[0:00] I shared this story with Gordon a little while ago and when I was speaking to him I said! this was God's story and I was just living it and what was truly amazing was just that morning Gordon! had made a slide that said God's story and so this definitely seems like I need to tell you God's story that's been happening in my life in a while ago and Gordon preached a sermon and on Colossians 4 and verse 18 is a very short verse it says may God's grace be with you and he explained that God's grace is with us and we should share God's grace we should share God's blessings and when he does wonderful things in our lives when he does the simple great good things in our lives we should share them because sharing blessings encourages everybody so again that is what I'm doing I'm sharing God's blessings and have happened in God's story in my life and this all really came about when I went to magnitude which I spoke about a couple of weeks ago and when I was at magnitude I realized something what God revealed to me something just amazing that had happened my whole story my whole from the beginning of my life had been leading up to what happened at magnitude and where I was at magnitude and I just was so blessed so humbled by what God had been doing with me and that I just was it was just amazing and that's just what I want to share I'm going to take you right back and to when I was a little girl and if people ask me what do you want to do when you grow up and I said I want to work with children that's all the only thing I can remember ever wanted to do was to work with children at the time I wanted to I thought I'd be a children's nurse and and that's what I wanted to do and and that was my plan right up until I was about 14 or 15 and I spoke to somebody who was a nurse and said children's nurse pediatric nursing that's really tough you've got to be you know emotionally strong to do that and I'm not I cry like that and if I cry today ignore me just you know overproductive tear ducts so I realized that wasn't what I was going to do I couldn't do that that wasn't me so I was kind of redirecting myself towards primary teaching I thought I could do that I could work with children and be a primary school teacher and so but my mom wasn't very happy about that and she didn't like primary school teachers apparently we're too bossy she's secondary teachers are not too bad but primary school teachers she says they're either bossy and therefore they become a primary school teacher or by becoming a primary school teacher they become bossy and to quote her I don't want that in my house so um but no I thought this is what I want to do so I was still sort of exploring this and I went to a Christian event up in near Inverness it was actually in Culloden in high school and um there was a leaflet there about being needing teachers to teach children of missionaries I thought oh I could do that and that relates back so I'm going to take you back a little bit that relates to when I became a
[3:15] Christian when I was 10. and I was in a Christian household knew all these things and the Holy Spirit was working in me and that's a longer story I'm not going to go into it and but I was really the Holy Spirit was working in me leading me towards making that commitment to God and um my minister was also the chaplain of our school and we were I was in assembly and he spoke about taking the ore metal ore and it's pretty useless it's dirty it's full of impurities and you can't use it for anything but you have to purify it make it clean and then it can be beautiful and it can be useful and I went that's what I want I want to be useful I want to be useful for God and um so I became a Christian on that was that was the bit that led me to my Christian so when I saw this thing about becoming teaching missionary children I went that's what I can do I can be useful for God by being a primary school teacher so in the teeth of my mum's opposition I um applied and for the four-year course and I failed on my first go I applied to Murray House I didn't get in so my mum was very happy about that says right okay let's fine we're going to do something else then so I tried to be a dental nurse for a year not a good idea that's not me and I reapplied and got down to Cregey and Ayrshire and and started my training to be a primary school teacher and my second year was really tough really really tough for a variety of reasons and at the end of the year came back back up north and I had my mum going it's too tough for you it's too tough you know you've given it a good goal time to move on and do something else now and I really really considered it I didn't tell anybody but I was really really considering dropping out and not becoming a primary school teacher and I went down to Glasgow to visit a friend who I was going to speak to about it and we went to some worship event at Queen Spark Baptist and in the afternoon we were splitting into prayer groups and I didn't know anybody I knew my friend I didn't know anybody else I hadn't told anybody I hadn't prayed about it I hadn't told anybody and this woman across the circle that was in our prayer group said she says I'm sorry I don't know you but I think
[5:20] God's wanting to tell me to tell you something are you all right yes that's fine it says God says don't stop what you are doing you are to carry on because I have a plan and a purpose for you so I think I had my message really really clearly that I was to carry on and become a primary school teacher so I did and the next two years were fine and I graduated and teaching is can be really tough so I know that over my 30-year career there have been a number of times when I thought about quitting my second year of teaching was really tough went back home had my mum and dad in my ear you've given a good goal time to think about something else but no I persevered and any time that it seemed like maybe it was time to quit God always kept me going and found another way and even you know recently when I had you know difficult times you know I thought maybe this is it maybe it's time to stop maybe but God's kept me going here at Craig Lockhart God really spoke to me and said you
