A Life of Answered Prayer - Divine Appointments

Divine Appointments, connections, the meeting of minds and the chance to share experience, has to be one of the most exciting and frequently answered prayers in my life. 

I often close my eyes and ask to meet the right person, at the right time. It must be easier for the angels to organise if you are going to a social gathering. We're in Lockdown right now, so it's unlikely I will meet anyone today, but it's 8.10am on a Sunday morning and anything could happen. I'm going to pray: 

'Lord Jesus Christ, please bring me into contact with a person or people of your choosing today.' 

Why do I want this? To extend his kingdom or mine? To bless others or to bless me? 

'For your sake, Lord. Just use me.'

I was once on a train, heading for a New Years' church service, followed by a buffet lunch in London. I prayed for a divine appointment, that I would meet someone of the Lord's choosing. An amazing thing happened. I ended up having lunch with an old, old man in an ill-fitting suit. He turned out to be an eminent physician, in his nineties, and exactly the person I needed to meet at that time. 

I had been commissioned to write a screenplay about a prisoner of war to the Japanese, but it was still in the first, sketchy stages. Bill admitted that he had been a medical officer when Singapore fell during WWII. He's been sent to Changi and then a military prisoner of war camp on Blakang Mati or 'Hell island', which he said was far worse. He was unwilling to talk about it at first, curtly suggesting I read books others had written. This was vaguely disappointing, but was able to meet up with him on many other occasions, when he gradually told me more. He agreed to proof read my script, insisting on terminology I had not considered important. 'We were not in prison,' he insisted. 'We were in a prisoner- of-war camp. The distinction is important.' I was surprised to hear they hardly ever saw the Japanese. 'They were very short-staffed.' I had been led to believe otherwise by Hollywood movies but it was probably one reason why the guards were so intimidating. Although he had treated wounded Japanese soldiers, they refused to recognise Bill as a doctor. 'All I had to treat my patients with was saline. Sea water.' 

When I first met Bill, he was still working as a Harley Street allergist. 

'May I give your manuscript to one of my patients?'

I was hesitant. 'What does your patient do?'

'I'm not quite sure, but she's frightfully pretty. I'll ask my PA to find out.'

The lady in question was the Executive in Charge of Production at Working Title, a major British film company. I quickly sent him a revised draft.

Working Title did not snap up my screenplay, but I was able to introduce Bill to another film producer who was interested, and began to develop the story into a novel. I was able to re-tell his story about the joy of finding a jar of Marmite on the camp rubbish heap. The Japanese had been pillaging Red Cross parcels but disliked the taste and discarding it. 'They thought it must be axel grease,' Bill told me, explaining that it was exactly what he needed to treat Beri-beri, being high in vitamin B12.

What I didn't realise, was that although Bill had been able to forgive his captors, he had not spoken much about his time in the camps until he met me. Like meany he had pretty well blanked it off. I so hope that I was able to help him to speak with humour about his painful experiences. I gave him a copy of one of my own memoirs for his 100th Birthday. After that he began to speak more openly about his Christian faith.

Being members of the same City Livery Company, we kept meeting at various charitable events, chatting on a coach as we went to visit a school. I was not surprised when Bill told me he'd been invited to walk down the red carpet when the film 'Railway Man' was released. He began to take part in WWII memorial events and flew to Singapore to commemorate peace. Having kept pretty silent for years, Bill was happy to chat about his time as a prisoner of war on 'Desert Island Discs' and I was thrilled to hear that he had able to talk about treating those held captive in the Far East. My only regret missing the launch of his biography, to which I was invited. It was entitled, 'From Hell to Hay Fever.'

