Hi Reeva,

If you read that message as I intended to write it (and maybe not as it came 
out), the issue was sorted by the Lord in a wonderful way when He showed me 
what had caused the problem.  I was then able to respond, admit my own 
personal sin in not following after Him and am now beginning to move on.

Praise God!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Reeva Parry" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 4:28 AM
Subject: Re: WHERE THINGS WENT WRONG - (long testimony)!


> Dear Carol,
>
> I am praying right now.
>
> Daddy Jesus, we thank you for our loving and compassionate Sister, Carol 
> Pearson. We know that she has an issue she needs to get right with You. 
> Please, I beseech You, help her to return to You, that she may serve You 
> Better. In Jesus' Wonderful and Bless-ed Name, AMEN and AMEN!
>
>
> On Wednesday 3/14/2007 09:43 AM, Carol Pearson said:
>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>Well, have you ever had to ask the Lord, "Where did this all start?"  I 
>>know I have and thought, as my close brothers and sisters in the Lord, I'd 
>>share with you something of the past three or four years.  . . ..  May God 
>>be glorified in what I say!
>>
>>Some will know that we came to live in Reading four years ago last Summer. 
>>I had lived here before Mike and I were married and Mike knew many of my 
>>friends.  After he had been made redundant three times in London during 
>>our married life and just wasn't finding another job, despite many 
>>interviews at which he was so often told "You were the 'nearly man'", I 
>>had a real desire to return to Reading for Mike to grow spiritually 
>>alongside some lovely brothers I knew and for other reasons also.
>>
>>(Here's where the story could get really so long and involved, so I'll 
>>skip a big section.)
>>
>>Here we were, back in Reading, living in a rented bungalow.  The owner was 
>>someone I'd known in church, though soon after we returned he moved on to 
>>pastures new, and I wasn't sorry!  (I will just refer here to the fact 
>>that, in our agreeing the rental, we had had very many hassles with this 
>>man over his very harsh terms;  he insisted "he was doing it for us" but 
>>that's not as it appeared.)
>>
>>About a year in and things between us and our then landlord were getting 
>>difficult.  His demands for more money and reluctance to do any jobs were 
>>just two things.  We then ran into a real problem with our dog relief 
>>area. The drainage required regular attention to prevent blocks and nobody 
>>appeared willing to address the problem on a longer term basis. 
>>Eventually things got bad and our landlord told me that he had put in the 
>>facility and it was now over to us to sort the problem.  He refused to let 
>>us use the garden area for the dogs in the emergency situation of the 
>>relief area becoming unuseable and basically told me that we'd have to 
>>take dogs out of the premises for relief (not very advisable or possible 
>>here) and, if we didn't like it, we could just get out!
>>
>>That was the day I was afraid of homelessness, which seemed so very close 
>>(though it never happened) and I was unable to reach out and trust God in 
>>it all.  Very soon afterwards I stopped sleeping, except when I was forced 
>>by medication.  The lack of sleep brought about real depression and it was 
>>downhill at that point!  He made it oh so very stressful when we finally 
>>bought him out of the property and charged us well over and above the 
>>recommended price.
>>
>>Praise God:  There came a point of real crying out to Him for revelation 
>>as to what had gone wrong and how to get back on track again!  Once I'd 
>>confessed my lack of trust, the rest was just grace upon grace upon grace!
>>
>>I am still taking meds at present and have some way to go to get back to 
>>real full health, but I'm generally sleeping much better, am beginning to 
>>be able to concentrate once more and have begun to really "live again"!
>>
>>I have recently been able to take some Government funded financial help 
>>and employ two ladies to work as my personal assistants for a total of 
>>twelve hours each week and we're beginning to work together.  There are 
>>heaps of things I need to catch up but I need also to get out more and 
>>take any opportunities God gives perhaps for speaking at meetings etc. 
>>The girls are not Christians (though I'd have loved it that way) but this 
>>gives me an opportunity to treat them as I believe they should be treated 
>>and to share the Gospel more fully with them in due course.
>>
>>I have two other brief testimonies that I'll share here, to keep postings 
>>down.
>>
>>This week I had to have two teeth extracted.  I hadn't gone through the 
>>experience before but had always dreaded it, much more than any other type 
>>of operation.  Mike was full of faith that I wouldn't choke as I do so 
>>very easily and God enabled me to keep the appointment.  I'm still 
>>recovering from some pretty drastic surgery (where teeth were very 
>>difficult to get out) but am feeling fine now and can eat again!  (That's 
>>got to be worth lots of praise!)
>>
>>Mike and I finally took a week's holiday away (the first together for 
>>three and a half years) and during that time God was so wonderful to us. 
>>I lost my mobile (cell) phone as we arrived at the hotel.  Nobody could 
>>find it outside or in, or even at our own home where I just might have 
>>left it. Later on the Saturday it began to rain hard and rained solidly 
>>until the Monday morning.  We asked the Lord that my phone would be 
>>returned to me in one piece.  I really couldn't face having it returned in 
>>bits after being run over by a car or whatever and didn't want it taken by 
>>anyone either.  I didn't think for one minute though that it could be 
>>returned, in full working order, with a full battery after two days in the 
>>pouring rain, when found at the entrance to the hotel where many cars had 
>>driven in and out - but that is exactly what happened!  Praise God!  The 
>>cost of replacement would have been quite a lot of money, since it has 
>>speech software in the phone and isn't just a phone, so we were both 
>>really grateful for its safe return.
>>
>>Please continue to pray for me, that God will lead me back into useful and 
>>fruitful service for Him and show me just what He wants me to be doing in 
>>the future.  (I used to work on a Christian helpline and speak at various 
>>churches and want to be sure if I'm to take up these things again, or 
>>perhaps do something quite different.  I feel as though I don't want to 
>>waste another second and want each one to count for Him!
>>
>>--
>>Carol - Reading, UK
>>
>>To you, o Lord, I lift up my soul;
>>In You I trust, o my God.  . . .."  PS25:1-2 NIV.