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The Encouragement Manual

Hi, I’m Clare. My husband and I have five children (aged between 11 and 2). Most of the time I feel incredibly blessed to be a busy Mum, but occasionally, well, I don’t! Raising children is hard, exhausting, and sometimes unappreciated work, requiring reserves of patience, wisdom and strength that I just don’t have.

Fortunately, there’s an Encouragement Manual written for people like me. And, amazingly, it’s written by someone who created my children, and loves them even more than I do.

When the dirty dishes are piling up, laundry is everywhere and I can’t see the floor for the toys, it tells me that all these menial tasks can be holy and meaningful too.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24)

Through endless days and disturbed nights, it encourages me to keep going.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

When I am worried about how life is going to turn out for my children, it tells me not to be.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

When my children are driving me crazy, the Manual reminds me to view them the way that the author, their Creator, does:

Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them. (Psalm 127:3-5)

When I feel like what I am doing is not important or worth much, it reminds me that spending time with my children and teaching them about God is exactly what I should be doing.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6v5-7)

And that if I am faithful in this, the benefit to my children will be immeasurable.

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

All your children will be taught by the Lord,
and great will be their peace. (Isaiah 54:13)

In all this, and in many many other ways, God’s Word the Bible supports me, lifts me up, and gives me hope on a daily basis. I am certain that it can be an Encouragement Manual for you too, no matter who you are or what you do. God created you and loves you and wants to tell you:

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

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Amazing Grace: Verda’s story

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Costa and Verda live in Leytonstone and started coming to Grace Church Wanstead 2 years ago. A few Sundays ago they stood in front of the church and gave their testimonies and here is Verda’s story.

Early years in Mauritius

Hello, my name is Verda and I was born in Mauritius. I have 2 older brothers and 2 younger sisters. I was raised with a mixed religious background and I was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church. My parents were separated and my mother left to work in Lebanon to support us. We were left with friends and family to look after us. Unfortunately, these people could not be trusted and we were often neglected and abused.

I used to visit the most beautiful churches in Mauritius as I wanted to know what God is like, and ask Him how He could let me live like this. I knew all the saints’ names but I still couldn’t find who God was.

My fears and anxieties grew and I would often cry myself to sleep. It was only when my eldest brother became a young man that I felt safe again under his care and protection.

War in Lebanon

I was sent to be with my mother in Lebanon, as I was now a young lady. By then, Lebanon was a war zone and was being bombed every day due to a religious war. I began to smoke heavily and my mother feared for my life so she sent me to live in London where my brothers and sisters had made their homes.

New life in London

When I first met Costas, my family already knew him well through his father’s car trade and through the restaurant Costas managed. We soon became good friends and shared our problems. We fell in love and had a quiet registry wedding.

A few years later, we were blessed with our first 2 children. They were baptised into the Church of England, as the Greek Church where Costas had gone from a young age told us that our mixed cultural marriage was not a good example to others. Although Costas was welcome, I didn’t fit in with their rules, traditions and ceremonies. We felt discriminated and condemned. Worst of all our actions had consequences on others, as we were now arguing in front of the children about religion which hurt and confused them.

By the time our last son Andreas was born, the Greek Church had a change of heart and agreed to baptise him after I was baptised. Shortly before the baptism, I received the call that would shatter me. Costas’ sister told me that she didn’t want to be a Godparent anymore, as I had been hiding behind God and using her religion to hide my superstitious background. I felt abandoned by God with no hope.

Finding God’s peace and forgiveness

I knew that day that I needed God and I went to my nearest church which was St. Saviours in Walthamstow. A lady called Penny could see I was very upset and comforted me. I told her I did not know who God was anymore. She told me that if I truly wanted to know who God is, I should come to the bible study on Monday morning and ask for a lady called Katherine.

When I arrived on that Monday morning, I was made to feel very welcome. Each of the ladies there gave a short testimony about their lives and I soon realised that I was not the only one with problems. We prayed and read passages from the Bible that were filled with hope and compassion.

I was now reading and taking in the living Word of God. I also started going to a second meeting during the week at David & Jane GIbbs’ house. Katherine was leading us through the Christianity Explored course every week and I realised that God was mighty to save.

I read the Bible at home, prayed many times a day and started to surrender my fears to God, through Jesus His only Son. I asked for forgiveness and I started to change from the inside out. God also helped me to quit smoking through his power.

This caught my husband’s attention and he asked me why I was changing for the better. I told him I now had complete faith and trust in God and I did not fear people anymore. I was walking with a newness of life and praying for wisdom in every difficult situation.

We were praying for perseverance in my life and I knew I had to forgive others if I was to be forgiven. The only way to God was by accepting the Prince of peace as my Lord and saviour. There was now for the first time in years peace in our lives, and when Costas agreed to attend a service at Grace Church Wanstead I knew my prayers were answered.

Read Costas’ story

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Amazing Grace: Costa’s story

Costa and Verda live in Leytonstone and started coming to Grace Church Wanstead 2 years ago. A few Sundays ago they stood in front of the church and gave their testimonies and here is Costa’s story.

First recollection of church

Hello, my name is Costa. I was born in Hackney, London about 10 years after my family emigrated from Cyprus to England. We went to a Greek Orthodox Church and it was treated as a special occasion. The church had 1 Bible written in ancient Greek which would be read to us by a high priest with a long beard.

Our prayers would be written on small pieces of paper which would then be passed on to the mediators to pray for us. The sermons would instruct us to help widows and orphans if we wanted to be saved.

At home it was my mother who would encourage me to read the modern Greek Bible. My mother often explained how the old covenant was about the saviour of all man in a fallen world.

Distance from God

I was 13 years old when my sisters told me that we would be just like the orphans we were helping at the church. My mother had an incurable illness and she did not have long to live. It was painful to see my mother suffering. I was the youngest so her final prayer was saved for me. She prayed that I would be adopted into a large family with the guidance from the perfect role model and find an inheritance from God.

I felt broken and lost.

2 years after my mother passed away, my father introduced me to my step mother, who was a non believer with no children of her own. I was now growing up with no love.

My sisters had made their plans for their lives, my father constantly worked and my step mother encouraged me to do the same. I was soon an angry, rebellious young man with no guidance who was living his own life without God and it was not worth living. I feared death, was often depressed, couldn’t sleep and started to smoke. I had a string of failed relationships, the list is endless…

Coming back to church

The next time I would read a Bible again would be nearly 35 years later right here in Grace Church Wanstead.

When I arrived I saw a welcoming gathering of Christians who were not directing wealthy people to the front rows. They did not object to anyone’s colour, race or religious background. I saw plenty of Bibles and the children were not using mediators for their prayers. In fact, they were actively encouraged to read the Bible themselves, answer questions and take part in everything.

Why I am a Christian

I asked to join the Bible study group at David Gibbs’ house. I started to attend and all the teachers had a patient and gentle approach to my questions and if they didn’t know the answer they would always get back to me soon.

As I read and took in the meaning of the events of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection – I took it personally. I felt a deep sense of shame for all the wrong things I had done for so many years toward God and people. I had to be forgiven and this meant forgiving others.

I found my perfect role model who left the right hand of God, humbled himself and became a man to know my weakness and temptations. Jesus willingly allowed himself to die a humiliating and awful murder even though he was the only one to walk on this earth without sin. His precious blood was now shed for me so I could avoid a second death, and be with him and his family, inheriting something much more precious than the houses, cars, money and gold I had lost in my life.

I pushed him away for years but he was patient with me. I realise today that when I wept as a child for my mother, he was right there weeping with me…