My book is now called 'The Man Who Got Out of Japan'. It has won three literary awards but it still waiting to be published. I long to honour Bill and those brave, brave men and women who suffered so that we might enjoy freedom. Bill was very nearly beheaded by a Japanese officer. By some miracle he survived, was bale to return to his wife, raise four children and make a huge contribution to modern medicine, instigating the pollen count and pioneering major advancements in immunology. He told me that he probably saved the life of Saddam Hussein, 'He was smoking forty cigarettes and day' but explained that a patient is a patient. Bill ended up living until he was 108, outspoken until the end.

What a divine appointment! Finding a friend would have been enough.

Read more - Bill's obituary   

   

How do you live and maintain a relationship with Jesus?

I wish I could say that I start each day with Bible reading and prayer but I am not hugely disciplined. I’m a task orientated person and tend to fling everything into the washing machine of life and slam the door, just to get the job done. However I do pray pretty constantly.

I’ve just asked my husband the question: ‘How do I live with Jesus?’

‘You work very hard at it,’ he said handing me a gin and tonic, ‘and love him to bits.’ I was amazed when he compared the relationship to our marriage. All I see are piles of laundry. I often look around and feel overwhelmed by how much there is to get done. My sister-in-law, who is used to this, is a great example. ‘Tell yourself you’ll do an hour,’ she says. So I start a task and soon find myself on a roll as the Americans say. I try to tackle the worse jobs first thing. The only problem is becoming ruled by the merely urgent rather than concentrating on the important. I need help identifying what is a block and when I must wait patiently for the Lord’s timing. 

If the rain falls just as I finish hanging out the washing I still have to resist swearing, which must show that I'm not that mature in my faith yet. Does it make sense if I say that I try to be kind and gracious, to be generous and show gratitude, even if I don’t feel like it? That I ask the Holy Spirit not only to guide me but put the right words into my mouth? I fail of course but I do try to listen to God. The fact that pertinent Bible verses seem to find me at the right time bashes things home. I cling to the promises of God. ‘The obedient will be given a helper,’ is a great one. I claim that repeatedly and somehow the ironing gets done.

I love it when new doors open and pray for my strength to hold up when they do. Sometimes I am a little hesitant, asking ‘Is this really you, Lord?’ but it’s advisable to ask for confirmation. Please provide me with the scripture for this, as it's evaporated from my memory, but when confirmation comes from the Word there's nothing like it. I love living in the Lord’s will, walking in his ways. I should be braver. There have been times when I have taken risks so radical that I’ve needed daily miracles to survive but there are different seasons in our lives and the art of living well is to take time to appreciate the beauty in them all. 

Author Sophie Neville

A letter from Veritas College in Uganda

Daniel Munanura Hama, National College Director of Veritas College, which trains Pastors and church leaders, writes from Uganda:

'I am in a season of my life where God is challenging me about my heart’s motives; why I do what I do.
Why is a very important question; I am increasingly persuaded that we need to stop and ask ourselves why we do the things we do – as often as we can. This is especially the case when it relates to spiritual things.

'What is/are our truest motivation(s)?

'I would like to share why I am doing the ministry work that I do; why I am involved in Veritas College Uganda.

'About six years ago, I made a decision that would influence my life greatly; I was already a Christian but I felt like there was a certain amount of discontentment with my life as it was then; I actually felt that there were many things that God wanted me to do with my life that were yet undone and would remain undone unless I allowed Him to more prominently influence the course of my life. I wanted Him to reveal my calling, and more so, to show me practically how to live it.

'When you really know why you are doing what you are doing, and if that reason is true and noble, it is like a clearer and brighter light to your path. It helps you through the confusing times when the going gets tough or when it gets too easy – because both of those times have the potential to create confusion; they heighten or dull our emotions, blur our minds and challenge us spiritually. It is in those times that we need to check ourselves in the Lord, and it helps if He is our reason why.

'We need to stop and put our focus on Him and remind ourselves of His love for us and remind ourselves to love Him. I have seen this turn situations around.'


