Trusting God Through Difficulties...

 

The last couple of weeks have not been easy ones for my family. Several of them have had some serious concerns and worries of different kinds. It has been hard for me here in Slovenia, feeling so far away from everything. It's not as though I could have done anything even if I was in the UK, but the distance has made me feel especially helpless. Thankfully, we have a great God, who hears our prayers and knows our concerns. One night last week I awoke at 4am to find more difficult news. It's at those times, when we feel most alone and helpless, that we know we're not.

I'm thankful and happy to say that most of the difficulties have now been solved, or are being dealt with. Please be praying for my family at this time and that I, and all of us, would keep trusting the Lord with it all.

In other news, we have snow! I took this photo from my balcony at 10pm on Monday night. We had already had a fall on Sunday night and all the roads had cleared so you can see how much was coming down. Slovenia is very good at dealing with snow. There's no such thing as school or airport closures, people just get on with life. It hasn't caused too much of a problem for me. Even if I can't cycle, I can walk most places or use the bus if necessary. That being said, some of the piles of snow (where it's been cleared from pathways) are bigger than me. I had an interesting moment when I was getting off the bus and was confronted with a massive pile I just had to kind of wade through.

In terms of ministry, life is continuing as normal. We had an encouraging youth group last week where we talked about propitiation (atonement) and what it means. We have been looking at big words that end in "shun" (yes, like the Colin Buchanen song) and it's been really encouraging seeing the young people really get to grips about what the Bible says. Tonight we'll be looking at justification. Please be praying that they don't just learn head knowledge but that they'll understand how it applies to them and why it's important to learn what the Bible says about these things.

The last couple of week may not have been easy but I have had some definite encouragements and most importantly, I have known that God has been with me through it all. As the Gettys wrote in their hymn:

"When trials come no longer fear
For in the pain our God draws near
To fire a faith worth more than gold
And there His faithfulness is told
And there His faithfulness is told

Within the night I know Your peace
The breath of God brings strength to me
And new each morning mercy flows
As treasures of the darkness grow
As treasures of the darkness grow

I turn to Wisdom not my own
For every battle You have known
My confidence will rest in You
Your love endures Your ways are good
Your love endures Your ways are good

When I am weary with the cost
I see the triumph of the cross
So in its shadow I shall run
Till He completes the work begun
Till He completes the work begun

One day all things will be made new
I’ll see the hope You called me to
And in your kingdom paved with gold
I’ll praise your faithfulness of old
I’ll praise your faithfulness of old”

How Quickly Things Change...

Three weeks before Christmas I was expecting to have a rather strange holiday period. Because of residency issues I was planning to stay in Slovenia, celebrate with friends and have a short holiday by the lakes. Then covid and other illness hit the church. My plans for youth group went out of the window. I'd prepared a couple of sessions of teaching and then a Christmas party. We ended up having the first session on Zoom and it reminded me once again how much I hated it. How did we ever do that for 2 years? In the end the second session was then cancelled for a variety of reasons. I guess I still have the material for next year right? We were able to have a Christmas party though!

Then, on 20th December, I received the letter I had been eagerly waiting for. The letter that said that my residency application had been approved and I just needed to go collect the document. All my plans suddenly went out the window. I quickly got in contact with my lawyer and established that I couldn't get the document before Christmas but that he was pretty certain I was allowed to travel. That day I cancelled my holiday, apologised to my friends and booked flights back to the UK.

View from the airport

Despite border force and train strikes, my journey to the UK was reasonably smooth, well apart from the policeman at border control at Ljubljana airport spilling his coffee over my passport... It seems to have survived its dousing OK (thank God!)

The Christmas time was a lovely period of rest, seeing all my family (including a niece I had never met before) and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Whilst the build up to Christmas was a bit strange, the end result meant that I could see many people in Swindon and at Saltford Community Church. Thank you all for your kind welcomes, support and encouragement.

I flew back to Slovenia on 2nd January (my slightly coffee stained passport didn't cause any issues) and was able to collect my residency document on 3rd. I am very thankful for all yours prayers and support. I really didn't expect it to come through this quickly. (I was worrying about what I would do if it didn't come in time for the ECM Biennial in Croatia in April!) Another thing to be thanking God for is that this time it is valid for 2 years. This means that I don't need to worry about reapplying until September next year. Thank God that everything has gone smoothly and that I am able to stay and continue the work I am doing here in Ljubljana.

For now, life is slowly getting back to normal. Youth groups start again tomorrow (the older one definitely, the younger one is still TBC) and my one to ones will start again next week.

Thank you for all your prayers and praise God for the way he has so obviously answered them!