God Whispers

                                “Is it safe to walk along that little road up the hill?” I pointed towards the road. Jim ‘hmmed’. “Yes, fine,” David replied. “Bit steep though.” “I don’t mind that, “I told him. “I’ll take a thermos of tea and have a break at the top.” “It looks a bit like rain,” Jennifer said. But by then I was determined to go. “I’ll be fine,” I told her. I peered out through the fig tree at the clear sky. “I’ll be back before it rains, I’m pretty sure. But I’ll put my umbrella in.” As I set out, with my journal, a small umbrella and a thermos of tea in a basket, I was glad I’d made the effort to get up a bit earlier. The skies were blue and sunlight lay in slanting golden sheets across the grass. I wondered what the walk into an unfamiliar area would bring. When I had prayed that morning, as I usually did, for God’s protection on my comings and goings, something felt different. I’d felt a nudge, a whisper, to pray for more than safety; to

 Photo by Margaret J Smith In my late thirties and early forties, I lived for several years in Nambour, a pretty little town inland from the Sunshine Coast. My first few months there flew by. I was getting to know new friends, setting up house with a friend and her daughter and I’d just resumed studying speech and drama with the aim of getting my letters to teach it. I loved everything I was doing, but it was hard to concentrate on study with all the new sights and sounds, comings and goings, around me. I’d had visions of vegetable gardens and leisurely walks in the country but my   ‘escape to the country’ seemed to have turned into a busy time. I craved a quiet spot where I could study and think and pray alone. (We’re all different!) “Why don’t you go over to the creek?" Jo asked me. “You could take your books.” So I set off into the hot sunshine and across the scorching oval to a gap in a hedge leading to the creek. Slipping through overhanging branc

  Aerial photo of Back to Eden and the adjacent beach and reef Alan and Bronwen Prisk are Australian expatriates running Back to Eden Restaurant on Vanuatu. They also have a bungalow for visitors. They are likeable and intelligent – and are both sincere Christians who feel they were sent to take God’s love to the Vanuatu local people. How did they come to that conclusion? Bronnie and Alan One morning in Nambour (Queensland) Bronnie was praying when she found herself staring at a picture of Jesus in a dingy that was tied to a wharf. He was beckoning her to get into the boat with Him. Bronnie saw herself get into the boat and ask Jesus, “Where are we going?” “Vanuatu,” He replied. Bronnie dissolved into tears of awe, joy and many other emotions. She and Alan had been praying about this for some time. It seemed God really did want them to go. Their other children were all either married or living in a house together, so they would be fine, although she would miss