National Charismatic Renewal Conference Dublin

We travelled to Dublin on June 24th-26th to attend the National Charismatic Renewal Conference entitled “Re-Opening the Wells”. This was to be a time of great blessing and it started at the airport where we were met by Luke, a friend from Dublin, who welcomed us with a beautiful bouquet of roses. (Those of you who have read my book will know how roses are part of my story). The blessings continued that evening when friends from Northern Ireland and Wexford travelled for hours especially to see us.  

 Vanessa, Annette, Shirley, Phyllis from Northern Ireland and Katie.

The speakers at the conference were inspirational. Dr Mary Healy, is associate professor of Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and senior fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.  An American with Irish heritage and Rev Jonathan Frazer a Presbyterian Minister from Northern Ireland, both spoke with such passion and power. 

 Dr Mary Healy with Shirley

We heard amazing testimonies of God’s healing, as well as witnessing lives touched by the Holy Spirit. During the intervals we caught up with many friends like Sister Bridget who chaired the conference, and Grace who has invited us to County Kerry in November. We also managed to visit Dr Janet Craven, our former Dublin contact, too. God also gave us a few divine encounters. A lovely couple at our hotel saw our pile of books and asked if we belonged to a book club. When I told them it was my book they were very interested and I gave them a copy. “God is good” was the lady’s reply. They then told us that they were from Blackpool and were just off to church. So altogether a blessed time! 

We were saddened on our return to Huntingdon to hear of the hate mail that had been sent to our Polish brothers and sisters since the referendum. We, along with church and civic leaders, have condemned this. During the Civil War, Irish soldiers were given a choice, death or exile. Those exiled were sent to Poland, France, Italy or Spain, on the condition that they never returned to home, and they couldn’t take their families. We in Arise want to send out the opposite message that all are welcome here in Huntingdon. One way of doing this is to bless our Polish shopkeepers by going into their shops, not just once but to keep going and buying something. Annette took a bunch of roses into one shop and the manager said that people had been very kind and encouraging. Can I now encourage you to do the same, no matter where you live, and let’s counteract hate with LOVE, let the love of Jesus touch lives for His Kingdom.

God is stirring His people to pray, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land” 2 Chron 7 14. Please join us in praying for healing and reconciliation for this broken land.