOT like me in this regard, give yourselves a pat on the back and please pray for me in my resolve to ‘turn over a new leaf’.

Last fall, in packing to move house, I made sure not to discard my loose papers of message notes, and promised myself to record them efficiently and review them over time. This morning I reviewed my notes from a message by Tzofiya Rogers titled from the 1 Corinthians 12:10 phrase, “The Working of Miracles.” Sure enough, like a cow chewing the cud, I was able to extract more nutrients from the ‘meal’ than I had before. Here are two examples.

First, the John 6:16-24 account of Yeshua’s famous ‘walking on the water’ miracle, which is often cited to demonstrate His sovereignty over nature – in this case, the law of gravity. This miracle is related and discussed in Sunday School, Shabbat School and other congregational and evangelistic gatherings, often from the Mathew account which includes Peter’s exercise of faith to initially join Yeshua on the water-walk, and then his succumbing to fear and deferring to gravity (Matt. 14:28-31).

Yet, perhaps due to my own fault, I have no recollection of hearing that there was a second miracle implied in the John 6:16-24 account. After Yeshua had reassured the disciples that He was not a ghost (Matt. 14:26-27) we read the following in John 6:21 (NASB):

“So they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” (Emphasis mine)

Was this just the excitable use of the word ‘immediately’ to which Mark was prone? No, this is John’s writing. Is it a mis-translation? I checked with Strong’s and the Greek word used (transliteration: ‘eutheōs’) means ‘straightway / immediately / forthwith’, or even ‘at once’.   Dr. David H. Stern, the recently departed translator of the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) rendered the word as “instantly.” Therefore, my humble conclusion is that the boat’s arrival “at the land to which they were going” was indeed immediate.

While the Matthew account only says the boat was “a long distance from the land”, John 6 at verse 19 is more specific about the distance. The NASB renders it as “twenty-five or thirty stadia” which converts to three or four miles (NKJV, CJB, NIV), and the TLV adds a footnote: “About three or four miles, halfway across the sea.” So, do you see where I’m going with this?

Once Yeshua was brought into the boat, the boat was immediately transported those three or four miles to land!  This mode of transportation is elsewhere termed ‘teleportation’, and can be defined as: “the act of instantly moving from one location to another without physically traveling the distance in between.” (Or could it be “traveling the distance in between” at the speed of light? Physics was never my thing, but you may be able to figure that out.)  Now, does that remind you Bible readers of any other scenario(s)?

Philip the Evangelist should immediately come to mind, because in Acts 8:39-40, we read: “When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him … But Philip found himself (or ‘was found’) at Azotus” (Ashdod in the OT / Tanach). 

In the Tanach we read that Elijah also had a reputation for being “carried off” by the Spirit of the LORD. Obadiah, King Ahab’s Steward, protested to Elijah in 1 Kings 18:11-12, “You are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here!”’ And it will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to where I do not know; so when I come and inform Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me.”

In 2 Kings 2 we see that this reputation persisted in the minds of Elijah’s followers even after he was taken up alive into heaven (which they apparently witnessed – verses 7, 15).  Yet they insisted on searching for him (verse 16b) “… in case the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley.” 

Wow!  But now let’s get back to Yeshua and the boat that ‘instantly travelled’ three to four miles once He stepped into it. What do you think… are some lists of His miracles falling short of that ‘teleportation of the boat’ miracle?

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It seems that none of the above would directly relate to the 1 Corinthians 12 spiritual gift of “the working of miracles” as it applies to believers. Except for Peter’s brief water-walk, in each instance it was the Spirit of the LORD, or Yeshua Himself who was working the miracle, really without any human input unless we assume an absolute surrender to His will.  

The second tidbit that I gleaned while ‘chewing the cud’ this morning was from Acts 16:25-36, which also appeared in my notes on “The Working of Miracles.” In this story, the famous miracle is again an ‘act of God’ – not an exercise of the ‘gift of miracles’ in a believer’s walk. However, there is human input that is more active than simply surrender, and although we don’t see this ‘activity’ as accomplishing the famous miracle, my thoughts on the passage may interest you.

