God of the
Impossible
"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live"
"I will praise God to my last breath"
It is a radiant November Sunday morning full of peace and silence in the deserted mid-med island of Gozo . The tourists have gone home and the shutters have gone up. As I round the corner of a cobbled street which leads to the small village Church, I am exposed to the generosity of a tenor voice singing "Great is thy faithfulness" with such power and pathos, that I am moved to tears.
Fr. Mario, the gentle giant and local Parish Priest, is making full use of the tape which I gave him last Christmas to regale his flock, before he begins to say the first of his three Masses today.
Because I know the full story of this voice being taped, I am more aware than others of what the tenor is saying in song to his Lord and Saviour. His sincerity is obvious ; his gratitude is palpable ; he is on his knees.
But let me take you back in time to an evening in Malta some eighteen years before, to a lane beside the sea where two English people are sitting on a low wall.
Chance Encounter
The path which my late husband Howard and I had taken on our evening stroll, suddenly narrowed at one point, so much so ,that trying to pass ,we actually brushed the knees of Dorothy and Tom . Apologies led to conversation. Just then Howard was assailed by one of his sudden fainting attacks and needed immediate assistance. Dorothy and Tom rushed to help but in no time at all he once again regained total composure. "All things work together for good for those who love God for those who have been called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28). How comforting to know one is in God's purpose and that He will ensure the plan of one's life is fulfilled. Subsequently, we were to discover that minutes prior to our arrival there, this couple had had such a blazing row that Dorothy had yanked the wedding ring off her finger and had thrown it into the sea. They had decided to go their separate ways.
Invitation to Dinner
Totally ignorant of the drama which had just been enacted, we invited Tom and Dorothy to dinner in our home Iosagan" (which for the benefit of those who are not familiar with the language, means Young Jesus or Little Jesus in Irish Gaelic). "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for by so doing , some have entertained Angels unawares" (Heb. 13:2).
Later, they told us that their apathy and misery was such at that moment when we invited them to our home, that they didn't have the strength to refuse us, such was our enthusiasm. But back they came and after a good meal of Irish beef, Malta potatoes and "a jug o' punch", we got down to the serious business of spinning yarns , swapping jokes and talking about the Lord.
A seed is sown
Before we sat down to the table, we thanked God for taking care of all our needs and we thanked him soundly for bringing such a lovely couple into our lives. To give you an idea of the way in which the Holy Spirit prays through one, we asked Him to fill this couple's lives with peace and serenity even though we were totally ignorant of their circumstances. Later they told us that at that precise moment , a seed had been sown in their hearts and a healing had begun. They were sure of it .
In the days that followed ,we introduced them to the more expansive members of our Prayer Group and just as we had hoped, they were invited to their homes ... "Your concern for your fellow man is the measure of your greatness" (Luke 9:48). By the end of the week they were radiating happiness and having a ball.
The Miracle
It was on the very last night of their holiday, that the Miracle happened. We had taken then to a large prayer meeting where they were given a big welcome. We were amazed to hear Tom spontaneously quoting Scripture and Dorothy doing likewise.
Someone started to quote from Lamentations 3:21: "For there is one ray of hope: His compassion never fails. It is only the Lord's mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. Great is thy faithfulness ; His loving kindness is new every morning." When the speaker sat down ,Tom sprang to his feet and in his powerful tenor voice sang without pause, the three verses of
"Great is Thy Faithfulness".
One could hear a pin drop and he then got a standing ovation. He went on to tell us that for the past twenty years he had been attached to a coven of witches in the North of England; that he had completely lost his singing voice when he had joined it; that his old mother had been constantly praying for him; that his brother Bill was an evangelist and that he ,himself , had been a lead singer in his boyhood church. That to-night the Lord had forgiven him and restored his gift and from now onwards, he was going to use that voice solely for His honour and glory. Amen
"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
I will praise God to my last breath!
May He be pleased by all these thoughts about Him ,For He is the source of all my joy.
Let all sinners perish- all who refuse to praise Him.
But I will praise Him. Hallelujah."
Today, both Tom and Dorothy are pillars of their church in England. Now in his seventies his voice gets better. He sends his tapes everywhere. There is one in the Vatican and some also in Muslim countries. He and Dorothy are tireless workers for the glory of God. Truly their God is the God of the impossible. Praise Him!
Where the path narrows
On calm and placid days in Malta when I pass that way where the path narrows, I lean over and peer into the pellucid depths, in joyful expectation of seeing a small gold band entangled in the weeds.
"Jesus says: 'Whoever is not with me is against me; and whoever does not gather with me scatters.'
I sometimes feel that my life is like scrubland, halfway between garden and desert.
I sometimes think that I live in a world of twilight, halfway between day and night.
I sometimes feel like lukewarm water, halfway between hot and cold.
I sometimes feel that I am in a state of indifference halfway between love and hate.
I sometimes feel that I am trudging along a safe little path halfway between good and evil.
Lord, save me from the illusion that because I am not against you, I am therefore for you.
Above all, save me from being neutral."
"The most important thing about each of us is our capacity for goodness.
We can be a source of light.
We have hands that can care, eyes that can see, ears that can hear,
tongues that can speak, feet that can walk, and above all hearts that can love.
Unfortunately, through laziness, selfishness, and cowardice, our light can be dimmed,
so that we become shadows of the people we could be.
Lord, help us to believe in our own goodness, and to let the light of that goodness shine.
On seeing this light, others find their way, and you will be glorified."
Forgiveness is like the child's dream of a miracle. Through forgiveness, what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean and what is lost is found. Nothing greater can happen to a human being than that he or she is forgiven. Those who are forgiven are no longer trapped in their past. They are set free - free to move forward again. The Lord not only forgives our sins, but helps us to learn from them. We learn about our weakness. We learn about the goodness of God. And we learn to be compassionate towards others who sin.
Anita Kilbride-Jones,
St Pauls Bay. Malta
Tom & Dorothy Turner
Leek,Staffordshire.England.
Tom_Turner_02_Great_is_Thy_Faithfulness.mp3
15_Tom_Turner_Ten_thousand_angels.mp3
Tom Turner
Went to meet the Risen Lord
25th january 2012
