Michael Flynn's Testimony
Michael Flynn
How I became a child of God.
In my early life I always thought in the back of my mind that there was a God type entity that made me. But for many years I just left it at that. My dad came from a catholic family from Ireland my mother was from protestant Scotland. My brother and I were going to be baptised into the catholic faith but we were stopped by the catholic priest because my mother was not a catholic, we became Church of England by default.
I did not have a Christian upbringing; in fact I can still remember leaving Sunday school because I refused to pay the six pence subscriptions, what joy having a great sum of money all to myself.
As I got older I started to feel that I did not belong, or fit in with what my pals were doing. I just got on with my life doing my own thing. Then at the very tender age of sixteen I joined the army. This caused my mother untold grief and heart felt pain and a lot of tears when I left from Newcastle train station. During my army years I became aware of how different I was to the rest of the lads. In time some of the lads started to come to me, Me?, for advice about stuff and so I became a sort of the one to see on the sly, after one must keep up the pretence of been hard men training to do a hard job.
For young lads just out of nappies it was plain hard, like for me. I started to drink and smoke for the first time. Smoking was one of the vilest things that I started. It was like eating the stuff, oh the pain of it all, but drinking was dandy I thought, I didn’t drink lots at the start nor at the end, but the middle bit was bit more than I would care to remember. While in the army I smoked one joint. This was a gift from my then girlfriend.
Saturdays and Wednesdays were going out nights and I would get drunk, a nice drunk full of the joys type, staying up all night and then doing your job was no problem. On more one occasion I ended up sleeping on a train station because I was so drunk and I had to walk back to camp when I came around. It’s fun been young!
Now to the question of sex; sex and the life of young men. I thought it was expected of me not to be a virgin so with great gusto I set off to find some woman that would help me out and yes she was a prostitute .The place was Kiel in West Germany. I was fitting in with what was expected, but it never felt right. I was always that a bit of me was missing.
After seven years in the army I left and was unclear of what to do next. So out of the blue I decided to attend a catering course at Ashington College. It was there that I met the person that changed my life of ever. She is Lesley Muter and I started to attend the church she went to. Every Sunday I would wait outside the church, looking for Lesley to come along and be with me. When I gave my life to Jesus, I started to grow as a Christian I just knew that it was Jesus that was the thing that was missing in me. Sometime later I met my wife who also attended Crossroads Church.
We were married for ten years when one day she told me that she was gay and had a female lover. I can honestly say that it was the last thing I expected her to say. She left the house in November. The kids were devastated. That first Christmas after she left, was hard for me and the kids, but every year became worse than the year before. The only gifts I could afford were cheap key rings, second hand toys from charity shops. It was pure hell.
The social services did not help because I was not in crisis. I was
frantic, no work, no food and very little money. I was left in £40,000 of debt. There was only one thing for me to do PRAY! Pray over my finances and my children. It was not only praying but also
being
practical. 10p noodles were a main stay for my kids. Straining milk through a wire mesh after the kids had their cornflakes to put in my cup of tea was quite a common thing for me to do. It was only
God that brought me through the bad times. I remember using old curtains as blankets for the three Girls.
|Inow walk each day living in the strength that faith in God through Jesus gives me. I am truly blessed and thank Him for getting me through every trial in life. Having been through many difficult trials it helps you face the next ones as we get stronger in Him. Never have I had such peace and contentment even though life can be hard.
God has a plan for every one and a great amount of love to give away. Jesus was put to death for YOU! So you can have eternal life. NO sin is too bad for God to forgive.
One last thing I never thought as myself as needing a Saviour because I was not a sinner, I was not a drug taking, beer drinking, wife hitter, I was a normal well behaved man who never got into trouble the law. But I am a sinner saved by His Grace. I want to give you this verse from the Bible John 3:16-17.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved.
Church Re-Opening
As of Sunday 6th of December, Word of Life Church will be re-opening for Sunday Services. We will be following government guidelines to ensure we are Covid Compliant, with the wearing of face masks, hand sanitisers in place and social distancing measures in place to protect everyone attending the services.
For the moment, it will only be our Sunday Services that we will be operating. Bible Study will continue on Zoom on Thursday evenings from 7:00pm, and we will be holding prayer meetings via zoom as well.
Our Christmas services will be advertised next week when we get further guidance and seek wisdom.
So we are looking forward to seeing those who can attend from Sunday 6th December, and let us praise God that we can meet again, not as we would like to, but at least meet in this way.
