It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog, my apologies for that, but there are very good reasons! This has been one of the strangest, best, hardest, and most difficult years I’ve lived through in 40 years of being in ministry! I’ve had the privilege of being involved in some terrific meetings, the privilege of seeing God heal a good number of people, draw a good number into a close relationship with him, the ‘sadness’ of seeing some people not healed, a terrific trip to Cali, Colombia in May, with one of my dearest friends, Ian friends, Ian Roberts – an Aussie who lives in the United States – and a good friend of his, Jeff. I’ve wanted to have Ian on a trip for years (we’ve known each other since 2006): he’s a man of immense wisdom, a great deal of compassion, and a lovely Australian sense of humour! Jeff, a friend of his, went for the ‘spiritual’ stuff and loved praying for people, but also to have my lovely dentist friend, Ana Lucia Arbalaez, totally revolutionise his mouth, which she did (including 17 root canal fillings!) – it costs about 10% of what it costs in the USA!

Part of the reason for my going was to find a house or a piece of land, as we plan to build another home for street kids, in a very poor area indeed, Popular, and I went to look for a house to potentially renovated, or demolish, or a large piece of land. I didn’t find one, though the first house we ever went to convert for street kids, that Thanney Pyper had to condemn as very dangerous, was still there…. Thanney went to Cali himself in July – I was due to go with him, but I’ve had such a bad year with my knees since an orthopaedic consultant really did wreck my right knee in January just on a ‘standard’ check up to see how my knees were: and in May, I woke one morning – the 3rd day – and my legs were the colour of beetroot, a lovely pastor/doctor friend, Gustavo Escobar, took a look at them and instantly diagnosed chronic cellulitis. Seems I also have (had – he treated it and prayed for me!) a blocked artery in my ankle and in my heart. I think the enemy was looking for someone to assault! With the osteoarthritis, and extreme swelling in my legs from the cellulitis, it meant I could only walk like a geisha(!!) and in Cali I spent the rest of the trip being wheeled around in a wheelchair.

I’ve realised it’s actually almost impossible to not be able to walk and live on your own. But God has that all in hand, as in the past 2 weeks, I’ve had two groups of people want to meet with me and pray for healing for me – a church – St Hilda’s, Dunmurry ministry team, who met especially on a midweek afternoon to pray: and another group of 4 who drove for a couple of hours to do the same. There has been an improvement, and it seems that each day there is a further improvement. It’s a bit of an anomaly to me, that I’ve hardly had any visitors – some to pray and just converse would have been lovely – perhaps people just don’t like me!

It’s meant that I’ve had a time to sit and listen to God, pray, and read – something I don’t do as much as I should normally, and I’m very conscious that God has held me through these months as I SO love what I do, and haven’t been able to do it, though I did go to Colombia in May, which is where I inherited cellulitis, and was wheeled everywhere in a wheelchair!! I just hope that not being on the ‘scene’ for so long, people don’t forget me, and I don’t get any invitations. It’s been wonderful to hear God more clearly, and I’m aware of a closeness in my relationship with him that I haven’t known before.

I AM planning to get going again at the beginning of November, whatever the state of my knees and my mobility: a conference in Dublin is immediately followed by a trip to Colombia to do all the usual ‘stuff’ and – God willing – start the building of a much bigger children’s home in a desperately poor and dangerous area. So I’m believing for an advance in healing over the next 5 weeks. It’s been a frustrating year!

So I’m back on the map if you want me to come and speak – or perhaps more likely, tell stories and pray for healing. I’d love to cme and be with you.

Thank you people from distance who have prayed for me: if it wasn’t for you, I’d have felt very isolated. As it is, I’ve learned a lot about loneliness, and how it can very easily take you into depression. I’m used to being with people: I think I’m a ‘people person’. so this has been hard.

We abide in God BY loving one another. It’s a communal command. Jesus never lets us love Him apart from loving people.