This is the story of Sha’ul (Paul) and Sila (Silas) when they were thrown into prison together. Verses 22-24 describe the run-up to the miraculous events:

“The mob joined in the attack against them, and the judges tore their clothes off them and ordered that they be flogged. After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in prison, charging the jailer to guard them securely. Upon receiving such an order, he threw them into the inner cell and clamped their feet securely between heavy blocks of wood.”

Picture that if you can. Ever been attacked by a mob and given a severe beating by people who thought they had an absolute right to abuse you? (People have died from such beatings – received for example on January 6, 2021.)  Fortunately, these two apostles of Yeshua were ‘simply’ thrown into prison, but apparently into a maximum security cell; and just in case they might have had enough strength after the beating to even move around in the cell, their feet were clamped into stocks. Picture that… Are you with me?  Now read on, verse 25:

“Around midnight, (Paul) and (Silas) were praying and singing hymns to God, while the other prisoners listened attentively.” 

Now, can I tell you? That was a true ‘sacrifice of praise.’ Macho men or not, their bodies were hurting! And may I remind you what Psalm 22:3 calls The Almighty God?  “You who are enthroned upon* the praises of Israel” (NASB, with a footnote giving the alternative* translation: “You who inhabit the praises of Israel”).

NOW COMES THE FAMOUS MIRACLE!  In the midst of their sacrifice of praise, in faithfulness to His word, Almighty God ‘inhabited’ (moved into) that prison and it seems to me that the weight of His throne shattered its foundations! We read at verse 26:

“And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.”

Reading through the rest of the account (verses 27-40) I noted the following, which also seem quite miraculous to me. (1) The ‘great earthquake’ apparently only affected the prison – go figure! Nothing in the aftermath suggests that any other building in the vicinity was damaged. (2) It wasn’t only Sha’ul and Sila (presumably constrained by the Holy Spirit) who refrained from making a prison break, but the other inmates were also found in place when the terrified warden did his rounds.

I summed up this part of my cud chewing with the final note: “These believers did not work any miracles here, but their ACTIVE PRAISES BROUGHT ON a geological miracle, a behavioral miracle in the other prisoners, and led to the miracle of salvation for the Philippian jailer and his entire household!  

A few days ago when Facebook greeted me with the question, “What’s on your mind?” my heart responded, “Hearing is on my mind – physical hearing and spiritual hearing.”

As we grow older it seems wise to have our physical hearing checked to ensure we’re hearing accurately whatever is audible. Occasionally, life itself can depend on our hearing, for example to help us escape an oncoming danger that is out of sight but not out of earshot. More generally as well, the quality of our relationships with others can depend on our being able to HEAR what they are ACTUALLY saying to us. (My emphasis there is to acknowledge the occasional need to ‘read between the lines’ and read the body language of speakers, in addition to hearing their oral message).

However, for those who believe in the God of the Bible and want to hear from Him, spiritual hearing is even more important than physical hearing and even more important than ‘sensing’ the underlying vibes of what others say. You know that God still speaks to His people, right? He didn’t shut up at the end of Revelation, and He still hasn’t decided to give us the silent treatment because of the ungodliness of mankind. Yes, sin abounds, but God’s grace and His desire to speak to us abounds even more. We believers need to ensure we are hearing God accurately, for the sake of our deepening relationship with Him, to respond appropriately to what He says, and often for the benefit of others – for example, when He just says, “Get up and pray” and you haven’t even heard YET what or who to pray for, but you sense it’s not yourself.

There are two specific things about spiritual hearing that I want to share. (1) In order to ensure we are hearing God accurately, we must listen carefully and be willing to keep listening. He often says something that to us may seem incomplete, but He requires a response to what He has said before He says anything else. When we hear and do (or just hear and ‘receive’) what He has already said (such as “Get up to pray”) then He adds the next part – which may be a further instruction (such as who or what to pray for), or even just a further revelation added to what we’ve attentively received.

(2) Since our own imaginations can be so fertile and self-serving, we should seek general confirmation of what we think God has said to us, from the whole counsel of His written word – the Bible. Then, because God knows all about the lenses through which individuals can read His word, and the heart conditions that can influence their interpretations, the Bible includes His advice to also seek wise human counsel and confirmation, especially in matters of corporate effect. (For quick examples see Prov. 11:14, 15:22 and Acts 15:6.)