Funding Success
We are pleased to announce that a recent funding bid that Pastor Michael submitted to All churches Trust has been successful. We have been awarded £25,500 to deliver English as an Additional Language courses free of charge, deliver healthy living courses combining exercise, healthy eating, and help with debt management, as well as basic computer literacy aimed at people who have been isolated due to having no access to technology to help them stay in touch with others. These courses will begin in Spring of 2021, and further details of how to get involved will be outlined in the New Year.
This comes on top of the funding sucessfully gained from All churches Trust, for the development of our upper rooms in the church to create a prayer room, better storage facilities and an arts and crafts room that CRE8 are using. This has involved putting in a new staircase to allow better and easier access, a partition wall in the storage room, as well as painting and decorating the area. This has been hampered somewhat in the development by the Pandemic, but is now nearing completion and should be ready to start using in the New Year and when restrictions become more widely lifted.
Praise God for all that He is doing.
Toks' Book Launch
It was our very great privilege to attend the launch of Toks (Olaronke Ashiru Gbadebo's) book "Don't Take the Poison", on Saturday 19th September.
We are promoting her book on our website to support her in this work and so the following is a description of the book and there are two links for you to purchase it, through Amazon and Google.
*Don't Take that Poison* is a call for anyone who desires to live a life that pleases God, and who is committed to enjoying the abundant life available in Christ.
The book looks deeply into the issue of offences and how it impacts our lives and our ability to be fruitful.
It provides deep insights into the purpose of relationships and different ways offences can wreak havoc.
You will get answers to questions like:
a) What causes offences:
b) The signs of an offended heart:
c) Effects of harbouring offences:
d) The path of victory
It provides compelling answers to deep heart issues especially those that have been wounded through lifes circumstances and are struggling to let go of the wounds incurred.
The book will help to escape the poison offences brings into our lives.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1838110712/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_feqAFb61WPA44
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Olaronke_Gbadebo_DON_T_DRINK_THAT_POISON?id=SL_8DwAAQBAJ
Creativity In The Community
Now that the lockdown measures are being relaxed the Word of Life WRU Church are pleased to announce that Phil and Catherine Drabble have been given funding through Awards For All for a Creativity in the Community Project.
This project will be based in our Church building, and will explore creative writing, photography, upcycling of furniture and a range of other creative subjects. This project will be on Wednesday Evening and Thursday Morning and is open to all who would like to explore learning new skills in the arts and crafts environment.
If you would like to take part in this please contact us at the Church or Phil and Catherine
Church Services Update
Every Sunday we are continuing to live stream our Sunday services from 10:30 am till 12:00. This is being streamed through facebook live on our facebook Word of Life WRU Church page. We have secured a live stream licence, and a music reproduction licence which allows us to broadcast songs of various Christian artists that are named within the database of CCLI. This means we will be singing our praises to God together, sharing communion together and Pastor Michael will continue to share his sermons live through facebook live. If you miss that live feed then they will appear on our church facebook page, and they will also be uploaded onto our Word of Life Whatsapp page as well.
Overseas Mission Project for 2020-21
The project for the Wesleyan Reform Union's Overseas Mission Department will this year be to continue to raise funds for the Good News Hospital in Mandritsara in Madagscar. They are building a new operating theatre and all funds that the Word of Life Church raise this year from our Diner's will go towards that fund. If you would like to donate to this worthy cause please contact Pastor Lindsey and she will assist you in making your donation. God Bless.
Christian Retreat
Our Mission House next door to the Church is available for bookings to stay for 1 to 30 nights. The house is used as a Christain retreat, and we can offer a wide range of support programmes during your stay with us.
From Bible Teaching - various topics - to Worship Leading - to dance as a form of worship, prayer and a range of other activities.
We are based on the wonderful panoramic Northumberland coastline which is literally 5 minutes drive away, but also have access to the beautiful Northumbrian Countryside and Cheviot hills which are only 30 minutes drive.
Pleas see our Mission House Christian Retreat Section on this website, or visit our Mission House Retreat page on facebook.
BREAKING NEWS
Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever
Hebrews 13:8
This is not just breaking news, it is the news from yesterday, today and tomorrow and guess what? It is forever. Hallelujah!!!!!
GET INVOLVED
Contact us at:
Word of Life Church
Wesleyan Reform Union
North Seaton Road, Ashington Northumberland NE63 0AG
Tel: 07879253072
Lindsey 07854820012
E-mail: wordoflifechurch@hotmail.co.uk
Or use our online contact form.
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