I am not one of those people who had a sudden moment of conversion. I have always had a belief in God as long as I can remember, but was unaware that I could have a personal and living relationship with Jesus. My parents blessed me with a Bible for my 13th birthday, which I read over the years until the pages fell out. God’s word was a great source of comfort to me in all sorts of situations as I grew up. I attended church but knew that something was missing. Around 14 years ago I was invited to go to a small house fellowship in the village of Auchenblae where I live. It was run by Charles and Brenda Gordon, who are members of City Church. Through the love and care and guidance of these wonderful people, I began to realise who Jesus was and that He wanted me to know Him intimately. This has been a wonderful journey of ups and downs over the years, with so many experiences. I could share many times with you of how God has been so good and faithful, despite my faults and failings, but it would take up too many pages. What I do want to share with you now though, is God’s call to obedience and His rich blessings.
My husband and I have three children, two boys aged 15 and 12 and a girl aged 9. After the boys were born we were content with our family of four. While at a Christian ministry centre I was told by one of my counsellors that I would be back in that place a year later and pregnant with a little girl. I completely dismissed it at the time and thought no more about it. However a few months later I awoke one morning with a great desire to have another child. When I mentioned it to my husband he was dead against it. I couldn’t shake the feeling, so prayed that if it was of God, He would change my husband’s mind. Later that year I was visiting a friend outside Edinburgh. We went to church on the Sunday morning, and as I was sat there my eyes were drawn to a family sitting near the front. There was a mum and dad and two boys. I felt in my heart that this was our family and decided that I was not to have another child. However, just at that moment someone in front of me moved to reveal a little girl sitting beside the mother! So God was still speaking on this subject. My husband then woke up one morning saying that he felt we should have another baby, and God gave me the month of May for her birth, and both of us the name Heather. The verse that went with this promise was “My power is made perfect in your weakness” 2 Cor 12:9, so as you can imagine it was not the easiest of times. While pregnant, my father had a heart attack followed by heart bypass surgery. The consultant then discovered a very large aneurism in his groin and we were told it could burst at any time. But God was faithful and walked us through this time. Heather was born in May and all was well with her. She was a “cryer” though and I walked the floor with her a lot!! Our middle child, Duncan, was 3 at the time and going through a bit of a difficult patch. There was a great degree of uncertainty in my life at this time, but God brought peace through the struggles, just as He promised.
When Heather was 9 months old my father died. Again, God was so good, bringing words of love and comfort. Also, at this time we were given some money, which was very much needed. I had made all sorts of plans for this money but thought I should ask God what He wanted me to do with my tithe. It was one of those days where God left me in no doubt as to what I was meant to do. He asked me to give Him all of it! Surely I had got that wrong? No;He made it very clear. I read one scripture after another and it was like having a conversation with God. The scripture said one thing, so I responded in prayer and the next scripture said His part and so it went on. I was to give the whole lot away. He made it clear that this was one of those critical decisions, and what I decided to do was going to be of vital importance to the rest of my life. So, after much tears and sulking, I wrote a cheque to a charity for the entire amount and put it in a post box. It made no earthly sense to me at all. Why would He ask me to do this? I then went on with life and eventually forgot about it.
My husband then became a Christian and went on a missions trip to Uganda. This was a real high point for me as I had been praying for him for 13 years prior to this. When Craig came back from his trip we were both filled with the sense that we needed to start getting ready to move from the house we were in so I started to sort out belongings. God was again faithful to me while Craig was away. I was 4 months into an 18 month mystery illness that left me exhausted to the point of finding it difficult to get around, as well as being a bit sore, and the children were only 3,6 and 9. This was a real time of growing faith for me. I have always had a strong, independent spirit, and God really wanted to strip this away. It was a real “crucifixion of the flesh” time and VERY painful! I longed for a diagnosis and treatment to cure me. I had so much to do for my family and God that He just had to make me better! What was He doing keeping me low and not able to function how I needed to!! By 18 months I had eventually got to the point of saying to God that He was all I needed, and if He chose not to heal me then that was OK as I had learned to trust Him day by day for the strength that I needed to do only the tasks that He had for me that day. (Writing this I am convicted of slipping back into some of my old habits….)
Time went on and our situation became very difficult. The doctor kept telling me that my illness was caused by stress, and that we needed to change our lifestyle. Craig worked on a farm, so worked long hours with very little time off. The house we lived in was part of his work package. He was unhappy in his work and therefore also stressed. His earnings weren’t enough to keep us going so we were eating into the small savings that we had. Our marriage was in tatters and we were caught in a downward spiral. I had approached the council to see if they would house us but we were technically making ourselves homeless if Craig gave up his job, so they were not obliged to help. Rents were too expensive for us and we certainly could not afford a mortgage. Every door we pushed to try to get ourselves out of this situation was well and truly closed! My prayer triplet prayed and prayed through all of these happenings and we kept asking God for a way out.
One evening, completely out of the blue, God sent an obedient servant to give us our way out. With cheque in hand they appeared at our door, saying that God had troubled them with our trouble and prevented them from sleeping. They needed to help us with a gift of money and of accommodation! We were completely stunned! We were told to search for somewhere to live, which we did once the shock had worn off. The house we found was all we had ever dreamed of, but in our view far too luxurious and expensive. We struggled with this, but kept hearing that God was not to be limited in His blessings. This was very hard for us to accept but after prayer and laying a fleece, we knew that this was where God wanted us to be. Craig handed in his notice and we had three weeks to pack up 18 years of belongings and move house. Thank God for His prompting to start getting things organised the two years previously. So three months later we were moving into our new home, bought for us by God. I was reminded of something God had said to me many years previously, of us having to come to a Red Sea moment. This was definitely it! He had made a way when there was no way. This made no earthly sense to so many people but nothing is impossible for God. The devil tried in many ways to upset things, but we had to trust God that He would continue to provide. Neither of us were working and we knew that there would come a time when we would need to find jobs. How easy would this be? Would we earn enough to cover the costs of living in such a big house? We needed to have faith that God had this covered.
Something Pete Greig said on his visit to Aberdeen last year has really stuck with me. He talked about a test in our faith when God brought blessing. I will confess here to having walked a bit away from God in the time after we moved. Having gone from a place of desperation and totally relying on God to get me through each day, there was money in the bank and a freedom from the oppression and struggle. I was also suffering from the “why has this happened to us” mentality and struggling to accept the huge gift God had given. I still don’t understand His goodness and generosity to us, but I need to accept that I don’t have to know why. I just need to keep on being obedient to Him. As I said, my ears have become a little deaf to His voice of late, but I can hear Him calling me back, and know that even if I have not been close to Him, He has always been close to me.
My name is Patricia MacEachern, but everyone calls me Trish. I am married to Craig ( who has his own gardening business) and we have three children (Robert 15, Duncan 12 and Heather 9). We have been going to South Site for just over two years now and we all really love it! I am on staff team at City Church as the MAD administrator and am also on a MAD team. I love to spend my time doing craft things such as knitting and crochet, as well as all the adventures that the children take me on in everyday life.
CITY WOMEN ABERDEEN 