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The author invites you to join her on a journey. It’s an unusual journey with several stops along the way each with their own story, and each story a testament of provision, revelation, deliverance, healing and hope. Stories or testimonies of a life transformed, of how a quiet and shy young woman living an ordinary life and dreaming of a very ordinary future first encountered God and met and married her prince. It brings to you snapshots of periods of her life in the UK, the Caribbean and Africa. Snapshots that represents the different threads of colour and the different stitch patterns that make up the tapestry of her life. Each thread, each stitch a period of learning from, and growth in her knowledge of God as father, provider, helper and friend. She offers you a window where you can view at leisure some of the experiences and moments that changed her life in surprising ways.

She invites you to read about some of the challenges she faced and how God helped her through them all. To marvel at the skills He taught her, such as how to design an outfit, draft a pattern, cut and sew and finish a garment. She wants to share with you those things she learned about herself, and God, and how they changed her outlook on life. To examine the principles and deep truths He taught her, and enjoy the laughter they shared. she hopes, as she bears witness, that you will feel the thread of His unfailing love that underpinned it all!

Count your Blessings is the telling of personal testimonies that serves to demonstrate the love, care and overwhelming faithfulness of God through the everyday life of an ordinary woman in her role as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend. It highlights the surety of Gods promises, and the power of prayer when facing life’s challenges; it makes known God’s active and unfailing love for us and serves to remind those who know, and inform others who don’t, that God is trustworthy and dependable.

She’s sure she is not the only one to have found herself in situations where she’s thought…’now what!’ or felt a silent scream rising from the depths, or to have thought ‘this is so unfair, why me!’, is she?

None of us are exempt from the trials of life, we can expect to experience periods of pleasure and pain throughout its cycles, how do we, how do you respond to them? She has learnt that there is One who has promised never to leave us or forsake us; One who knows and can provide for our every need; One who can do the impossible; who can turn our mourning to dancing, and His Name is Jesus!

You’re invited to walk with her through her perfectly imperfect life as seen through these short stories and see how, in His Hands, and in every situation, God has provided the extra for her ordinary and brought about extraordinary results! See how her mountains were brought low and her valleys raised up. How open doors were closed and closed doors opened at His command! Hear His voice in the silences and know He is also there in the clamour. Know that what He has done in her, for her, and through her, He can surely do for you. What’s your story?

Pride and Humility

Though I met and married my husband here in England, his home was the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. This is where we headed for our honeymoon and it was my first experience of island living as an adult. England had been my home since I was 5 years old. I had only snapshot images of life in Jamaica and had not been back since.

I loved my time in Trinidad. The sun, sand, people and the food were all great. However, there were a few occasions when certain foods and drinks held little appeal. One occasion that I remember clearly was when I was presented with a bowl of porridge called ‘flour pap’ for breakfast; his grandmother prepared it. I ate it and made polite enquiry into its ingredients and method of preparation but in my heart I thought badly of it and wondered how anyone could eat such poor fare. I ate with apparent satisfaction and said all that was proper, while looking down my nose at the meal, which was indeed below my own standards, and not at all what I was used to.

We often forget that God is omniscient that He knows our thoughts. He certainly knew mine. Later that year we returned to Trinidad to lead a small church. My husband’s salary was adequate and met our needs with a bit of economy. However, being a small church with only a small number of people in full-time employment, tithes and offerings were not always sufficient to meet the church bills and pay his salary. On these occasions the bills were paid first so that we did not receive a full wage. The congregation however were very generous and we frequently received gift parcels of food that supplemented the low wage. They wanted to bless us, and they truly did. Their gifts did not supply us with luxuries, but were enough for our needs.

As I remember, one particular month was more difficult than usual. We had received a little over half our salary and there was about another 10 days before the next wage. Our food supply was low. We had no money and I struggled to produce meals, until finally, a new day dawned. I opened the cupboards to see what was available to prepare breakfast. My husband already knew food was low, and we had prayed about it. I found a little flour, a little powdered milk, and a sprinkling of sugar, absolutely nothing else anywhere. What could I do with this? I looked at them for a long while knowing my husband would be leaving for work soon, and as I looked, I remembered our honeymoon and the porridge we’d had one morning. I was thankful I’d taken instructions on the making of it, and although I did not have any of the spices to make it more palatable, the basic ingredients were there. I cooked the porridge, laid the table and served it. It was just enough for two. As we gave thanks for the meal, I told my husband it was the last of our supplies. He seemed worried, but strangely, I was not. This was due partly to the memory of God’s promise to me that I’d be safe with Him, and partly because I always trusted Him to know His own business. I knew that He was aware of our need and felt that this might be a test of my faith and dependence on Him. Either way I knew God would make a way. I began to eat and as I raised the first spoonful to my mouth, God took me on a journey backward in time to the morning 16-18 months previously when I had despised the porridge given to me. I saw my-self in my pride and it was not a pretty sight.

God spoke to me then and told me that he had cut off all our supplies to bring me to that place where I would prepare and eat with thanksgiving that “poor” meal. I saw how greatly I had displeased Him to earn myself such a harsh lesson. I asked Him to forgive me and to help me never to be proud or think more highly of myself, or anything I owned, than I should. I ate my humble porridge and was satisfied. I cleared the table and washed up. As I waved my husband goodbye and he walked off toward the gate, a stranger carrying a box was walking toward our gate and called out to us. He came into the yard and up the shallow step onto the veranda (patio) and followed my husband into the living room where he placed the box on the floor. We then exchanged greetings and he introduced him-self as the Pastor from the neighbouring village. He apologised that he had not had time to visit us before to welcome us to the area, and proceeded to tell us that during his devotion hour (prayer time) the previous evening, God directed him to prepare a box of groceries for us. He did this with his wife’s help. He took an envelope containing $45 from his breast pocket and gave it to us. I did not feel relief that God had provided because I knew He would. What I did feel, however, was that I had been severely disciplined by a Just God. I remembered His words that He had “cut off” our supplies to teach me a lesson. Having done so and accepted my remorse and forgiven me, He had opened the doors for our supplies again. As though to prove the point, not that God needs to prove anything, three times during that same day, various members popped in for a chat, as was their custom, bringing some groceries, none a duplicate of what I had already received. That lesson was burnt on my heart. God chastises those He loves. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that He loves me. God cannot lie. Pride really does come before a fall, but humility and repentance bring forgiveness and restoration.