be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth...” (John 14:15-17)
As Christians we celebrate that the Holy Spirit actively guides and grows us! Whilst our faith is grounded in the Word of God, it is never just a dry set of moral principles, it is a relationship and a conversation as we travel the road – the highway sections well lit and paved and the unpaved dirt sections winding through the valleys of deepest shadow.
Sometimes it is through the darker paths that insight and growth comes!
My mum used to tell the story (from the 1950s) of how as a single, young, nurse, she found herself alone and confused working as a nanny in Iraq for the Japanese ambassador’s little boy! She had thought this was God’s leading, but now it felt as if she had been abandoned in a literally ‘god-forsaken’ desert. She tells the story:
“... After a long lonely Christmas time in a Shinto household in a Moslem country – I longed for some Christian fellowship. I asked God that if there were any Christians in that town, would He let me find them. Instead, God answered my prayer by sending me a violent unbearable toothache. On top of everything else, what should I do?
I told the Embassy Chauffeur to drive me to a dentist. “Which one?” he asked. Any dentist! We drove around until we found one in Rashid Street. While I waited for my treatment, I looked out of the window. Right opposite I saw the sign “British & Foreign Bible Society.” My toothache almost disappeared! After seeing the dentist I went straight over and enquired about where these Christians met, and if I could attend.
They welcomed me and took me to the Mission Centre called ‘Dar Kalimat Allah’- Arabic for ‘House of the Word of God’.
This community became like a home for me. I spent my days off – mostly Sundays - there helping with Sunday School and other mission work. Mini a Christian lady from Belfast, and her Syrian husband Kareem, became my best friends. [They were like the Pastors of the church]. Mini became my mentor and lifelong older sister while I attended the meetings and helped them. And, that is how I met my husband! – all through a toothache!
I wonder, what are your stories of ‘toothaches’? How have you found the Holy Spirit in the desert places? Truly, as the Proverb says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.” (Prov 3:5-6)
Often we miss the ‘ways’ of the Holy Spirit because we are not attending. We notice the spectacular break-throughs or the exhilarating experiences, but the everyday activities and the mundane routines slip past without attention. As for the difficult things, the frustrations, and the painful ‘toothaches’ of life, well they are rarely reflected on too deeply.
One of the practices we have been sharing in our new faith community, Haven, is the ancient practice of the Examen. It’s the discipline of pausing and sitting quietly for a while each day and reflecting on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and discern the Spirit’s direction for us.
In what ways can we build in time for reflection and listening to the voice of the Spirit?