We can judge the Godly wisdom of human counsellors from the fruit that we see in their lives – which implies they should have been around long enough for spiritual fruit-bearing (Matt. 7:17-18). By these indications we can judge the trustworthiness of their confirmation, or the discernment behind their disagreement with our own thoughts.  Furthermore, to avert us from simply choosing a counsellor whom we feel will agree with our viewpoint, God says in Prov. 11:14b, “In the multitude of counsellors there is safety” (NKJV), or “With many counsellors there is deliverance” (TLV), or “In an abundance of counsellors there is victory” (NASB). That is why the apostles Sha’ul / Paul and Barnabas took the advice of other brothers in the faith (Acts 15:2) to seek counsel in Jerusalem from the whole gathering of apostles and elders (Acts 15:3 ff.).

To tie this all together, let’s consider Yeshua’s words in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me.”

Why did Yeshua call us ‘sheep’ in this verse? Why not ‘lions’ or ‘eagles’, or some more impressive animal?  I’m not sure, but David used the same choice of words when he said in Psalm 100:3, “We are His (God’s) people and the sheep of His pasture.”

One writer explains, “Sheep have excellent hearing, and they depend on it to make up for their less-than-stellar vision.” (In contrast, lions and eagles have excellent vision, to which hearing is a secondary rather than their primary reliance. Also, God does not habitually speak to us from a visible form, so hearing Him is generally more critical than trying to ‘see’ Him.)  Continuing… “Sheep have a far greater range of hearing than us humans, which is a good thing for an animal subject to predators.” (The LORD knows, we humans can be sooo subject to spiritual predators.)  Back to the sheep… “They can even turn their ears (around) individually to be able to hone in on specific sounds.”  (https://www.hobbyfarms.com/understanding-sheep-sense/) 

Turning their ears around individually to hone in on specific sounds is their way of LISTENING VERY CAREFULLY. That enables them to hear the specific voice they are listening for, which is sometimes a ‘still small voice’. See 1 Kings 19:11-13 (KJV) where Elijah had to listen past the clamor of other sounds to await God’s voice.

It was no surprise to me when I read, in the same article cited above, “Keep in mind that loud and high-pitched noises are not welcome to sheep.” I imagine their ability to turn their ears around to hone in on a certain sound would also enable them to minimize distraction from competing sounds.

Another difference between sheep and animals like lions or eagles is their social behaviour. The Merck Vet Manual says, “Sheep display an intensely gregarious social instinct that allows them to bond closely to other sheep and preferentially to related flock members. Flock mentality movements protect individuals from predators.”

Finally, to underscore my point that God does want to say things to us, and to add that it’s a privilege for us to be able to hear Him, consider these verses:

Amos 3:7: “For the LORD YHVH will do nothing, unless He has revealed His counsel to His servants the prophets.” And Yeshua said to His disciples in John 15:15: “I am no longer calling you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. Now I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

I, Marcia EVANGELINE Walters Anderson, want to be counted among Yeshua’s friends – friends who are also His servants, friends who will listen keenly for His voice, friends who – being aware of their membership in His fold – will ensure that their hearing is not ‘off’ but in agreement with what the rest of the fold is corporately hearing. May God bless my words to your heart!

My last blog related our purchase of a bungalow in the country, highlighting God’s wonderful work in the relocation plan that Mike and I were pursuing. Here is a photo taken of me there, just after our offer on the house was accepted.

Part 1 of the story had promised a sequel which would relate God’s wonderful work in the sale of our Ottawa townhouse, so that we could move in the fall. Here comes the sequel; but first, let me just say this… One of my relatives used to tease me about my frequent use of the word wonderful – almost declaring too many things to be “wonderful.” That kind of orientation probably came from my Mom, who so often declared something to be “a miracle” that my Dad had made a similar tease. However, many will acknowledge that some of what folks may regard as very fortunate coincidences actually result from God orchestrating events. As William Cowper phrased it in his 1773 hymn, “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.”

