2012 Year Of Covenant

I remembered PAI saying, God is a covenant keeping God and if we played our part, He would do HIS. PAI encouraged us to search the word of God for these promises and hold on to them in prayer for the year. My goal then for 2012 was to study the word of God regarding His covenant promises and know them by heart. My husband and I had talked about 1st fruit offerings in late 2011 but I struggled to come to terms with giving over a month's wage when we still had personal debts that had not been sorted out.

30th January 2012 arrived and we agreed it was the right thing to do. We gave a first fruit offering and we made a repayment plan for the various things we owed. We saw Pastor and gave our gift to him. When we were with him, he then told us that he felt God wanted us to ask Him for 3 things that we wanted God to do for us in the year (2012). He gave my husband and I time to discuss the 3 things we wanted. Once we had decided, PAI didn't ask us what they were but he agreed with us in prayer. The 3 things we wanted were;

• I would pass my professional exams that had plagued me in the last 4 years.
• We would have a child.
• My husband¹s business would grow to hit a financial target we agreed upon.

I sat the professional exams again in February 2012 and yes, I passed it!!! I had sat this exam 5 times before and had spent well over £10,000 in the process. We prayed, we fasted and we believed, yet every sitting was unsuccessful. Prior to this, I have not had any difficulties with any exams. it was a total shock to us how often I had to keep resitting the exam. In summary, though I passed this time, the amazing thing was that I did not prepare any differently but kept studying and practicing as hard as previous times.

In April 2012, we informed PAI that I was 6 weeks pregnant. My husband was eager to tell PAI but I was rather reluctant to do this at the time because I wanted us to wait till I was well over 12 weeks. This was our 4th pregnancy; we had miscarried 3 previous pregnancies and each was between 8-12 weeks, one of which was a twin pregnancy.

I had listened to Rev Joe's CD during the June 2010 fast and he encouraged us to ask God our hearts desire concerning children. In the car, I laid my hand on my tummy whilst driving and said 'God, I would love to have twins.' I felt I was being greedy but I just loved the idea of having twins. Not long after that I was pregnant. At the 12 week scan, we were told that though they were twins, but that they couldn't see a heart beat for any of them. I cried for a while. I did feel rather humbled and encouraged though. I thought; 'at least God heard and answered me' (odd that I wouldn't get to see them but...).' We picked ourselves up, thanked God and prayed for strength not to be consumed with grief. 3 months later we were pregnant again, and, we had another miscarriage. 6 months later, yet another miscarriage. We had prayed with Pastors, waited on God and just trusted God. My husband was amazing through it all, I remember us thanking God that we miscarried naturally and didn't need medical intervention. We found many reasons to be thankful to God. It wasn¹t easy and there were days I found myself crying, and it's at the time every woman I saw was pregnant or holding a baby it seemed. But, I had to remind myself why I had to thank God and remembered PAI's message on 'how to have joy in the midst of trial'.

After telling PAI in April 2012, he prayed with us and told us not to worry. That was easier said than done, but I tried not to. A few things happened during the pregnancy and at the birth. However, in November 2012, our daughter was born and our thanksgiving continued.

Concerning our finances, we have paid off three quarters of our debt and our business is growing. My husband had an opportunity to do a master's degree and we were able to pay for this without adding to our debt. We still believed God to hit our financial target shortly, but all in all, we are very grateful to God.

Along with the 3 requests we made to God in February, a lot more blessings and challenges have come our way. Our sister was diagnosed with Leukaemia in June 2012 and we are trusting God that He would miraculously turn her situation around to his glory. I don't think we came close to playing our part as we should last year but God is faithful and we are grateful for grace.

We are grateful for the pastors we have in JH. They bring God¹s word to us weekly and with clarity. We have found strength to move on each day and we have decided to be filled with joy.

We are learning to obey and trust God; HE truly is a covenant keeping God.