Back when we lived in Corona del Mar, raging fires driven by Santa Ana winds were burning things down all over and then started coming straight towards where we lived. I was out on my bike when everything flared up and escalated, propane tanks started exploding at a mobile home park nearby, and a burning telephone pole fell down very close to me. I was hightailing it back home under an eerie bright orange sky, as people ran and drove recklessly on the streets, racing in panic to get home and pack things up and evacuate. We had to pack up as well and felt a lot of distress from the unusual circumstances we were living through. I realized at that moment I had to press into the Lord and let the Holy Spirit minister that heavenly peace to me.
At this time, I encourage you to do the same, to let the Holy Spirit minister peace to you in these distressing times we are living in. This is important, as distressing times can cause anxiety, but when we let the Holy Spirit minister to us, He can relieve and heal us of present, and even past stresses, and bring us peace! The Lord used the difficult time to bring deeper healing into our lives. May the Lord fill us, and minister to us all, with His healing peace during these stressful times we now find ourselves living in.
Remembering St. Patrick
One of the people in history who has been an inspiration is the evangelist to the Irish popularly known as St Patrick. He experienced living through dark times, as well as a lot of divine leading in his life.
Patrick was taken captive from Roman Britain to Ireland by barbarians as a slave in his teens and he was forced to herd pigs. Alone, and forlorn, Patrick called out to God and experienced a conversion to Christ and was saved by the mercy and grace of God.
Patrick learned to pray while out alone all day with the pigs. In this difficult and isolated time, he cultivated relationship with the Lord. While in prayer one day, he received divine leading through a vision of a boat lying off the coast near where he was. He snuck off to the coast and there was the ship as seen in the vision.
He approached the ship and was given favor through this divine appointment as he was allowed to board the ship. Patrick agreed to take care of the dogs on board as compensation of his passage. It was the divine leading in the vision that led to his escape.
In the difficult isolated time he had, he learned not only to pray but to discern the Lord’s voice and leading. The Lord rescued him from his servitude through divine leading, and a divine appointment. When he returned back home, he was received like one coming back from the grave.
He received more divine leading through another vision he had later. Through this divine leading, the Lord was calling him back to Ireland. He heard during the night the voice of the Irish saying: “Come back oh holy youth and walk amongst us once more…” which was accompanied in the vision by a man handing him various letters.
Patrick retuned to Ireland to begin evangelizing the Irish. He relied on the power of God in much of His evangelistic work, and helped establish the Celtic Church, which was akin to later Protestantism, and existed for a number of centuries there.
During the difficult and dark days of his servitude in Ireland Patrick had cultivated a relationship with the Lord, discerning His leading in his life and relying on the Lord’s power and not his own. He also learned the Irish tongue and culture in that time, which was essential in reaching the Irish, as Patrick was actually not Irish himself (nor Catholic) but actually a missionary to the Irish from Roman Britain.
Patrick’s life is an example of God working things, even difficulties, together for good. Let’s press into the Lord in these dark and difficult days and let His Holy Spirit work in our lives that we may find the peace of Christ in our hearts as we put our trust in Him.
Love and blessings,
Bryan and Mercedes
(We’ve been inspired by Patrick’s life and story and have been blessed to produce a couple of things after traveling and ministering in Ireland in the past, as well as visiting some sights and other things connected with this evangelist to the Emerald Isle. One of those sights we visited was a little bitty church out in the country, which he built with his own hands. We had to make a mad dash across an active airport runway, and then a hike through some bushes, to get to it. It was quite the adventure to get to that “off the beaten path” little ancient sight!)
Some things we’ve written and produced about St. Patrick:
• A song called Celtic Cry, which you can listen to on Spotify or Apple Music.
• Music video of Celtic Cry: https://youtu.be/CwhRknFbIhA
• Video on the Life of the Real St. Patrick: https://youtu.be/puQ-sT0K2dU
• Video on Celtic Christian Legacy: https://youtu.be/HbzmbP4SoSI
