On Friday, 25th June 2021 I travelled by car from my home in Mansfield to Glyndley Manor, near Eastbourne for a Creative weekend, taking my sister Suzanne out for a couple of hours in Woking on the way.
I was surprised that the “Sat Nav” on my phone took me via Turners Hill. It seemed the Holy Spirit was wanting to remind me of the start of my “Born Again” journey, since Turners Hill is where my friend Sue’s cousin, Pauline Hunt, had lived with her husband, Paul, and their five daughters, the eldest of whom is now Lou Fellingham. Pauline had been the one God chose to mentor me when my life fell apart in 1985 and again in 1994 when I had my first “close encounters” with the Holy Spirit.
As I journeyed on to Glyndley Manor, I then saw signs for Lewes. I had spent my first Christmas in 1994 as a born again Christian with the Hunt Family and I remember being told that prisoners in Lewes Prison were being born again and how excited I was at that news. Lewes is also where my cousin John and his wife Daryn live. It was at their wedding in Hove in 1987 that I had met John Wilson, who was to become my husband in 1988.
I then drove across country through some lovely villages (on narrow roads) until I arrived at Glyndley Manor.
I was a little shattered, since I arrived around 5:00 p.m. having left home at around 8:45 a.m. I kept quite quiet during the evening meal (where I was on a table with Carole from Harrow and Hannah from Essex, who was a Children’s Nurse at Great Ormond Street). Katherine was sat on the table to my left and Alison on the table to my right.
I was reminded of Katherine, the woman for whom my husband had left our marriage, and my cousin Alison in Hove.
The following morning, Saturday, I had a walk around the grounds and noticed some beautiful flowers in the beds. They had obviously been well tended, but weeds were starting to appear. This spoke to me of our lives. God has planted some amazing things in us, but we do need to keep weeding out the bad stuff, so that the amazing stuff doesn’t get choked and die.
Hannah is moving into a job working in a neo-natal unit and I was reminded of my friend, Cherry, whom I lived with in Wallington when I was 21. There were 7 of us girls living in that house in Wallington and it was my first experience of living away from home. Cherry had worked at Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children in Carshalton in Surrey and later went on to pioneer work in neo natal baby massage. I mentioned Cherry’s work to Hannah and she told me that even that morning she had been thinking about whether she could do baby massage for her new born patients. A God-incidence.
We were given a talk about the various activities that were available for us for the weekend and then, at the Coffee Break, Robert (Glyndley Manor’s director) came to sit beside me. As we chatted, I discovered that we both had had experience of psychiatric wards, but that Robert had a truly amazing journey through mental ill health and miraculous recovery. He mentioned that he had come to Glyndley Manor the day before 911. That would have been my wedding anniversary in 2001. I was reminded of how God had spoken to me about 911 and the blog post I had written about that is here.
I also spoke about the fact that I had been a patient on three psychiatric wards in the past, but now saw that as part of my training to help others. The first time was in 1985, after I got myself wound up trying to persuade a psychiatrist not to give my sister electric shock treatment (ECT) and ended up making myself ill. At that time my friends (some of those I had lived with in Wallington 11 years previously) took me to a psychiatrist and from there I was admitted onto a ward for a weekend, before I walked out.
The second time was when my husband left me in 1994 and I attempted suicide by taking an overdose using my sister’s psychiatric tablets. I believe I had taken enough to kill me, as I particularly chose those with a skull and crossbones beside them in the medicine directory, but the Holy Spirit brought me back without a hospital visit and a stomach pump. At that time my family took me to a psychiatrist and from there I was admitted onto a ward for two and a half weeks.
The third occasion was a year later, 1995, after I had moved up to Lincolnshire, when my church took me to a psychiatrist and from there I was admitted onto a ward for two and a half weeks.
What I had learnt from these three occasions was not to put my trust in people (friends, family or church) because only God knew everything that was necessary to know in order to heal me. And heal me He has, without the pills and ECT and hospital stays that the world thought I needed.
