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A Testimony Of Forgiveness
September 14, 2006
George Wilson
A testimony of forgiveness.
The place: Clan Gathering at St. Andrews, Fife
The date: 20th July 2006
The time: Sometime around 10:45am
Setting the stage.
Clan Gathering depends on volunteers to help run various café's during the time Clan is on. I had volunteered to help out at the 'Browsers' café on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning between 10:45am and 11:45am. I had put my name on the rota sheet earlier in the week.
Browsers' is where a variety of charitable Christian organisations have a presentation of the work that they do. Toybox, with which Georgina Bowyer is involved, is one of them. In fact she was running the stall during the week.
The main conference meeting tent is called the 'Dwelling Place'.
My testimony
On the Thursday morning I was due to be on duty in Browsers, I left the Dwelling Place at 10:35am to be in good time to prepare for the rush of people coming in for a cup of tea or coffee. This being the case I expected to miss the end of the meeting which was being presented by Mark Stibbe.
When I got to the Browsers café I was informed that there were enough people there and that my services wouldn't be needed that morning. I decided therefore to have a cup of 'Sticky Toffee' coffee and a pastry in order to beat the crowd. Alas, the sticky toffee coffee was not to my liking.
When I had finished my coffee and pastry, the meeting in the dwelling place was still not over, so I decided to wander over and see how things were going. Just I sat on the edge of a table near the entrance to the tent, God's rascal of love, Mark Stibbe, asked people to stand who believed they had to forgive their earthly father. This was the case with myself, so I stood up and repeated the word's that Mark Stibbe directed quietly to myself (I can't remember the words that were said here). There was no emotion involved in the saying of these words; it was just a free choice to take, or not to take.
After this things got rather messy as I felt the touch of the Holy Spirit upon me and the emotion started welling up from somewhere deep in my being. I looked down and realised I was standing on the grass, so I moved across to the area where a form of carpet had been laid on the ground. I then got down on my knees with my hands on the floor in front of me and the tears and pain started coming and it got deeper and deeper as this heat from the presence of the Holy Spirit intensified. I then lay down on the floor as more and more tears came and the pain from deep in my being was washed out. At some point I began to realise that I now truly loved my earthly father fully and deeply. Now I also knew deep down that Abba loved me. For so many years I have been giving nodding assent to the reality that God the Father loves me, but that was head knowledge, now I knew in my heart.
While I was on the floor, I had an impression that I was a mummy that had been wound up and bound up and the wrapping was cut off and it turned to flames and burned up on the floor before my eyes. I felt strength come back into me. I was free, I am free, I am loved.
George Wilson
heb4_16@fivewilsons.plus.com
Location: St. Andrews, Scotland, UK, United Kingdom
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