Merriam-Webster lists the primary meaning of the word ‘miracle’ as, “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs,” but it sometimes requires spiritually enhanced vision to recognize the involvement of the Divine hand. Without that spiritual perception, mankind can easily misplace or even misappropriate the credit for good fortune. Thankfully, I am one of the millions who readily discern and acknowledge Divine intervention in human affairs. So, when referring to God’s work as I purposefully do in writing, I often spell it as wonder-full, for He is indeed a God full of wonders, continually bestowing His blessings on us – whether blessings in disguise, immediately obvious blessings, blessings on the justified or even the unjustified (Matthew 5:45).

Mike and I had initiated our purchase at the end of July by faith in God’s leading, before our townhouse was sold to liquidate funds for closing the deal – in fact, even before doing a renovation we wished to complete prior to listing the house. With a lot of work that renovation was finished in a month, and by the end of August we had listed at an asking price advised by our astute real estate agent. The very first viewing brought in a good offer, which we accepted and the listing was changed to “conditionally sold.” Unfortunately for that prospective buyer, although she had been preapproved for a mortgage, that week the Bank of Canada raised interest rates which nullified her preapproval. Her agent said that new financing with a co-signer would be arranged in a few weeks if we could wait.

However, we were working with a particular timeline, wanting to move before a minor surgical procedure that was scheduled for me. I really wanted the physical stress of packing, moving and at least initial unpacking to be behind us before this procedure could hinder me. As well, we had a rate-hold commitment from our bank which would expire by mid-October, after which date we would become subject to the increasing interest rates. Finally, we had to keep an eye on the mid-November contractual closing date of our own purchase. Considering all of that, Mike and I agreed that we couldn’t await the uncertain outcome of this prospective buyer’s arrangements, so we had our agent put the house back on the market. That was just our reasoning; but very quickly God indicated that He was also working on a separate project of His own.

FLASH-BACK

At this point I need to ‘flash-back’ to some groundwork that (unknown to us) God had laid for His own plan. In 2020 Mike and I were walking on a neighboring avenue one day when we saw a beautiful garden and lawn display of signs about the love of God and encouraging faith in Him despite the covid pandemic. I took a couple of pictures of it and when we got home I wrote a note to the occupants of the home congratulating them on their bold public witnessing. I signed the note with my name and phone number, and the next day I dropped it into the mailbox of the home. Soon I received a call from the lady of the house, who turned out to be the artist behind the lawn display. Let’s just call her G. We began a telephone friendship and discovered what we had in common, including being seniors and Caribbean nationals; but she and I never met because her husband was strictly against in-person contact during the pandemic. However, when covid restrictions were lifted Mike had him over to our house a couple of times to do jobs related to his trade.

Now fast-forward to August 2022. With the house back on the market, we’d had two more showings before G called our house phone one night at about 8:00 and Mike answered. In a very distressed voice she apologized for the late call, saying it was about a very urgent matter. She told of her young relative who “desperately” needed to purchase a home with his wife, and asked if she could bring them over to see our place despite the late hour, (and – you probably guessed it – without the involvement of a real estate agent). Mike and I agreed to the visit and in a few minutes she was at the door with a young couple, the husband almost resembling one of our own sons. After brief pleasantries and a quick tour of the house, we all sat at the dining table and they shared about themselves.

Though married for just one year, the couple was seeking to purchase a home rather than continuing to pay escalating rent. Recently, they “had to” leave the premises they’d been renting, and were now living separately (he with his father and she with her parents) because they hadn’t found a home that they could buy. Reading between the lines of what was shared, we gathered there was more about their situation that drove G’s repetition of words like ‘desperate’ – but we couldn’t pry. All three visitors loved our house and G not only revealed her plan to help them to purchase it, but spoke as if it was a done deal. We insisted that our agent should manage any transaction to be made, as they seemed naïve to the complexity of the house purchasing process. I gently told G, “It’s not sold until it’s sold,” and we also said that showings would continue until we had a signed sale agreement. They left that night with the promise to contact our agent.