Training Coordinator Godfrey Ntale writes:

'I am married to Sarah and we have two boys and one girl Calvin, Nathaniel and Abigail. They all support my involvement with Veritas in Uganda. I work as the Training Coordinator and for me it has been a great experience to serve pastors and other church leaders in Uganda. Statistics show that the population of Uganda is 80% Christian, but this seems very inconsistent with what we experience when you consider what is represented through many media houses, in government, and in other social sectors. One thing that comes across clearly is that there is a lack of proper Bible understanding and application.

'During our training we occasionally receive testimonies from pastors confessing to us the wrong teachings they gave, and some even went ahead repenting to their congregations their wrong doctrines. This happens, not necessarily because of wrong motives on their part, but more often because of lack of proper training. The few Bible Schools in the country are “a drop in a desert" - they cannot reach the great number of churches whose leaders and congregants are in need of training. Worse still, the approach that most theological schools use requires that their students become residential at their institution, which means that the student – often already a leader of a church - needs to be away from his family and ministry, and this also means that the leaders have to be away from their work, be it ministry or tent making.

Veritas’ approach brings the training to where the leaders are. We train them and their congregants within their church setting, and encourage the church to own the training programs through a process known as Integrated Leadership Development, whereby leaders we train are empowered to integrate the same training into his/her own church/ministry by training their own people within their own context.

Pray with us:
 Thank you for the past year and the Lord’s provision in so many ways.
 Thank you for the new leadership and for them taking up their new roles and responsibilities.
 That the current “training season” will go well and that facilitators will be committed to train new leaders and empower them to also facilitate.
 That financial support will continue and grow.

May you and your family have a blessed Christmas time and may 2014 be a year where you will experience God’s grace in abundance!'


Equipping to serve … a new chapter in Uganda

It is an exciting time for the work in Uganda and as Veritas College International (VCI) we believe the new leadership will build on the solid foundation which was laid during the years by Richard van de Ruit and his team. Many leaders and the people they serve have been equipped to serve their churches and communities and we pray that many more will be impacted.

On all levels – administration, finances, training and follow-up – the new team has been working hard to keep the same level of service and even to improve on certain areas. As Daniel (National Director) and Godfrey (Training Coordinator) are not new hands in Veritas the training strategy for example was already improved by them a few years ago and we can see the impact of that now.

December 2013

Veritas College Uganda: PO Box 6016, Kampala, Uganda / danielhama@veritascollege.org

Veritas College International (UK): PO Box 100, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 5EU, UK

Veritas College International (SA): PO Box 3434, Matieland, 7602, South Africa / ivan@veritascollege.org

For donations please contact annelee@veritascollege.org

Another episode of 'Funnily Enough' serialised in iBelieve, the rather glamorous Christian lifestyle magazine

.

The author of 'Funnily Enough'

with further true-life stories serialised in

To buy two issues of iBelieve please click here 

~ Churches can apply for special rates for magazine orders ~ 

Mary Stephenson speaking on Premier Radio

Mary Stephenson, a former addict, shares her testimony of finding Jesus in a 'Woman to Woman' interview  on London's Premier Christian Radio (listen on demand, recorded in May 2013).

You will need to use Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox to listen.

Send a Bible, a Bible a Month ~

I learnt about Bible a Month in about 1984, as my flatmate had joined the scheme. I thought, 'That's a nice thing to do.' I wish I'd found out more. I didn't realise how inexpensive it was and went on my own merry way without joining.

In about 1996 I spotted some new Bibles, in the Tswana language, on a shelf in a junk shop where I lived in South Africa, selling for £1 each. I bought the lot to take with me to Botswana. They proved ideal gifts and I was asked to return with more. This was difficult as there were no longer any for sale in my town. I had to persuade a farmer, I knew was a Gideon, to let me have a box of New Testaments. Some were in Tswana. Some were in English –at the front - and Afrikaans at the back. One had a gold cover. 

As I was travelling into the Okavango Delta, on the back of a lorry, an American tourist asked me what was in the heavy box. 