Meeting Robert also reminded me of another friend from the house in Wallington, Brenda, and her husband Paddy. Robert is from Perth, Australia and my husband, John, and I went to Perth to stay with Brenda and Paddy for my 40th birthday. Brenda and Paddy and their children having emigrated there earlier that year.
After the Coffee break. I went to the greenhouse to make a mini garden. I was interested to learn that Caroline who was leading this session was from Hove (where I had met my husband and where he had a flat that we visited for weekends when we lived in Kingston upon Thames). As I was creating my mini garden, I was reminded of how God had spoken to me in 1997 about my being a forget-me-not (a plant with strong roots), planted on a rock (Jesus) beside a waterfall (the Holy Spirit). The story of how He spoke to me is here.
And, looking at the mini garden I had created I could see that the cuttings were very quickly wilting. I could give them supports, but without roots they would surely die. The same is true of ourselves. We can get support from others when we are feeling weak, but unless we are rooted in Jesus we will surely wilt and die. John 3:16 (NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
After lunch, I firstly went to the Woodwork session that Caroline’s husband, Steve, was running with Robin. I chose to cut out the word LOVE in a piece of ply, using a band saw. I had done this type of thing on previous occasions at Ellel. The first time I had cut out the word JOY and the second time JESUS. The band saw is a little scary, but I felt safe with Robin watching over me and encouraging me.
I still had some time left before our next break, so I went to the Creative Room and painted a stone and shell with acrylic paint. Alison was leading this workshop. So I was reminded of my cousin Alison, but also reminded of someone I had worked with at Compassion UK, Charlotte Wallington (note the same name as the town I lived in when I first left home). Charlotte had studied at Northwood Bible College, as had Alison who was leading the workshop. And, my nurse friend, Cherry, whom I lived with in Wallington, later worked at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London.
Thereafter followed a tea break, and I went to my room to do the collage we had been given to do on our first evening (I was too shattered by my journey to do it at the time). After doing the collage, I still had a bit of time before our evening meal, so I went back to the Woodwork room to collect my “LOVE”. As I was doing so, a bomber and a fighter plane flew over (it was Armed Forces day). I was reminded of how God had spoken to me in May 1998 and I told Robin and a couple of other men in the Woodwork room the story:
On Dambusters Day in 1998 I was walking across what was once Skellingthorpe Airbase and is now Birchwood, Lincoln on my way to church. I looked up into the sky and saw the Battle of Britain Memorial flight coming towards me overhead. As I looked at the planes – The Lancaster Bomber in the centre with the Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes on either side – God transposed into my mind a photograph of me coming out of All Saints Church in Kingston upon Thames with my groom on one side and my best man on the other. The Battle of Britain flight being replaced by the Bridal Party.
What God seemed to be telling me was that there is a Battle for the mind of Britain, but that the Bride’s weapon of warfare is the “Good News” and “Love” and that the Groom and the Best Man were the duckers and divers – the prayer warriors drawing the flak away as she did her job. Another interesting fact about my wedding party was that God chose for the best man to be born on 15 September (which is Battle of Britain day) and my two little bridesmaids lived at house number 159. I wondered for a few years why God chose for me to see the Battle of Britain flight on what I now know to be Dambusters Day (17 May), but eventually I was told that the Lancaster Bomber is part of both the Battle of Britain flight and the Dambusters Raid.
I have a link to the man who invented the bouncing bomb, Barnes Wallis, in that he worked at was to become British Aerospace, on the B374 in Weybridge. I was working at British Aerospace at the time I met my husband in January 1987 and was later to travel that road many times when I was working at Compassion UK in Weybridge from 15 August 2005. God gave me a scripture through that road number: Psalm 37:4 ESV “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
And, at the time of my working at British Aerospace God had indeed given me the desires of my heart (to be married) but I didn’t really know God at that time. Now, as I look back over my life and see God working in it, I can say that I am delighting myself in Him. And, as I delight myself in Him, His desires become my desires – to see everyone I meet have a love relationship with Jesus, the Lord.