[6:21] I've given you skills and a talent remember back I said I want you to use your teaching skills for me so I became part of the Sunday club done holiday club missions done camps because this is what God has said I've given you these skills I've given you these experiences you are to use them for me um so sorry it's not um so that is what I have done and then about 18 months ago I was listening to Alistair Begg speak about Esther really really recommend um his um sermons on Esther really good and in there he was explaining that you know everything that we are comes from God there's nothing that we are there's nothing that we can do that we can say this is me I did this everything that we are comes from God and Esther 414 says who knows if you were made a queen for such a time of this who knows if you were created for such a time as this and that really really spoke to me and there was various other things that through that Esther thing that God wanted me to reach the people outside of society he wanted me to go further I want you to go to the people who are not in the norms of society well I really panicked because I was like God what do you want me to do you know are you wanting me to go to the homeless are you wanting me to go to drug addicts you know the people who we consider to be who outside of society is this where you want me to go because I'll do it but I don't think I'm really you know that's really scary um but I you know he kept on seeing and then last summer um in the course of the camp that I went to and the holiday club I realized that actually the skills that God had given me was to reach the young people who struggle in society because of their needs maybe they are on the spectrum maybe they're neurodivergent maybe whatever it might have these things mean that they struggle to fit in with the society that we have and actually I have the skills and I have the experience to do that that is something that I can do um and that kind of finished off with um a sermon Gordon gave literally just over a year ago I've got it in my in my book at 8th of August 284. Sam he mentioned Sam 147 verse 9 he gives food to the wild animals and feeds the young ravens when they cry so and he explained that you don't feed the wild animals the wild animals are outside the city walls young ravens are ugly nobody wants anything to do with them but these are the people God wants us to reach I was like okay right um it's I've got it um outside the city walls at the same time as this su started a new ministry called ministry beyond the margins which has two prongs to it so um children from sort of areas of deprivation but also young people who have additional needs that means that they struggle to fit into your normal camps your normal events and helping those children those young people so putting the two together outside the city walls ministry beyond the margins seemed to kind of fit together this is where God was calling me so I approached Elaine Tate and in the course of that conversation which I'm not going to it was made very very clear this was exactly what God wanted me to do this is where he had been leading me so I went to my Elaine says come to magnitude I'd like you to come to magnitude so I went to magnitude to work in the tent for those people young people who struggle and who need a different experience I really really nervous um it's 11 to 18 year olds that's Gordon's age group
[10:10] I'm I give me four to 12 year olds I'm really comfortable this was 11 to 18 year olds I really didn't know really God this is what you want okay so I went and um straight away it was clear I could do this first day in the tent the team just gelled together and I knew what to do as somebody said we just looked at each other and we knew what the other one was thinking we knew what the other one was saying we didn't know each other but we knew we knew what to do and I went Ashley I can do this this this I've got the skills for this and and then we lost a team member and and the realization that you couldn't just pluck somebody from another team to come on because actually you needed particular skills and talents to be in the tent and God had given me those particular skills and talents to be in that time he had equipped me to to do that and then on the Tuesday morning there was a police officer up on the main stage I can't remember why she was there and she was talking about her experience and she said if I had listened to the doubts in my head if I had listened to the doubts of the people around me I would never have become a police officer and I could never have done the be serving God in the way that God wants me to serve and I wouldn't be in that tent which is where God wanted me to be emcee I told you so I just and then I look back and I look back at all of the things that God wanted me to do and I realized that when God created me he created me with that desire to work with children he created me to be a primary school teacher he created me and planned for me to be in the world
[11:49] I would never be serving God in the way that God wants me to serve and I wouldn't be in that tent which is where God wanted me to be emcee I told you in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that tent in that I didn't do anything astounding.
[12:29] I just became a teacher. I've not gone and been a missionary somewhere. I've just lived my life, my ordinary life. But yet God has been there, guiding me every step of the way.
[12:41] And I just want to share how amazing God is. That he does that in our lives. And he just... Words fail me.
[12:53] I'm just so humbled. By what God has done. And like I say, Gordon said, share blessings. And I'm sharing the blessings that God has put on me. And just to encourage you.
[13:04] You don't have to be doing anything amazing. You don't have to be doing anything startling. And going to China or India or anything like that. But God has plans. And it can take a long time for God's plans to be revealed in your life.
[13:18] And I'm just so blessed that God did that. I said, look at what I've done for you. And so I had a verse that I wanted to finish with. But then I read something else this morning.
[13:29] So I'm going to do that verse instead. Which is, excuse me. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10. I love this verse. It says, for we are God's masterpiece.
[13:40] I love that I'm a masterpiece. Like the best bit. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
[13:54] And that's what God did for me. So I hope that's brought some encouragement to you. We're going to sing a song now. It's a new song. It's called The Goodness of God.
[14:06] And... Thank you.