Rollercoaster ride

2009 has so far been a bit of a rollercoaster for my family and I. As I sit and think about some of the circumstances we have experienced I feel quite overwhelmed with emotion. I can’t deny that a lot of what we have faced has been tough going but what brings tears to my eyes is how our friends at Redeemer have supported us.

Even as far back as January, before the church plant even began, our eldest son was quite seriously ill and rushed to hospital. At one point we weren’t sure whether he would live or die. I remember driving home from the Royal Hospital in Belfast to Moira, where we were living at the time as only one parent was permitted to stay on the ward at any time and we had a 7 month old baby that I needed to care for. It was 1 or 2am and raining so heavy I could barely see a thing, I cried so hard that night, I called out to God with my tears and broken heart and fear of what was going to happen. Next day, we let our closest friends know what had happened and just asked them to pray. One friend, Gillian, who was coming to be part of the church plant contacted David and Trish, who were still in England, and they prayed. They barely even knew us, we had only met once before, but they prayed and got their friends praying too. A few days later, Isaac was released from hospital, a little groggy from the medication, but nonetheless given the all clear and has had no problems since. The power of a praying people.

On 17 February, David and Trish and their gorgeous girls moved house and home from England to Belfast to start the church plant and the church plant team all met for tea and cakes a few days later. It was such a lovely day, meeting everyone and so exciting to know we were embarking on this adventure of church planting together. A few days later my husband Trevor was made redundant. Did it put a dampener on things? I suppose there was the financial pressure it would put on us, but it gave Trevor an opportunity to get to know Dave as he now had lots of free time. They scouted for venues for our Wednesday night meetings, built a strong friendship and again, our new friends prayed and even searched the Northern Ireland job websites to help Trevor find work. Six months later, he started a new job with a great company whose boss is a Christian, and was even asked to pray for a colleague on his first day.

In March my mum’s father passed away and on the same day we had a car crash, thankfully none of us were injured, but the drawn-out process that followed with solicitors and police was a very stressful time as the driver of the other vehicle tried to blame us. Once again our friends rallied round and supported us through this very emotional time and in the end all claims against us were dropped.

Over the next few months we started looking for a house in Belfast so we could be closer and more involved in the church plant as we were driving a 40-mile round journey every other day of the week, sometimes twice a day! We found a great place to rent in August and were all set to move on 26 September. Two weeks before moving day, the landlady’s circumstances changed and she had to pull out of our contract. We had already packed up most of our belongings and were surrounded by boxes and had secured a playgroup place for Isaac, so we held onto the moving date we had set and started our search for a home once again. Cath, who moved over from England to be part of Redeemer, visited estate agents for brochures and everyone searched the property websites to find us as house. The 26th came, a glorious sunny September day, and we prepared to move to a great house in the city, even better than the one we had previously seen!

I don’t think I have ever experienced such a smooth house move in my life. At 10.30am a team from the church plant along with some family members arrived at our Moira house with vans and lorries, we enjoyed bacon butties in the garden kindly supplied by our lovely neighbours, before emptying the house and loading the lorry in record time – it really should be in the 2010 Guinness Book of Records for fastest house move ever!

On arrival in Belfast, Dave and Trish supplied lunch for all the team, which we enjoyed in our new garden before unpacking the lorry, again at record pace, and all the furniture was put in the right rooms with all the boxes neatly stacked together. What a brilliant team!

The past few weeks since relocating have been hectic as we discovered I am expecting another baby. I have been quite sick, with a few visits to hospital to get IV fluids as I was dehydrated. I was discharged just last night and have been thinking about how amazing our friends have been. Over the past few weeks they have prayed relentlessly, I know this because I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit bringing comfort to me when I have been feeling so low and fed up of throwing up. There have been countless phone-calls and texts offering words of encouragement, love and help.

Emma has text me nearly every-day with a simple “How are you today lady?” which has meant so much. She has also visited hospital and home, made cups of tea and played with the kids. Ian has taken Isaac and Rhys to the playpark, and helped Barry fit new carpets in our new home, not to mention so many other things including plumbing in our washing machine. Tim and Frances cooked meals and put them in our freezer so Trevor and the children would have a decent meal in the evenings when I couldn’t cook. Dave and Trish filled our fridge and cupboards and kept everyone praying and fed my husband while I have been in hospital. Cath babysat during visits to the hospital and GP and drove me to collect Isaac from playgroup when I was just too tired- what a great friend to have. Charis fed the boys and looked after them so I could have a rest. Gillian brought me flowers to cheer me up, she knows I love fresh flowers in the house and has given the best hugs and has prayed non-stop. Sarah and Oli have offered to do the ironing and are cooking us a meal tomorrow. And so it continues…

I cannot begin to even say what it means to have such a great bunch of friends who are continuing to care for us as we go through this season. To know we are being covered by prayer is great. We have peace in our hearts amid the chaos of life and we know that everyone is only more than willing to help in any way they can. I am so thankful for the people God has brought into our lives and to be part of Redeemer is such a privilege. I may not have been out of the door much since we moved or contributed to the church plant in any way, but I have never felt more valued or part of a church before and I just know that God is knitting together this amazing and faithful group of people in everyday life as he prepares us for the greater things that have still to come in this city.

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