Working with a mortgage broker over the next couple of days, the husband (let’s call him ‘L’) phoned us directly a few times to update us on their progress in arranging financing. In a final afternoon call, L told us the maximum figure they were able to offer, and I was actually alarmed because it fell way below our asking price and the prices for which neighboring ‘comparables’ had recently been sold. Our agent was also taken aback, but the decision of whether to entertain the offer was ours. First, Mike calculated whether we could still meet our own purchase commitments if we accepted this low offer. The numbers seemed to work, but with nothing left over and no room for error. Then, we had to take the question to the LORD – should we, or shouldn’t we? With no time to lose, we promised the couple an answer by nightfall, and spent the rest of the afternoon in prayer together. On my knees, I felt the LORD was saying “Yes, go ahead,” but it was such a serious matter that I knew Mike would have to hear the same thing directly from God as well. By the time we compared our impressions, he also felt the LORD was saying “Go ahead with them,” and that He would provide for any shortfall. 

THANK GOD… but which one?

Although it still felt like a hard pill to swallow, Mike and I called L that evening and told him our decision, so that a sale agreement could be drawn up the next day. We told him about our prayers and explained the weightiness of our decision. He was sincerely overflowing with thanks to us and even made reference to God in his thanksgiving. Knowing the active Christianity of G and her influence in his life, I had assumed he was at least a nominal Christian, but on that call I was prompted to ask, “L, I’ve heard you referring to God. Are you a Christian?” To which he replied, “No, we’re …” (naming another religion).

You could have knocked me down with a feather!  This wasn’t a half-hearted, ‘not-yet’, or non-committal response. He had firmly self-identified with a religion notorious in certain countries for violently persecuting Jews and Christians in the name of their own god. Diplomacy took an instant back-seat to my Judeo-Christian loyalties, and for better or worse, the following rose up from my throat:

“Well, L, you’d better make sure not to give (the name of his god) any praise for this!  It was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ* – that we knelt before for a long time in this living room today, asking Him what to do with your offer. He is the One Who told us to let you have this house. This is a blessing from Him!” (*I used the popular alias for Yeshua the Messiah rather than His given Name, as L may not have known it.)

At the other end of the line, L chuckled. I’m not sure what that response meant, but I had said my piece. I repeated that ‘piece’ to his wife the next day – just in case he neglected to tell her. The rest I said silently to the God of Luke 5:4-6 and John 21:6:

“LORD, really??? You must be definitely throwing out a net for this particular couple.”

It had happened before in our lives that we vacated a home and the incoming occupants met the LORD there. Hence my testimony in TGIF: Thank God it’s Friday, at page 168: “Mike and I joked that we must have left the Holy Spirit there, for that father soon accepted Christ and joined the Church.”

After a couple of days Mike spoke with L again, precisely to tell him the conclusion that we had reached in our understanding of the matter. Mike chose these central words as the core of his message:

“L, God has a call on your life!” And we left it there, praying for L to ponder these things in his heart as God worked out His purposes.

The next few weeks were very trying for us – a test of our faith that we had heard God correctly – because the process was not smooth sailing at all. Deadlines were not met, paper-work revisions had to be done, extensions granted and frustrations overlooked – including that of missing our own ‘rate hold’ deadline with our bank; but still, God didn’t let us off the hook. Finally… finally… finally… we were able to sit with huge relief before our lawyer on a Tuesday and complete our side of the paperwork for the closing, expecting the purchasers to do the same with their lawyer that same week and on Friday collect the keys for our home, which would then be theirs. We moved to our country home the following day, Wednesday, but I had no time to clean the house for hand-over to the new occupants. So I returned on Thursday to do that, and invited L’s wife and G to meet me there so I could show them a few things that we thought would be helpful for them to know about the house.

While we chatted, G said to me, “You and Mike don’t even know what you’re really doing (in this matter). You’re saving lives!”

“Saving lives?” I asked immediately, “What do you mean, ‘saving lives’?”

At that, G recounted (with corroboration from L’s wife) that L’s father, with whom he’d been living, was psychologically unwell, and abusive in ways that were apparently permitted in his religion but were, in G’s view, life-threatening to those under his roof. So, not only would L be able to ‘escape’ that, but he would also have opportunity to help his siblings. 

Phew! I won’t repeat any more, but what a chilling story it was! Then I understood more of what God was after – not only saving souls, but as G put it, also saving physical lives. (Now, isn’t that what God is always after – rescuing people from perishing, to bring them into ‘abundant life’?  Read John 3:16 and John 10:10 for example.)

