Redeemer Central | The Collective | Single Entry | Seven weeks that changed my life

Seven weeks that changed my life

Tim Ebenezer

29/09/09

Nothing much normally happens during 7 weeks in my life; I pay off about half a percent of my mortgage, I drive to work 35 times (and back again, usually), I eat around 100 meals, and generally get on with life quietly and calmly. God, of course, plays a big part, spending time with Him, speaking to Him and hearing from Him, but I usually hear the voice of encouragement, the voice of discipline and the voice of comfort. I've not been used to hearing a voice of direct guidance. This is the backdrop against which a period of absolute life change occurred.

“Prophesy something big over me”, I joked to an older, far wiser, prophetic man I saw at our regional conference. He challenged me to listen to the large call of God. Little did I know that 7 weeks later God would have challenged us to give up our jobs, our house and our friends and move 400 miles, over the sea to another country.

God had spoken to us a year previous, telling us that we would be going church planting, and, six months later, spoke to my wife telling her this was something we should be doing soon; so we waited, and looked, and listened, but nothing happened. Then, a week before we were due to attend a conference, bumbling through the Newfrontiers church planting website, Belfast popped out to me, a city, the only city Newfrontiers were planting into. God had called us to a city.

As we came back from the conference, church planting had been a theme and we were once again wondering; what, when, where and how? We took these questions to one of our church elders, and he offered helpful advice; pray. Pray into Belfast, see what God says. Groundbreaking.

And it was groundbreaking. As we prayed we saw the incredible happen, God started to speak. First He spoke to me through the story of Joshua and Caleb; telling me to ask the leaders to release us into church planting. Before I could relate this to the elders, one of them came over one Sunday and started praying for me quoting from that story and asking God to make me like Caleb in that story. Then came the job. I applied for a job, had 2 interviews, and was offered the job. And all this within 2 weeks of praying for guidance on Belfast. Only afterwards was I to find out that the company had waited 7 months to fill the position, and getting a job in Belfast is near miraculous in the current depressed market. This was followed by coincidence, after coincidence. Or, I should say, providence after providence. Because we were now convinced that God was calling us, and He convinced us by speaking so clearly. Through His word, through prophecy and through His people.

And so, I was reminded by one of my best friends; “God has blessed you with EVERY spiritual blessing”. I can never complain that God doesn’t speak to us in a big way, because He turned our life on its head within 7 weeks.

Tags: Church planting, Prayer, Work