Evangelization Testimony
03 April 1999 09:36
This testimony from Carol Chamberlain < [email protected] > is timely, following Jesus’ message of March 3rd to Vassula about evangelization.
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
My name is Carol Chamberlain. I am Scottish, 38 years old, come from a very plain ordinary background, am not particularly “talented” in anything to write home about… BUT…… I have been given the grace to love Jesus, Our Lord and Saviour very very much. Nothing I have mentioned is outside the reach of any of you reading and indeed, you may share in these sentiments already.
What I would like to share with you however is how Our Lord had allowed me, through prayer, to try and cultivate the messages of True Life in God. As I mentioned, I am fairly ordinary and I mention this to emphasise that we are all called and all are able to do these sort of activities to allow more souls to be exposed to the call of Our Lord.
I was very privileged to be able to attend the conference of TLIG held in Jerusalem in May 1998. Prior to that privilege, was that of meeting Vassula in Bangladesh when she visited there in January with Erwin Schlacher and Georgia Braun.
At the time I was working in Bangladesh and indeed only returned to Scotland in November 1998 after a period of three years in Bangladesh. There I was able to grow very deeply in the spirituality of True Life in God as I lived across the road from the Major Seminary, where Fr. “X” is based, and only a few houses away from where Vassula’s first experience and visit by her angel, Daniel, began.
My quest to know more about this Love Hymn really began with my fist trip to Medjugorje in June 1995…..the feast of the Sacred Heart to be exact. There, for some unknown reason I could not stop asking bout Vassula Ryden, despite the fact that almost everytime I asked, I received inhospitable replies. Only three months after this first visit there, I felt a strong calling to return..and did…and in the midst of a beautiful pilgrimage there found myself still seeking knowledge about the messages to Vassula. At this time I knew that I was going to Bangladesh. I did not however know anything about where the messages had begun, what the main content of the messages were or anything. My main concern about going to Bangladesh was, as to whether there would be a Catholic church there and how was I going to cope for three years without a sacramental life, as I realised that I was once again going to be living in an Islamic country and had spent almost five years in Pakistan and Afghanistan previous to this so knew what it may be like. I really was quite upset about this and wondered as to whether I should actually have accepted the offer to go and work there. However, I returned home to Scotland assured that the Lord would hear my prayers……..
He really WAS listening….within the first week of my return from Medjugorje and about four weeks before due to go out to Bangladesh for the first time, I was at my mother’s house and noticed a True Life in God Magazine sitting on a stool. I quickly started to read it and came across an article by Fr. “X”, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Imagine my joy…if there were a Priest there, there had to be a church!!!
Little did I know. I was so happy that I mentioned this in passing to my mother. She then went on to tell me that she had one of Vassula’s books in her house. I could not believe this…my own mother and I knew nothing about this. I quickly went through retrieved the book and nearly died with amazement when I discovered that this had all begun in Bangladesh. I had such a feeling of hope at that time. And what a time..it was literally days before the infamous notification came out. Anyone who had followed the messages of True Life in God in Scotland quickly dropped them as the church forbade us to read. Already the crosses that we become so familiar with in the spirituality of True Life in God were being closely pointed out.
Before I knew it, I was off to Bangladesh and I became immersed in these messages and having Fr. “X” to advise me all about them whenever I had any query.
This was a privileged situation to be in and not everyone may have this type of opportunity and granted, not everyone who desires to work for God diffusing these messages may have the good fortune to have such first hand advice on tap. Do not let this put you off dear friends. Remember, at the end of the day, the only Educator we have is Our Lord Thrice Holy…..The only Adviser we have is Our Lord and as Jesus reminded Vassula in the message of June 23 1987, “My Child, let me be your spiritual director. Am I not pleasing enough for you I am Everything you lack”.
We do not know what plans the Lord may have for us and if it is to be on our own plain soil, or back yards that He desires to use us, all we have to do on our part is say “Yes”. Be reassured in these beautiful words and ask for the grace to trust in this most comforting of assurances reminding us of our nothingness and that God will do what we cannot.
The rest of the testimony is very ordinary and one which I desire to share with you so as to illustrate that there is no qualifications necessary…..the only thing we need is a willing heart and a very firm understanding that we are nothing but we are willing to spread these messages. If we speak to Our Heavenly Father asking Him to send His Spirit to guide us to educate us to open our hearts, our ears and eyes, we will hear His gentle words of advice, encouragement and see the doors that He is prepared to open.
I approach the whole thing in as simple a way as possible for that is best how I understand things. I am not very good at complicated formulas or strategies and indeed believe that Our Lord is a Lord of simplicity too. What He gave us, we have to use. For example, if God has given you the type of personality that you enjoy engaging in conversation, pray to use that gift to engage in conversation that may be used to introduce someone to these messages.