At Easter of 2010, God released me from my desk job at Compassion UK in Surrey to move to Derbyshire, about 30 miles from Lady Bower Reservoir where they had practiced the Dambusters Raid, and to start enjoying my creativity. So, Lancaster is a word that has special significance for me – a word that speaks of the Bride (the Church) and of her intimacy with the Bridegroom (Jesus) and of all that flows from that Love relationship. And Lancaster is also where the first Ellel Ministries building is located. There is a link to Ellel from the Battle for Britain flight and from the Dambusters Raid. Ellel is in the business of loving people out of the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of Light and God had spoken to me of the Dambusters Raid, whereby the dam is symbolic of strongholds in people’s minds and those strongholds need to be taken out at the root (the bouncing bomb used in the Dambusters raid was designed to explode at the foundations of the dam) to allow the flow of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
I believe that God will use our “Creativity” as a weapon of warfare against the enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy our minds; he will use it in the business of transforming our minds. My desire for a number of years is that I might live in a big house in the country and have creative ideas available for people to come and try every day. I believe God is encouraging me in that dream.
God is the God who makes dreams come true. I believe that He wants us to dream, to reach for the stars and in that dreaming and reaching for the stars we will win the battle for our minds.
It was interesting to me that it was at Ellel Glyndley Manor last weekend that God had chosen to remind me of how he had previously spoken to me about the Battle of Britain flight / Bridal party. As I recounted my stories about the Lancaster bomber, Robin told me that God had given him a picture of a White Lancaster (and that seemed to fit with how God had spoken to me about the Lancaster bomber becoming the White bride).
And an amusing thing I have been reminded of: In 2005 I started working for Compassion UK (a Christian Child Development Organisation in Weybridge in Surrey) as a Sponsor Relations Assistant. Ten months later two new Sponsor Relations Assistants were taken on and started work on the same day. One of them, Nisha, was born in the same maternity hospital in Middlesex as myself, (but many years later), and the other, Jenny was born on Dambusters Day. The humorous thing that the interviewers didn’t notice was that Nisha’s surname was Banga and Jenny’s was Gunn. Thus “Bang a Gun”. Jenny married a year or two later and became Jenny Bacon – so we then had “Banga and Bacon”.
And, on the Sunday, 27 June at Ellel, Glyndley Manor, Bangers and Bacon were on the menu for Breakfast 🙂
I had discovered that Hannah on my Dining Table was a friend on Facebook of a friend of mine called Kathy. Hannah told me that she had met Kathy at Ellel, Pierrepont and at My Church, Windsor (Windsor is where my husband lived when I met him – although he had the flat in Hove, he lived in Windsor). My Church, Windsor is run by an American lady called Sharon Stone and so I was reminded of when Sharon came to Lincoln in 1997 and prophesied. At the time I had found a brand new house to buy in Lincoln (on the former Skellingthorpe Airbase where in 1998 I was to see the Battle of Britain flight go overhead).
The thing that had concerned me about the new house was that it was on the Sycamore Development. The word Sycamore had some unpleasant memories for me as it was the name of the psychiatric Ward where I had spent two and a half weeks a couple of years previously. However, Sharon had spoken prophetically about Lime being symbolic for Healing (as in lime preventing scurvy for the convicts being transported to Australia). This helped me tremendously, as the Close where my home was situated on the Sycamore development was Lime Tree Close. The Holy Spirit encouraged me to think of the fact that within the Sycamore Ward was a nurses station and my home represented the nurses station within the Sycamore Development.
Alison, who was seated to my right in the Dining Room spoke of how the Jehovah’s Witnesses were now sending us invitations in the post to join them, rather than their usual practice of knocking on our doors. I too had received such a letter.
