George Thompson

2014 Keswick Convention
That year’s annual Convention – I will remember fondly my whole life as a believer.
The weather was fantastic, and I think more things going on in the town then as well like seeing the film Frozen, a Narrative from a C, O, E, a short talk about the religious teaching within the film, and also about the film Nell and abolishing of slavery at the Methodist Church there, and the fun at the St John’s last hour at night, was a great buzz and wind down.
The services in the Main Tent On Rawnsley Street were excellent and interesting, but one did stand out to me – the person was preaching I was totally blown away and I was just glued to his every word and felt the Holy Spirit within me and crying with happiness, so much my girlfriend asked me if I was ok, obviously I said yes.
At the end of the lecture when everyone was about to go, I turned to a lady on my left a total stranger, that I wanted to say something important to her but it wasn’t coming from me but as a messenger.
I told what I had heard from the Holy Spirit, that 1, ” What was stopping her from training to be a COE Lay Reader, and that she should go for it. The lady who was sitting with her husband on her other side was stunned and open-mouthed, but interested and sat back down again as others were leaving when everyone had left just leaving 4 of us my girlfriend and this lady and her husband, asked me a question are there any more messages I said yes, the No2 Message was that a few years ago that she was in the middle of her training but had to stop suddenly and that an opportunity had arisen again to study for it again but was having doubts and that it was Gods Word that she was to train again for it and God would be with her at her side. The lady listened with great interest with tears as well, saying there were no other reasons that these words were from God Alone.
She told me her story fitted to the letter of about the last 10 years of her life, she told me She was Married to her 1st husband who both went to the COE where she was through 1 1/2 years of a 3-year Lay Reader Course when their marriage broke down, didn’t go to church anymore her life in turmoil and broke off her studies got divorced and moved to a new town.
After a few years and went to another COE church where she met her new husband and were married now and very happy together, and told me the Vicar in charge, the curate and the 2 churchwardens had all asked her if she could think about training to becoming a Lay Reader for the church as they both had opened their house up to a very big Prayer Group and did and was let do the talk in the service, and was on the Pastoral Care team, and that she hadn’t let on to them about her training previous not completed course as it brought to many bad memories of her marriage and divorce and upheaval of her life previous.
And being asked again by her new church, she was having 2nd thoughts about doing so, but after I had passed on the message to her, it was the answer she was waiting for and she was going to say yes.
We all met up on the Friday evening before the service outside the big tent, they were both beaming with joy and happiness and said yes they phoned their Vicar up straight away and told him what I had passed the message to her, she said yes she was going to train as a Lay Reader, told him about the previous training she had to stop because of family circumstances and why she had doubts and retold him the morning events she told me everyone else who asked her of her news and texts and emails and long joyous phone called ping-ponged all week to her, and finally when she got home and meeting again wheels would be put in motion to organize her training.