July 2010
We have some wonderful friends, Rob and Aliss Cresswell, who I was at ministry school with at MorningStar. Since graduating, they have planted a church and a cafe and a bookshop where they have people getting saved and healed every day. Their ministry is amazing and they are witnessing dozens and dozens of miracles every month. They have also just become the first MorningStar church outside of the USA.
Last autumn, for various reasons, Bertie and I felt that God would be moving us on and that we needed to really start seeking Him very intentionally about where He wanted us. Several trusted friends gave us prophetic words and said we should take time out from our local church and others suggested we go and see Aliss and Rob. So we went and visited them for a few days and had a great stay in Chester. We felt very at home in Chester and significantly were able to move and minister in our gifts there very freely.
Our trip home was really awful, we had road works, diversions, traffic, the car broke down, I had anyphalactic shock from a banana (which I'm not allergic to and when Bertie rebuked the allergic reaction in Jesus name it just stopped), torrential rain and finally a very scary
near accident.
We got home (at nearly 5am after 7+ hours of driving) wondering why our trip had attracted so much attack. We started wondering if maybe we were meant to be in Blacon.
In January we stopped regularly attending our church and instead spent Sunday's just enjoying God as a family, seeking Him and visiting other churches. The first message we heard at a the first church we visited in this period was on Belonging. It really resonated with me, the speaker spoke on how belonging wasn't just about being somewhere you wanted to be, but somewhere that you were wanted.
Well, we felt it right to visit Chester again and went up last Tuesday. We had been seeking God for direction for another 6 months now and were desperate just to hear from Him where we were to be. We didn't care where He wanted us, we just wanted to be in His will. We felt strongly that this trip would be decisive for us, we would know we either would or wouldn't be moving to Blacon.
Bertie is a goldsmith/diamond setter. It's a very niched job and we knew that God would use employment as a firm indicator for us that we should move. Outside of Birmingham, London and Brighton there is little work for setters. Most places are retail only and send work off to be done in one of the main jewellery centres. Well, day one in Chester and a jewellery shop offers Bettie a job. They have a vacant workshop. They want to fit it out and have him work for them. They haven't seen his CV or work, they have no idea how capable he is, they just want him. Miracle number one! They say that are willing to do whatever is needed to make it possible for him to move up and work for him. They'll pay whatever salary is needed and even drive down and pick stuff up for us. Insane!
I am sure you are familiar with how mental house prices are here in Brighton. Even rental prices it's like £1000 for a house to rent per month. And 60k will buy you a car parking space in Brighton, minimum 100k for a studio. We are totally unable to buy here. In fact renting is so crazy that we had to move house 4 times in our first 3 years of marriage. We are desperate to stay somewhere and put down roots and make our own home. Well, we visited a mortgage advisor in Blacon and he didn't laugh at us! We can afford a mortgage! Miracle number two! So we viewed 7 houses and found "The One".
So, we can afford a mortgage, but we have no deposit! So we go to Rob and Aliss' church on Sunday... Now this brings us back full circle to where we started, about belonging being where you are wanted. This church is mall, like 40-50 people. In a really seriously deprived area. The people there do not know us from Adam and they take up an offering for us to help our costs to move up. I was just crying, talk about being wanted! And this little body of believers gave us an offering that covers nearly all of the deposit we need.. Seriously mindblowing. Miracle number three!
We put in an offer on 'our' house, for 10k less than the asking price. It's an offer which needs the vendor to pay 5% of our deposit, and we will pay the other 5% (thank you church!). The vendor declined so we up our offer by a ridiculous £500 and after initially declining again, we got a call the next day to say she'd accepted! Insane! Miracle number four!
The following morning we found that Bertie's job wouldn't be paying quite enough to afford us the mortgage we need. Within an hour I was offered a part time job doing something that really excites me which I can doe from home and the wage covers exactly our shortfall for the mortgage. Miracle number five!
The mortgage we need has now been agreed in principle, hallelujah! However it was dependant on Bertie starting work before the funds would be agreed and released, meaning we'd need to be in Chester with nowhere to live. Miracle number six, our mortgage advisor has advised with much bemusement that the mortgage provider will overlook this and will confirm the mortgage before he starts work. Please everyone pray for Steven the mortgage advisor who should really get saved as a result of all this madness!
The favour of God on this is tangible and ginormous and I am sure we will rack up a lot more miracles before the move date.
We still have a lot of hoops to jump through, but we are totally expecting the unexpected now and totally trusitng God is gonna provide!
Please do pray for us, we have a lot of needs yet, but God is good, all the time, God is good!
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