Stones of remembrance

” What do these stones mean ?” Joshua 4:6

I have not long returned with some friends from nine days on the French Camino. I can only say what a fabulous time in so many ways and would encourage you, if possible, to walk it.

There have been many surveys done to determine the reasons people travel the Camino. The French Camino, a pilgrim trail, is one thousand years old but not everybody walks it for religious or spiritual reasons. Some look at the challenge of just walking 491 miles, some to maintain fitness and my friends’ comments when asked fitted into a number of categories.

Personally, I knew for me it was the continuing road to the healing of a broken heart. Jude has been in Paradise for nearly four earth time years but I still continue to miss my darl !. Yes, things are different now even the text books tell you that but grief is in the end still lived outside a book.

Jude would have loved the Camino but I was reminded of three things while walking and I would like to encourage you if you grieve a spouse in Christ.

Our lives are enlarged by the life of those that have gone before, we carry those precious memories.
There is a spiritual communion. Jesus has Jude and Jesus has me. There is a very fine liminal line between earth & paradise……think upon that…. it’s beautiful and one day at the resurrection of the saints we will be re-united, the veil will disappear.
No marriage is perfect but forgetting those things before we only carry forward the good.

I had collected some flat stones from Glendalough and had an idea what I would do with them so I wrote on seven of them along with a final round stone for leaving along the journey. There was no shortage of stone mounds so in my own away, often away from my friends I took a moment each day stopped and reflected on Jude, thanking God for her life, knowing she was safe outside of an ever increasing chaotic & hostile world……. Maranatha…Come LORD Jesus come!

The final stone ended up in a beautiful flowerbed, central Logrono!

Since my return I have had a desire to return solo and God willing I will return to Logrono on the 5^th August and complete the remaining 381 miles!!

Buen Camino

Tender Mercies

“Heavenly Father, thankyou that whatever this life may throw at us your right beside us, and some of the circumstances we encounter are the finger prints of God. Give us eyes to see you LORD in the good and the bad and remember to give you thanks in everything. Amen”

This is the prayer Jude ended with when she gave a talk on the first five verses of Psalm 103 just a few months before being diagnosed with Leukemia.

The Church at St Johns, Hillsborough like so many others were in the midst of the Covid outbreak so Pastor Raj asked Jude to do a few recordings to benefit the congregation during a difficult time.

Some of her opening words on this incredible Psalm written by King David were as follows;

“There are times when we need a good dose of Psalm 103 to wash out that complaining spirit & replace it with a heart of gratitude to The LORD”

Regarding the benefits outlined in the Psalm Jude quotes Spurgeon;

“God selects a few of the choicest pearls, from a casket of divine love, threads them on a string of memory, and hangs them about the neck of gratitude”

Just for a moment, I want to focus on the latter part of verse 3, “….and heals all your diseases”, Jude said:

“Healing is another one of God’s great benefits to our bodies, He brings healing to us in this life through natural & miraculous ways, He promises ultimate healing for all His people in the age to come”

Jude had already said that she had received a miraculous healing, (from the menopause). Read the account by Clicking Here.

Also, and prophetically she would later fulfil ultimate healing. Read the story by Clicking Here.

I came across Jude’s notes recently on this talk and was blessed to be able to watch a short video which is still ministering to saints today.

If you would like to watch Jude give this talk it will encourage & challenge you.

Tender Mercies: A talk by Jude Gray based on the first five verses of Psalm 105.

Click Here

May The LORD bless you with His benefits.

Mizpah !!

Bangor Harbour, Northern Ireland is such a beautiful spot when the sun is shining !!.

I couldn’t help notice the boat in the centre, its name Mizpah which reminded me of the encounter Jacob had with Laban in Genesis 31.

After 20 years of serving Jacob, The LORD finally told him to return to the land of his fathers and God promised He would be with him. (vs3). The LORD had also warned Laban to be careful when catching up with Jacob. (vs24). On paper it looked like there was going to be a showdown but, in the end, the two parties made a covenant sealed with a heap of stones as they went their separate ways saying, “May The LORD keep watch between you & me when we are away from each other”. The word Mizpah literally means ‘Watchtower’. I suggest if you’re not familiar with the whole context to read Genesis Ch 31.

Certainly, in Victorian times, there was an interest in Mizpah jewellery and the language turned more emotional to describe the bond between two people who were separated either by distance or death. This is a far cry from the original context as Laban and Jacob were not really in love with each other !!. But it spoke to my broken heart that day I saw the boat and ministered to me in a way that only God knows-thankyou LORD.

I write this on what would have been Jude’s 61^st birthday and I miss her incredibly more than words can say, but I am so glad I know where she is, “absent from the body but present with The LORD”, and birthday free !!.

As a token, I visited the ‘closet’ today and placed a stone, a very special one with the inscription ‘Mizpah’.

The Heart Of The Lily Is Love….

“Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Luke 12:27

Yesterday I noticed the lilies about to open, they were a gift to Jude from one of her customers and every year I have the joy of not only seeing them open but being able to enjoy their dazzling display. No wonder Jesus said the lily was better clothed than King Solomon in all His finery and for us not to worry about what we shall wear ourselves !!.

Symbolically, lilies are associated with love, and sympathy for the departed.

I think the heart shaped STIGMA is amazing. The stigma is part of the female reproductive system of a flower. It is found in the center of a flower and helps to collect pollen. The stigma is on top of the style and is the apex of the reproductive system. It is waxy or sticky to collect the dry pollen which is blown by the wind or transferred by insects.

The heart shaped stigma is just like real love because it serves a purpose and just as the the stigma attracts pollen so our life in Christ should be attractive to those who we come in contact with.

I must admit when I saw the lilies open this morning, the sight of the stigma made me rejoice and praise The LORD not just for His amazing creation but for His love for me. May you be blessed also.

An extra blessing to you today….