Dear friends,
I just finished helping put some friends’ children to bed. These children have been very special to me during my whole time here in Merkinch. And so I am feeling rather thoughtful tonight as I realise that my time with these wee ones is soon drawing to a close. As I have told people here in our church and community about my decision to return to the States in August, I often think of Paul’s words in Acts 21: “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?” There are so many emotions now as I walk forward in obeying what I believe God has really clearly shown me to do…like I said last week, there is just such a great mix of lament and joy, sorrow and expectation.
A very beautiful answer to our prayers happened this week in the midst of all this change. When telling our dear Bicycle lady about my upcoming move, tears began to streak down her face…which was rather surprising because she can be quite closed-off and emotionally distant. But she grabbed my hand and said, “I am so grateful you came to Scotland.” She then shared how, because of how painful her life and even her family has been, she promised herself long ago to never let anyone get close to her again. And she kept that promise until I met her, but she said that “somehow” (but I know it’s through prayer and God’s kindness!!) she could not stay closed-off to me no matter how hard she tried. “And now I consider you a true friend,” she said, “and I haven’t called anyone a friend in a really long time.” At this point I was in tears too (oh dear!) and shared with her again about the goodness of Jesus and the gospel, how Jesus saved me, how this wonderful Saviour and Friend is the reason I came to Scotland, and how I hoped that even my friendship with her would point her to the much greater love, patience, and faithfulness of God. And for the first time she didn’t have a cold response to me talking about Jesus but, rather, hugged me with a great big smile on her face.
Friends, often when we labour for Jesus we might not get to see any fruit. My time here in Scotland has often felt like hard plowing and rock-chucking…preparing ground for a harvest someone else might see when I am gone. But God, in His kindness, has let us see many answered prayers, including this softening of the Bicycle Lady’s heart. This softening has nothing to do with me but everything to do with Jesus! What an encouragement this is. Will you continue to pray with me for her and the many others here in Merkinch? We know that Satan has blinded the eyes of the unbelievers in our community “to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). But we also know that Jesus is more powerful than Satan. Jesus gives blind people sight; I know because He did that for me. And so let us continue to pray for the Lord to raise spiritually dead people in Merkinch into newness of life in Christ Jesus!
That’s all for now, friends. Thank you, thank you for continuing on in prayer. Please do continue to pray for me, for our church, and for our scheme. How we need the grace of Jesus. And how generous He is to give it to us!
Grace & Peace,
Claire
P.S. I’ve been having a very fun time painting our church hall this week. 🙂 Below: day one of painting, and a verse from Psalm 126 that I penciled onto the walls before paint-rolling commenced…
Claire in Scotland 