The road to Bethel

Hello again, thank you for all the comments I have had about my last post, so encouraging!

To tell you about my road to Bethel I need to go back to the few weeks after my husband died. I knew that I would sell our house as we had planned to move anyway and it was no longer our home. This meant that I would have the option of travelling as I would be able to access some cash to facilitate this. My first thought was to go to Hong Kong and volunteer with St Stephen's Society for a year to learn from them, I had asked Papa for something to look forward to and hope for, something tangible and I felt him say Hong Kong. I had spent two weeks there in 2012 (all my husband's doing) and had loved it. I came away knowing that God wanted me to bring aspects of the work out there back to the UK and that I needed to go back and learn, learn, learn! So I started thinking about applying to go to Hong Kong sometime this year. As I am with nearly everything, I was very excited at the prospect and was happy to tell anyone who would listen. 

At New Year I went on retreat at Mount Saint Bernard's Abbey. It was wonderful. Most of my time there was about talking with Papa about the next year, my first as a widow. I declared to him again and again that I would go wherever he wanted me to and do whatever he wanted me to. The only thing that I wanted was that he would go with me wherever I went. I met some lovely people on the retreat and one of them who I spent a little time with said to me that I should not be so set on Hong Kong but be open to what else may be ahead. To be honest I had no time for this suggestion and did not give it any real consideration. However, as I was leaving, the same person again said to me that she thought I should keep an open mind and be open to other options. As I drove home I asked Papa if this was him and said if it was I was open to whatever he wanted me to do and wherever he wanted me to go.

The next day I was at a Global Legacy conference listening to one of the speakers when I felt Papa say that he wanted me to go to Bethel School of Ministry. But it's full of Americans was my immediate response! It's not that I don't like Americans, I had just never seen myself spending lots of time with them and America was definitely low down on my places to visit. Papa again said he wanted me to go to Bethel and asked if I remembered him telling me, many years ago, that he would send me to bible school. Wow, this question really threw me. He had indeed said to me 17 years ago that he wanted me to go to bible school. I had only been a believer for about a year and had spent as much time away from Jesus as I had with him. When Papa spoke I was at Kingdom Faith Camp and had recently returned from walking away from Jesus again. Being a new and immature believer I heard and immediately acted (no seeking confirmation or speaking with those over me who were wise, just headstrong action) by applying to Kingdom Faith bible school. I was turned down which at the time seemed devastating and meant that I must have got it wrong and did not hear God speak. Hindsight (and some maturity) shows that it was a wise decision on their part as I would probably have caused havoc there. At this point I said that I would seek some confirmation and push some doors to see what would happen about Bethel.

The next day I got words from two young people I knew that confirmed what Papa had said, one was about being given new tools and not just any tools but the best and the other was about birthing the miraculous. Wow! With this I emailed my elders so that we could talk about it, I would not go without their blessing. When we met they were very excited for me and felt that this was The Lord opening a new and unexpected door for me and we agreed that I would apply.

Most of the people I spoke to about applying were very encouraging but a couple of them were not, raising concerns about the validity of Bethel and the leadership. As a result of this when I applied I did not tell them that I had done it. God gave me a picture at this time of me swimming against the tide, I had been given this picture a few years earlier too, and he said that though not everyone would understand there were those swimming with me who would cheer and encourage me on this journey.

My application in, I just had to wait for my recommendations to be done and then I could book a skype interview. Within 2 weeks it was all done and my interview was booked for the end of January. All through this process I just kept praying that God's will would be done and that if it was right for me to go he would open the door but equally, he would slam it shut if I was wrong. I just wanted to be obedient to his call on my life. One friend who had been praying with me about it said that Papa had said that I would know what was right when I had my interview. The interview began but due to bad weather skype would not work properly and I was told I would have to rearrange. My initial reaction was that I must have heard wrong and was not meant to go but I heard Holy Spirit say that the reason the interview had not gone ahead was that I had not done it honourably, I was to tell my friends that I had applied and when my interview was.

Three weeks later and all out in the open I had my interview. My friends who were uncertain about Bethel prayed with me beforehand and we just asked that God's will would be done. The interview was soon over and I was left to wait the 2-4 weeks they had said it would take to tell me. The person who interviewed me declared at the end that where I would be in September was the right place and it was bigger than I know. The next morning I came before God and just declared that wherever I was in September I would rejoice and be glad because it would be where he wanted me. My only request was that I did not have to wait 4 weeks to find out whether it was Bethel or not!

Within 48 hours I knew I was going to Bethel. How exciting, Papa had not made me wait 4 weeks and his awesome provision did not end there. Housemates and housing were just around the corner but that's for next time.

Thank you for reading. I pray you have been blessed and encouraged.