'They are Bibles,' I explained. 

She was horrified, disgusted. But as soon as we arrived all the Botswanans rushed up, asking me, 

'Did you remember the Bibles?' 

The scathing expression on the American woman's face dissolved as she realised how much they had been longed for. Everyone wanted the one with a gold cover. I apologised as I gave the English/Afrikaans versions to those who spoke English. 

'No problem,' one Tswana lady told me. 'I shall use it to learn Afrikaans' and she did. 

Many of those Tswana people have now died of AIDS. I am very glad I took the Bibles to them. I fear the next box I took up was not received by those who really wanted them, and I couldn't keep going.  

Instead I started sending £10 a month to Bible Society, discovering that it was a much easier way to distribute Bibles than going into the Okavango on a lorry. It was only when I reached China that I understood that supporting Bible Society is probably one of the best investments you can make. When I was going around the Amity Printing Company in Nanjing I realised that my meagre gift had been able to subsidize a substantial amount of printing. I stood in front of a great stack of about 300 Bibles thinking, 

'Those are my Bibles!' 

Each one will be read by about five adults. That is a total of 1,500 people, all thirsting for the Word. They estimate that 10,000 a week are converting to Christianity in China, many in the poor rural areas where people only earn about £1.60 a day. It's imperative that they have access to Bibles in their own language. And these Bibles are so treasured, so appreciated, used by many who are learning to read. When we went up-country to help distribute the new Bibles were we heralded with trumpets and fire-crackers, welcomed by crowds of people. I walked up to the village with tears in my eyes, saying to myself, 'All I've done is to give £10 a month.' 

Is a Bible a life changing gift? Yes.

Is giving Bibles a matter of life and death? It can be. Providing Bibles for Prisoners in South Africa will save lives. Giving Bibles to the Military in Zimbabwe will save lives. Subsidising Bibles for the people of China could be more important than we can ever imagine. I believe lives will be saved.  

How do you impact a nation? Give a Bible a Month. It's not just 'a nice thing to do'.

To find out more about Bible Society please click here

'Funnily Enough' in the May issue of iBelieve magazine

I had no influence over this portrait of me that's smiling out of the May edition of iBelieve magazine but it made me laugh as it was exactly how I wanted to look when I was little. I must have been strongly influenced by Sindy and Barbie dolls.

I am always packing things up for the post - but never this neatly.

Here is the full page:

This is how I really look:

The magazine cover is much more masculine this month:

I feel hugely honoured to be featured alongside Joyce Meyer, Nicky Gumbel and Sarah de Carvalho.

To subscribe to the magazine, please click here

July's Story

July Letsebe in South Africa

Just eight years ago, July Letsebe was lying on his bed, seriously ill and waiting to die. But thankfully, after discovering he was HIV positive, he was given the right medication, is now healthy, and is helping others to access life saving treatment.

When July first became ill, he refused medical treatment and instead sought the advice of a traditional healer – a common practice in rural parts of South Africa. But after a few months, he was bedridden and barely able to move. He felt desperate.

“I asked my family to help me die, but they refused,” he says.

One day, a team of carers from a local project, the Waterberg Welfare Society, visited July’s tiny shack. When they saw how ill he was, they offered to drive him to the government clinic once a day for medical care. At the clinic, July received life-saving treatment for tuberculosis and also discovered that he was HIV positive. In an incredibly brave step, he decided to reveal his HIV status at a local community event to encourage others to get tested.

“People were shocked,” he says, “I could see the expression of disbelief in their faces.”

As he slowly recovered, July started training to become an HIV counsellor so that he could help other people who are living with the virus.

“AIDS does not actually kill people – lack of knowledge about it does,” says July, who manages Stepping Forward, a Comic Relief-funded HIV project in Vaalwater, South Africa. And, as someone who has lived with HIV for almost ten years, he knows what he’s talking about.

