Knowing God’s guiding hand throughout my life

Knowing God’s guiding hand throughout my life

I have often been comforted by reading Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel 1 as she battled with unanswered prayer year after year then, at his appointed time for her, she received more than what she had hoped for. Similar to Hannah, God hasn’t just answered my prayers, he has exceeded in how he answered them down to the small details! 

From the start of my life there have been challenges. Even me coming into the world was an answer to prayer, as my parents struggled with infertility for three-and-a-half years. Their church came together with prayer and fasting and I was naturally conceived. Then when I was three years old I had my tonsils taken out and, due to some post-operative complications, the doctors suspected I had leukaemia. I still recall being held down while screaming as the doctor did a spinal aspirate to make an accurate diagnosis. The church came together again and prayed and fasted for three days and when the test results came back they were clear. This left the doctors flabbergasted as all the preliminary signs had pointed to leukaemia. 

In my early teenage years up until my early 20s I struggled with intense fear of sleeping in the dark. But when I came to the UK and found myself alone in a large home that was to be my place of work for the short term, I had no one to run to except God and I prayed one night that he would help me overcome this. Something shifted in me that night, and I’ve never had an issue sleeping alone since. In high school my mother was told not to expect much from me because I simply wasn’t cut out for university. She stood up to the counsellor and rejected the report and prayed over me. In 2003 I graduated with honours in human genetics and in 2009 I completed my Master’s degree in biomedical sciences. 

Sometimes we have to take a stand against the labels humans put on us and focus on what the Father says. There have been so many other major (and minor) situations where Father God has held my hand and navigated me through long and dark valley seasons and I can confidently say that from health to finances to accommodation to relationships he has been so good and faithful in his care and provision to me. 

There are ups and downs in life, which Jesus warned us about, but there is a promise partnered with the warning: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Whatever I have needed he has provided, although not in the traditional ways and not always when I wanted it. 

Barbara 

Act of faith waiting for a husband

Recently I was praying and asking the Lord what to do in this time of waiting for my future husband. I am in my early 40s, and the wait has felt long at times! I asked the Lord if there was something I could do, as a step of faith, that would encourage me in this season. I felt the Holy Spirit say: “Buy a king-size bed, so a king can lay on it.” So I went on Facebook marketplace, and I looked at a couple of king-size mattresses. I went to check the seller information of one mattress, and I realised I knew her! I had actually met her through Woman Alive magazine because her mum had read an article about me being a doula, and I became her doula! I contacted her and shared the story of how I am still trusting the Lord for my future husband, and I felt the Holy Spirit had asked me to buy a king-sized bed in preparation for a king! She loved this, but she told me sadly the mattress had already been sold. I was disappointed, however, a few days later she got back in contact saying the people who she had sold it to didn’t want it now as it didn’t fit in their room. She was kind enough to deliver the mattress to my house and we had a play date with some of her kids and my adopted nearly three-year-old. I was trusting the Lord for the finances, as the mattress was about £200 and I didn’t have that money, but felt I had to be obedient. The whole thing was an act of faith. When asked if I was OK with the amount, I said: “Yes, that’s fine” but later she said: “You can just have it for free!” Now I have a king-size mattress with a waterproof cover, and I am just waiting for my King of kings, Jesus, to bring my earthly ‘king’, which I believe he will.

Sue 

Held throughout my struggles with endometriosis

I’m a teacher and in September 2005, I started to experience a lot of pain. To start with, it was thought I had ovarian cancer but a scan confirmed I didn’t. I can remember praying and asking God what was wrong with me at the start of 2006. I felt God lay on my heart one word: endometriosis. However, it wasn’t until my third laparoscopic operation in 2015 when I received a diagnosis of the word God had given me nine years earlier. I had bowel endometriosis along with a few other patches in my pelvis. The smaller areas of endometriosis were successfully removed but there was a section of bowel on my left side covered in a solid wall of adhesions that had to be removed in a separate operation.

In 2016, I went to the Christian festival, New Wine, at Shepton Mallet. Part of me really didn’t want to go as, by this time, I was in a vast amount of pain and struggling to walk. However, I was due to have my bowel operated on soon after so I believed it was the best place for me to be. After one of the morning services, I sat at the back of the venue as the first seminar of the day started. They opened the talk with ‘pop-up prophecy’. One person said: “There’s a person here called Alex who is in such a dark, terrible place and it’s a struggle for he/she to be here. But God knows and he wants you to understand everything is going to be OK.” It was a challenge to walk forward in front of at least 1,500 people to freely admit I was in a bad place, but I did. I received prayer but walked away in a lot of pain still.

A couple of months later, my operation happened. I was told it was more than likely a section of bowel would have to be removed and I would end up with a temporary stoma bag. When I came around from the operation, my consultant looked puzzled as he explained that when he lasered away the adhesions, which took time because they were so thick (which meant they had been there for a long time), he found my bowel wall was clear of endometriosis. He’d sent the adhesions off to be analysed as maybe I didn’t have the correct diagnosis.

When I had my follow-up appointment, my consultant explained all of the adhesions had been caused by endometriosis but maybe the endo was deeper into my bowel wall. I had another operation three years later as I was in pain again. My consultant thought it was the hidden endometriosis. I prayed every day and kept on decreeing and declaring it was a post-op problem. After the operation, he confirmed it was a post-operative problem!

Due to the nature of endometriosis, I had another operation in 2025. My left bowel wall is still OK! 

Endometriosis is a painful disease and, for me, it’s still ongoing. However, I’ve been able to use the trauma and pain I’ve been through in a positive way. The sorrow of my endometriosis journey gave me the added depth and wisdom I needed to complete and publish my book, Charlotte’s Candle, which is an adult fiction book about grief and childhood bereavement (my mum died when I was eleven years old). I’ve learned that even when things are difficult, we have a God who can work for good in all things.

Alex