But I was also reminded of a visit from Mormons in 2017. I had seen a sofa I liked on Facebook, but didn’t know how I could get it into my house. Then, as I was weeding in the garden I leant on a fence panel and the Holy Spirit pointed out to me that the fence panel could be removed for the sofa to be delivered, but I would need help removing it. I mentioned that fact when I went to volunteer at the Beacon Project and another volunteer (a man in his seventies) offered to help me. This we managed, but I felt I would need two tall men to put it back after the sofa had been delivered.
I prayed with a friend and then the doorbell went and on my doorstep were a couple of Mormon men – an American and an African, both quite tall. They mentioned that they were helping a neighbour with their garden and “ching” the thought came to my mind – ask them to put the fence panel back. They offered there and then, but I said I need the sofa delivered first. So they offered to come back later. Sure enough, the sofa was delivered (by two women) and then the Mormon men came back, but the tall American had been replaced by a short American. Oh dear!! Anyway, they managed, but it was hilarious when at the end of the job they were on the outside of the fence and I was on the inside of the fence and they were trying to give me the Book of Mormon 🙂
After breakfast on Sunday at Glyndley Manor, I noticed that I set off for home at 10:08 a.m. I smiled because I was on my way to my sister and her birthday is 10th August. But I am also reminded of Matthew 10:8, one of my favourite verses: Matthew 10:8 NIV: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”
My phone wasn’t charging and was down to 9%, so I asked for directions to the M23 (as I knew my way from there) and was directed to take the A27 (rather than the country route I had taken on the way to Glyndley Manor). I like to look at Psalms when I see road numbers, so I looked at Psalm 27 later.
Over the weekend, while I was doing the creative workshops I had been wearing a t-shirt I bought from David’s Tent (a 72 hour worship event at Steyning each August). The t-shirt has the wording “Surely we will see” (the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living) and I was amused to see that this is part of Psalm 27:
I was pleased to be able to have another lovely visit with my sister, Suzanne, on the way home and arrived back at around 5:00 p.m.
My sister gave me a beautiful card when I saw her on the Sunday afternoon. Here is a photograph of the card. I thought it went well with the word I cut out in the woodwork room at Glyndley Manor and as I looked at it the Holy Spirit showed me a link. It was Robin who had helped me do the piece of woodwork and my sister lives in Robin Hood Road (and I live very near to Sherwood Forest 🙂
On the Monday, 28 June I had a day off and did some wallpapering. I received an email response from Katherine at Glyndley Manor and was pleased to see that it was sent at 10:08 a.m. (another reference from the Holy Spirit to my sister and Matthew 10:8).
Also on Monday, I noted that God hadn’t finished speaking to me about spiritual warfare. I learnt from Facebook that Charlotte Wallington had been ordained at the weekend and her curacy was to be at St Michael’s and All Angels at Hathersage. Hathersage is a place I visited a few times when I was married to John, since his aunt (the first Mrs John Wilson as John’s uncle was also called John) was a resident at a Methodist Care Home in Hathersage.
This aunt, May, was a Christian who had previously lived at Mansfield Woodhouse and now I am a Christian and live about 2 miles from Mansfield Woodhouse. John’s mum gave me May’s bible after John left and I was born again. And, Hathersage is in Hope Valley, just about 4 miles from Lady Bower Reservoir where the Dambusters Squadron (617 Squadron) practiced before they did their raid in Germany in World War II. Also, the church in Hathersage where Charlotte is to serve is called St Michael and All Angels, which reminds me of the battle between St Michael and All Angels in the book of Revelation: Revelation 12:7-12
and that I was on the second day of my first tour of Israel/Palestine and staying in Bethlehem on St Michael and All Angels day in the year 2000, when the Intifada uprising started and “All Hell broke loose”.
So, lots of little connections, weavings together of different parts of my life’s journey. I am reminded of Psalm 139:16 (NIV) Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
The Cross is in the Field 