Finally, by the following Monday, L and his wife were able to move into the new house God had released to them. May its walls ‘talk’ of the praise, worship, prayers and Bible studies that took place there over the last five years, and may the trail of wonder-full provisions from their Almighty Creator indeed lead them to a saving knowledge of Himself. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED ALL ROUND

We had heard from G how much she had been praying for L and his siblings, so although he had no commitment to God (as yet), her prayers were certainly being answered! Just as importantly, God was weaving into His wonder-full handiwork the answers to specific prayers Mike and I had placed before Him as well.

Here are three more of those answers: (1) we were able to move five days before my minor operation, from which I recovered quickly. (2) When Mike and I missed our rate-hold deadline with our bank due to the delays we were constrained by God to accept, our prayer had morphed into, “LORD, please make the bank agree to extend the rate-hold for the few extra days.” After some negotiation, that’s exactly what they did. (3) We were able to move into our new home one full month ahead of the initially-scheduled closing date of our purchase, with the gracious consent of those sellers to bring the the closing date forward. That definitely could not have been taken for granted!

So here I am, three weeks in and finding time to write this testimony. When I had Mike review it this morning, we remembered there is even another part of God’s plan that was revealed to us in a surprise encounter during the last week before we left Ottawa, but that will have to wait for a final episode – Part 3 🙂

(And the revelation of a Divine plan unfolding over the past 3 years!)

Background:  In 1977-’78 Mike and I surrendered our lives to Christ, through the ministry of Deeper Life Ministries. By 1978 we already had a 2 year old and a young baby. We were living in a lovely townhouse in Kingston, Jamaica, that we’d just bought through a lease-purchase agreement with a bank. We were quite pleased with it. However, as Mike began to learn from the Scriptures, one of the first teachings that really sunk into his spirit was about returning a tithe to God – 10% of the income with which He’d blessed us. Mike was a young technician, I was a young teacher, we had 2 infants and all the attendant expenses, and NOW we had a mortgage for the first time in our lives. So we were on such a tight budget that Mike couldn’t see us making ends meet if we gave 10% off the top, back to God. What we did and the fullness of the testimony that ensued was told in TGIF: Thank God It’s Friday, at pages 167-175, entitled “A home on the altar.” To cut that exciting story short, we gave up the house and became renters again in order to start tithing, but there were three unexpected results. First, within a year God had bestowed on us a large house for our fast-growing family (3 children by then); secondly, we became facilitators of housing for some others; and finally, we have never again been in want for housing. Over the years we learned that the 10% was just a baseline – a starting point of faithful giving to God’s work.

Fast-forward about 37 years, to 2017 when we downsized to live once more in a townhouse – this time in Ottawa, Canada, quite close to our youngest son and daughter and their families. Two years later, our son and his wife told us they were moving out of the city to a little town we’d never heard of, about an hour’s drive away (at our speed). That wasn’t really welcome news, but they said the LORD was leading them and they were following His lead. So off they went. In the three years since then, we haven’t been able to visit each other often (Covid not helping); but Mike and I came to realize that God had indeed led them there. Quickly they overcame an initial language barrier as well as the challenge of being the only family of colour in their immediate neighbourhood, and soon they were enjoying excellent relationships within the community.  Last Christmas they ordered ten of my Carrot Medley Loaves as gifts which they distributed to their ten closest neighbours. One lady texted her thanks to my number on the label, thinking it was my son’s number. She identified herself, her husband and their address, which was a different street address from our son’s home.  We exchanged a couple of messages, including a link to my blogged carrot cake testimony, before we realized the mistake and ended with final pleasantries. Her parting remark was, “Your journey is very interesting; thank you so much for sharing.” I relayed her thanks to our son, but neither he nor I thought any more about it.

This summer Mike and I began to feel an urge to leave the city, so we embarked on a survey of houses for sale in the suburbs within 30 minutes drive east of Ottawa. With a list of our current requirements – some now health related, as well as considerations of comfort and price-point, we searched in vain for about two months. After taking our agent traipsing around the countryside to show us several houses, we saw one advertized in the same town where our son lives. It was priced right for us, but we’d never before thought of moving so far out of the city. Hesitantly, we arranged for a July 22 viewing, but were disappointed because the house didn’t prove suitable for us. However, that same afternoon as we turned around to return home, our son told us that a ‘Coming Soon’ sign had just been placed on his neighbor’s lawn across the street and he would alert us when it changed to ‘For Sale’. We did a drive-by before returning to the city and saw the bungalow on a corner lot of the road facing our son’s home – with a different street address but still next-door.  However, from its appearance we thought it would surely be listed above our price point.

