Keep going

 This past weekend I spent three days with a group of prophetic friends sitting in the sunshine drinking tea and sharing life.  We met online during Covid. Three of us live near each other round the Lisburn area, one is from Fermanagh (hour and a half west) and one from Edinburgh.  Last year, after a couple of years of online chat and encouragement we decided to get together. We had a profound weekend in Fermanagh where we ended up discussing our marriages and praying deeply into relationships which for all of us have had their challenges.  All of us have late teen/adult kids. All of us have ageing parents.  Much in common; and the group turns out to be the only place most of us have where we can honestly share, pray, advise, laugh cry and listen to God for answers.  Precious times.

This weekend Jane once again travelled over from Edinburgh and miraculously everyone managed their diaries and caring responsibilities to ensure we could meet up. No agenda.  Just to chill and chat and pray The chat/prayer was interesting

Jenny and Cathy both trained as midwives.  Jenny shared that every time when a woman is in labour and 9cm dilated she says ' I cant do this. Give me a c section.  I've got nothing left. You have to stop this'.  But the midwife knows that within the next 20 minutes the baby will be born. So every time the midwife gently ignores the ' I can't' and says ' you can, you're nearly there, keep going, its going to be very soon'.

The next image someone had was of the marathon runner having given everything over 26miles, being in sight of the finish line but just collapsing.  Legs jelly, breathing done, energy gone, absolutely physically and mentally spent.  But another runner comes alongside and physically drags them over the line. Refusing to allow a fellow runner to fail at the last hundred meters.

There was a third picture of a dam.  Water was being held back and the land downstream was parched. When the dam bursts it will be all of a sudden. A deluge will come and overwhelm the dry ground.

We prayed these things for each other over the course of Saturday.

All of that however is a bit of a precursor to what happened next.

Unbeknowns to me the Church of Ireland Synod was happening over the weekend. As our group time was coming to an end we were sitting round the kitchen table having had a lovely barbecue in the sunshine.  We were just chatting randomly and the conversation somehow got round to traditional churches and their ministers.  I was telling the girls about a recent encounter Id had with a Church of Ireland minister who has been so beaten up by his congregation over petty and ridiculous matters that he is on the verge of giving up - even though he is only two or three years away from retirement.  As I was telling the story there was a knock at the door and there was a different Church of Ireland minister and his wife who wondered if they could come in for a cup of tea as they had an hour to kill between appointments.  They joined us at the table and asked what they were interrupting.  I re-capped the story and he said 'Oh I was at the Synod today and I saw that minister sitting on his own during the coffee break so went to chat to him. He's having an awful time'.   It seemed appropriate that we should all pray for this poor man and his church. So we did.

Yesterday I was speaking to my minister who had also been at Synod.  Told him briefly the above. He said ' Caz when I was talking to so many ministers over the weekend I cant tell you how many of them are in battles over buildings and staffing and finances and trying to introduce change and they are weary and discouraged and defeated.  Im so so blessed to belong to a church where we genuinely dont have these issues. My heart is breaking for so many that do'

In my head the message is clear. The midwife, the marathon runner, the dam are not just for our group They are for the church . Especially for the Church of Ireland at the moment. But probably for the church further afield.  Ministers and leaders are on their knees. There are plans and projects and ministries which have been carried and worked on for so so long and which have not come to fruition.  Sometimes because of outright opposition from congregations. Sometimes it only takes one person in a church to be the dam which holds back the blessing.  Brilliant ,faithful, hard working men and women of God are on the verge of packing it all in and walking away.  They can see the finish line but they just cant take one more step and they look around for someone to drag them there and there is nobody.  Except there is.  There is me. There is you.  You are a runner in the race, you are a midwife, skilled at supporting something to be birthed.  We can come around them and cheer. Carry them with our prayers and real boots-on-the-ground practical support.  We can tell the moaners and complainers to shut up. We can speak up on behalf of our leaders and squish the rumours and the misinformation. God is about to birth something . Revival is actually going to come. Things are starting to happen but the enemy really does want to kill the leaders of movements and the agents of change. We cannot let him.

So if any of this resonates today please DO something.  Pray for your own leaders and especially any churches you know which have burned out depressed leaders. Send someone a card saying ' we love how God uses you'.  Go and visit the ministers wife/hubby who is watching this battle and feeling lonely and helpless whilst supporting their spouse.  And pray that they can persevere during this last 1cm dilation before birth and the last 100m before the finish line because great will be the rejoicing for those who hang on just a wee bit longer.