Am I following the Spirit’s lead?
I am terrible at English! I don’t know the difference between a verb and an adjective, I know the difference visually between a colon and a semicolon but I don’t know when to use them appropriately, my spelling is so bad that sometimes even spellcheck can’t work out what I’m trying to spell, and I perpetually miss apostrophes!! At school my English teacher used to despair at my lack of paragraphs, sentences that were far too long and the way I spelt the same word wrong in 3 different ways. Why am I telling you this? Well…if you had told me 3 years ago that one of the main things I would be doing was writing reflections and newsletters to be circulated across a whole Movement of disciples I would have genuinely laughed in your face.
In March 2020 the Beacon of Hope began as a ray of light in the midst of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Within the first few weeks I had begun to write reflections to point people to God in the midst of trials but also to remind people that we can still live missionally every day even in a pandemic. Click here to read one of the first reflections about big emotions. Over the last 30 months (nearly two and a half years!) I have written reflections on all sorts of things: seeds, ovens, fishing, bumblebees and Christmas Kintsugi. I have written articles from a number of different places: my desk in Leeds before we moved, my desk in Chesterfield afterwards, a hospital bed, and the armchair I sat in to nurse our daughter. We have even started our own family blog to connect with those who support us prayerfully and financially. Click here to have a look if you like. Like I said before…if you had told me 3 years ago that this is what would take up a big chunk of my time I would have dismissed it as silly talk.
I’m not saying all of this to blow my own trumpet. I still panic every time I hit ‘send’ on an edition of Beacon and I have two very patient and faithful proof readers who don’t laugh at my terrible spelling and horrific use of punctuation and grammar. I am saying this in answer to the question above: “Am I following the Spirit’s lead?” I could have ignored the Spirit when he nudged me to sit at my keyboard and write. I could have dismissed it as foolishness. After all, who would want to read the ramblings of my sleep-deprived brain? I could have ignored the encouragements from others to continue when I felt like things weren’t making sense, I could have ignored those nudges when I was out and about and the thought ‘That would be a good reflection’ popped into my head. Instead I take a few deep breaths and start every reflection with a prayer that God would guide my typing and use the reflection for his glory. The Bible tells us God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. Are you willing to follow the Spirit’s lead even if it means exposing a weakness in order for God’s power to be revealed?
Rachel Wright, Inspire Missioner, GB