Two days later our son contacted Mike again, to say he’d asked the listing agent for an idea of the asking price and she’d given him a ball-park figure. It wasn’t within our desired range, but not too far out. It would take a bit more faith, but both our son and his wife were already on a campaign of encouraging us to consider that house. On the morning of July 26 the For Sale ad went online with 30 great indoor and backyard photos, and confirming a price we could consider. The photos showed that if this was the house God had for us, He’d gone way above and beyond the simple wish list we’d placed before Him! Needless to say, we and all our local family members began to pray for God’s will regarding this house.

Our son was traveling on a hectic work assignment, so our communication for the next couple of days was mainly with his wife, and she expressed even more eagerness for us to pursue this house than he had. Meanwhile, we had continued to search the ads for less distant opportunities. On the afternoon of July 26 we were actually doing a drive-by of another advertized country home, when our daughter-in-law finally convinced us of her eagerness, on the phone. So, by the following day we were viewing the ‘next-door’ home with our agent. The following morning I called an intercessor friend and told her of our urgent need for divine guidance, and the specific reason. My call reached her as she prayer-walked, and then I sent an urgent prayer request for wisdom to the whats-app group of friends that she leads, but without giving the specific reason.  By that afternoon we had received enough Divine reassurance to submit an offer to the sellers, along with a letter explaining our relationship to their neighbor. (The letter was the suggestion of our daughter-in-law.) By that same night we had negotiated through one counter-offer to have our second offer accepted, with the mediation of agents at both ends, (because in routine Canadian real estate negotiations sellers and buyers only communicate through their agents).

Given the ‘bidding war’ trends in recent Ontario real estate dealings, we realized that this was an absolute miracle – for the owners to settle so early rather than waiting for higher bids!  No-one could quite believe it, except when we reminded ourselves that our Abba (Father) was King of the Universe. It was only as we signed the official documents that He brought something else to our attention and amazement. The names of the sellers and the address of the home were somehow familiar – yes… yes… yes… I searched my phone and there it was! The wife was the same lady who had texted me – a stranger, by mistake – to say thanks for the Carrot Medley Loaf that our son had given her last Christmas. Neither he nor I had made the connection before, but the sellers would certainly have – from our letter!

In the business days of the following week, we got green lights all the way. First the sellers immediately had something repaired that might otherwise have raised issues on an inspection report. Then the house inspection, septic inspection and financing arrangements all went well, so that by midweek all the paperwork had been completed – pending the closing in a few months’ time.

Now, while disregarding the recently unfavourable trends in the sellers’ market and interest rates, we’re looking steadfastly to our Abba, YHVH Jireh, for the timely sale of our townhouse to complete what He obviously started. And in the meantime, guess what? For our young real estate agent who has served us very well indeed, as an earnest of all that’s coming to him, we brought him a Carrot Medley Loaf which he said he thoroughly enjoyed, and sent him a link to my Carrot Medley Loaf testimony to share more with him on the goodness of our God! 

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[This testimony was shared privately in August, only with family and intercessor friends, pending the manifestation of the ‘done deal’ – God’s work completed in this matter, when the sale of our townhouse would free up the funds to ‘close’ on the new purchase. I refrained from sharing publicly in August to avoid possibly jeopardizing the confidentiality of the process and the participants; but now, in early October, God has brought our sale to pass a whole month earlier than we anticipated; so now I can post this testimony here. Soon I’ll be able to pen the sequel, about the circumstances of our sale. It’s quite a God-story, waiting to be written.]

Brawta is a Jamaican Creole word meaning ‘something thrown in for free, as a bonus’. After posting my 2021 Tests and Testimonies, Part 2, I received a call from someone who wanted to place an order for my Carrot Medley Loaves. That left me thinking, “How could you have omitted that juicy part of the 2021 testimony?” Then I realized I’d also omitted other juicy parts, so this post will be a ‘likkle brawta’ (a little bonus) to top up my testimony.