Today, thanks to HIV medication, July is healthy and is making sure that other people in remote rural areas of South Africa have access to life-saving HIV testing and treatment.

For more information please click here

The Gift of Life

'I always say that my life began again in 1988 because that's when Jesus gave me a new heart.'

Ann Hobbs was only forty-six years old when she had not one, but two, heart attacks. Although she wasn't frightened about dying, Ann had four children. The youngest was only eight. She also felt convinced that God had a purpose for her.

The first thing that happened was that Ann received prayer for healing. She was given a verse from Ezekiel: 'A new heart I put within you - and a new spirit.' Four weeks later her Consultant, who was planning to operate, tested her vigorously before deducting that there was nothing wrong with her heart, adding that he wished that his was as strong. 'Something has happened since I last saw you!' he declared.

A year later, fit and restored to full health, Ann found herself driving to Romania in a converted bread-van. It took three days, often travelling on dangerous mountain roads. After facing aggressive border officials, who kept them waiting another day, they finally drove into Romania. It was the start of an adventure that was to last twenty-five years.

'We smelt it from the gates.' Ann and her team made their way past security guards with dogs to visit a state orphanage, a bleak place surrounded by a high iron fence. Having negotiated with the director in an office thick with cigarette smoke they were taken to see the children. It broke her heart. The rooms were dirty and bedding sparse. Little children with shaved heads rocked silently on stinking mattresses. There were 120 living there and yet no toilet was working. 'We returned the next morning to get every child washed. It took all day but we gave each one a set of new clothing with socks and shoes. Their own clothes were so far gone we had to burn them.' Conditions at another orphanage were worse. They found one person looking after 200 babies in one room. None of them wore nappies.

Ann returned to England determined to do all she could for the neglected children. Her Romanian friends had no knowledge of what had been going on. She felt that if they joined forces and went into the orphanages consistently, things would improve. 'Step by Step' became her moto. Before long she had set up a charity shop and started receiving donations. 'We kept the best items to take to Romania and sold the rest to raise funds.' She bought a 6.5 ton lorry and, with a team of volunteers, drove across Europe with everything the children might need from nappies to flat-pack furniture. Soon lives were being transformed.

Over the years Ann started up three different charity shops and a warehouse in the UK, drawing on the retail training she had been given as a girl by Marks & Spencers. She had a team of sixteen volunteers at one stage, and ran a cafe as well as a nearly-new shop. Three times a year she would travel to Romania, re-equipping the orphanages from top to bottom. 'We gained access to all areas, which was a miracle.'

Ann has looked after the children as they have grown up, giving to them as she gives to her own. 'We've put some of the children through university, we've had weddings - it's all been very special. I don't like travelling, I don't like heat and can't stand flies but we have had great fun.' Four Romanian choirs have come back to sing in England and children have come over to take part in youth camps. 'The support from churches in the UK has been amazing.'

Mission to Romania is no longer a UK registered charity but it still helps to support to about 500 children and young people. 'Some have parents in prison, some were dumped as babies. One little boy was dropped from a balcony and was severely injured but he responded to treatment and is as bright as a button.' Ann has kept travelling, taking equipment to four orphanages as well youth remand centres across the country, visiting the churches that support them along the way. She usually travels about 6,000 miles on each visit, often ending up working at a state prison for 15-18 year old boys. 'They could have done anything from rape to murder but they all need loving and the word of God.'

Ann's message is that if God tells you to do something - do it. He'll direct you and show you how. With God all things are possible. 'However, if it's just a good idea of your own - don't go there! You won't have the strength to sustain it.'

Ann loves taking Christmas to Romania. 'We usually take craft projects as it enables us to get close to the children and bring out their creativity. It's a ministry of encouragement,' explained the lady who so very nearly died and yet has brought life to many.