This past summer I rejoiced in the recovery of physical strength and flexibility – once more being able to lift simple household weights, bend and stretch for things in the kitchen, tire less easily doing chores, walk farther without pain, and so on. There was just one thing that really bugged me. I wanted to fast in concert with my intercession for various people, but was finding it difficult to do so, and I felt that the culprit was sugar. I’d been craving sugar and carbs, with little self-control.

When my own efforts at resistance failed, I consulted a spiritual sister about this, seeking prayer for victory over ‘sugarholism’. This sister was notably gifted with the discerning of spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10) and I thought perhaps she could help me with this problem through deliverance ministry. However, she discerned that there would be no quick fix for me, as mine was a physiological rather than simply a spiritual problem. I would have to (in her words) “fast out the sugar.” She had medical qualifications as well as being a reputable minister, so I took her recommendations seriously as she outlined the following strategy for a partial fast. I should get myself a juicer, shop frequently for certain organic vegetables and fruits based on a recipe she provided, extract and combine their juices, and use that as my only ‘food’ for an extended partial fast, to free myself of the cravings for processed sugar and thereby free myself to fast for intercession.

I diligently set out on this path, but it was no easy undertaking. The organic fruits and veggies were expensive and not always available at my favourite supermarket, so I had to go further. The juicing was messy and time-consuming, and the clean-up afterwards was tedious. Yet the health benefits were almost immediate – boosted energy, relief from cravings, and generally improved wellbeing. However, I realized right away that my juicer was leaving some amount of juice in the shredded by-product. With all the investment of time, effort and money, it didn’t seem right to simply throw all of that great juicy fibre into the garbage. After all, God had put fibre into those foods for a purpose, so I decided to get creative with this by-product. Separating the carrot, beet, apple and citrus fibre from the green veggie fibre, I used them to tweak a Jamaican Carrot Cake recipe, producing something new … a lower-sugar, higher fibre, many fruited loaf! Those of my family and inlaws who lived close by were the tasters and judges of this new product, and they helped to choose a name for it – the Carrot Medley Loaf!  

‘Proof of the pudding’ came in waves. First, it was judged very tasty – by the children, parents and seniors who first sampled it. They shared it with their wider circles and another wave of reports came in, some quite surprising. Persons who had to monitor their sugars said that my low sugar, high fibre product did not affect them at all. One weight-watcher excitedly reported that she felt as if it actually helped her. A couple of guys who had regular sports practice relished it as their after-practice treat. So I began to get orders for Carrot Medley Loaves, which I priced by comparison with ordinary Carrot Cakes available in the supermarkets. Some customers who had relatives in another city took them there as gifts and more orders came in. I was encouraged to try making a gluten-free version, and that also went well with further tweaking of the recipe. HalleluYah, my baking experiment was paying off!

All of this happened while I was still having various medical tests following the health crisis of earlier months. Due to illness in the spring, I hadn’t resumed my part-time contract work. I had told my agency I’d only be available once it was determined that a second surgery wasn’t necessary. That’s the reason why I had time during the summer to undertake this baking. The expectation was that a new contract would have to be found for me when I was ready to work again; but – lo and behold – God had worked in His mysterious ways while I was recuperating, and the contract in which I’d been employed had been unexpectedly extended to the end of the year! So in October the agency was able to get me right back into that contract.

Before that, however, God blessed me with yet another juicy benefit from all that free time. I had the opportunity to prepare and preach two very well-received messages at our Fellowship, where expectations of speakers are fairly high. You don’t just go to the podium and pontificate. To successfully deliver what I knew God wanted delivered (having presented topics to our pastor and received the go-ahead for two of them) I knew I’d have to package each message with engaging sights and sounds. Not being a PowerPoint or techy expert, that took appreciable preparation time. I hadn’t preached in years, and the opportunity to do so was almost as much a blessing as the congregation’s response.

Now I’m back to a regular diet and part-time employment, but I still do enough juicing to promote health and keep our freezer stocked with Carrot Medley ingredients to bake once or twice per week, and I’m still free of ‘sugarholism’.  How’s that for three ‘brawta’ testimonies to the awesome goodness of God in 2021?