Ann Hobbs ~ Mission Romania, 22 Fir Avenue, New Milton, Hampshire BH25 6EU

The God of Second Chances

I was recently interviewed on US radio by Dr Diane Dike, a tireless campaigner who raises awareness and support for invisible diseases. She suffers from a rare blood disease herself and is all too familiar with feelings of  brokenness and rejection.

Diane lives by the verse, 'Be strong and courageous' as she strives to help those who have been abandoned by running a number of programmes. To read more please click here

'Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you of forsake you.' Deuteronomy 31:6

An extract from Funnily Enough in the April edition of iBelieve magazine

While Gloria Gaynor tells how she kept the faith in tough times

...you'll find a cartoon of me endevouring to do the same. In reality I could not have used ear-phones, watched TV or tolerated cats as I had gone down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

If you click on the images you should be able to read my story. I hope it will encourage others to be able to sing out, 'I will survive!'

To subscribe to iBelieve magazine please click here

To reach the Funnily Enough web-site please click here

To read a bit more of Funnily Enough please click here

Be strong and courageous...

April 1991 ~ the time when I was taken out of Egypt.

Like the some of Israelites, I wasn't sure I wanted to go, but I went down with the plague and had little choice in the matter. No choice. I lost my job in London after falling ill with CFS or ME (or CFIDS as it's know in the states.)

Despite a few trials, I managed to cross the Read Sea and rather enjoyed wandering around in the wilderness. For me, this entailed spending twelve years in southern Africa, ever travelling and often camping in the desert. I was tempted to cast idols and make a fool of myself but got to actually study the Ten Commandments and rather enjoyed sleeping out under the stars.

On 1st January 2004 I was given the verse from Joshua 1 v 9, Be strong and courageous,  not knowing that this would lead me into the Promised Land. In June that year I met a widower, a man I thought the Lord might want me to marry. I was praying for confirmation when I noticed a ring on his little finger and asked what was inscribed on it.

'Fortiter et Fideliter,' he declared.

'Strength and Courage'. I crossed the River Jordan.

You can read more 

about how I came out of Egypt here 

Funnily Enough ~ serialised in iBelieve

The inspirational Christian Magazine

published by New Life Piblishing

~ Churches can apply for special rates for magazine orders ~ 

click here:  iBelieve Magazine

One Verse - from this season's 'Word in Action'

Sophie Neville

An extract from Funnily Enough ~

24^th April ~ When I was breaking down in the office, I kept muttering, ‘Oh Jesus. Help; give me strength.’ A prayer of desperation. I was trying hard not to cry but had fallen down under my desk and was grasping the edge of the filing cabinet, determinedly saying to myself, ‘I can cope, this is just a dizzy spell.’ Only a huge pile of scripts slid on top of me. Then the Manager’s Assistant came in, discovered me groaning under this mound of pink paper, heaved me up and off to see the doctor. ‘Well, Lord, I’m still ill. If you’re in control, please tell me what’s happening.’

I lie looking at the ceiling. Nothing’s happening. I’m not getting any better. One thing’s for sure: this illness just proves how terribly weak and vulnerable I am. It’s made me realise the astonishingly obvious fact that I only have one body and it’s not disposable. It is certainly not meant to be demolished by slogging away on some wretched series. As my Department Manager, said, ‘In the end, it’s just another television programme. If you were run over by a white van I would have to replace you.’

Had I let working in telly become my idol, my raison d’être? Alastair says if we let our jobs totally define us, it is of course gutting if they dissolve overnight. I have a horrid feeling that I’d let pride slip in too. I didn’t mean to boast, it’s so ugly, but when people at a drinks party ask you what you do, they never fail to be impressed when you say that you work in TV or the media. Pathetic isn’t it? The self-justification I think I held in place, was that it took so much hard work and determination to become a television director I felt I deserved to be able to say something for myself. None-the-less, like grotty old T-shirts, these vanities have to be flung out. I want God to be able to accept me, use me. Otherwise what’s this life all about?