Around about the time that Vassula was due to return to Bangladesh in January 1998, I was beginning to feel the need that these messages needed diffused. There seemed to me to be a great poverty of effort in diffusing the messages to the common man, and believe me…in Bangladesh for example, there are 123 million people,. granted not all of them Christian…but do not let that put you off.
Remember, we are all God’s children. If we approach with sensitivity and humility, the Lord will give us the words and ways to be able to let others know of His infinite love.
Our prayer group in Dhaka was running quite well but most of the people there were foreigners. There was a need to reach out and draw Bengali people to hear these messages. Most of the people coming to the prayer group were happy to attend on a weekly basis, but I sensed a complacency about it all and I believe that this is a great danger for all of us and that we should become aware of this complacency. I prayed to Our Heavenly Father to show me how he could use me to get something “going” amongst the Bengali people and in Bangladesh. The answer was not immediate. As many of us are aware…it seldom is….so don’t stop listening and looking because you don’t get your answer by yesterday…..Keep praying, keep your hearts open. It is my understanding that sometimes Our Lord wants to put us that one extra mile and to test how really committed we are. Have that trust in Him if you feel that you want to diffuse these messages.
When hearing the message from our Eternal Father through Vassula in Jerusalem last year in which all of those attending were made to understand that we have a responsibility to diffuse and cultivate these messages, I was so happy as I had been understanding this intake last four months prior to this. All I did on my part was to pray to ask for guidance. The following months from the conference in The Holy Land assured me that my prayers were answered.
I visited Medjugorje again in July 1998 and met an English Priest there on to very first day..the feast of St Thomas. Within minutes, and I do not exaggerate, I felt that this priest was to have something to do with True Life in God. He is apparently a well known priest as he has a strong healing ministry and so I felt very daunted in mentioning anything about True Life in God, lest he think that he was being addressed by some mad woman. I asked the Lord to help me find the words and the courage. Now I am not saying that when we do this, automatically everything is fine and smooth. On the contrary, the reception I got was rather icy…do not be put off by this at first. neither feel the urge to push. Keep asking the Lord to show the way and forget yourself…this is when to really let The Lord in. It is also when perhaps the Lord uses the personality side of a person. For example, I am not good at taking no for an answer and find myself constantly asking the Lord to let me know when to let go, so to speak.
To cut a long story short…I went every day to this Priest gently talking about this thing and that AND during the course of the day, when I felt the time was right, I would discuss the messages. Slowly I could see the Hand of God taking control as the Priest mellowed and listened and started to ask questions.
I returned to Bangladesh keeping in touch with this Priest in England and returned to hear that David Huxley was to come to Bangladesh for a short term consultancy. This was another answer to prayer I believed. David and I discussed how we could best get another prayer group set up in Dhaka. I felt I had so much more strength knowing that there was someone else to help. I do find that doing things in pairs or a group much better, but I am not put off if I have to do things myself either.
David and I managed to get a short talk with the parish priest and a lay nun discussing the possibilities of starting up a group. We left the details with Fr. “X” and before we knew it, David and I had to leave Bangladesh for our respective countries, both of us knowing that we would probably return short term in January and February of 1999.
As I said I returned to Scotland…my wee barren country, where there is great religious indifference and a marked Scottish Presbyterian and Catholic divide. How was I now to switch off from Bangladesh to Scotland…..? Same Principles applied, people needed to know about these messages.
How was I going to go about it? I am sure that many of you have asked this and similar questions time and time again. So much so that it seems easier to creep into our comfort zones and think, “oh well maybe tomorrow”.
Please…try not to fall into this trap. We have to act now, never taking our minds off Our Lords words, “Pray with your heart to me; trust me and allow yourself to be immersed in the Ocean of My mercy:satisfy my thirst for souls; I have manifested my Love to you so that you understand Me; Be like aloud book and speak…..”.(October 26 1997)
We have to do just that, my friends. We also have to be realistic and see which context that we can best operate in. No point for me to go on a soap box in the middle of Edinburgh and shout….no need for any of us to do that. I looked at the every day context in which I operate and asked the Lord to help.
At that time, Frank Reynolds in Dublin had invited Fr. “X” to come over to witness at a conference that they were planning. Not being one to miss the opportunity of a bargain, I asked Fr. “X” would he be prepared to come over to Scotland from Ireland once finished. He agreed.
The Priest I met in Medjugorje in July began to show an interest and I had the courage to ask him if he would help Fr. “X” witness if I arranged venues in Scotland. Now, because of his lack of exposure to TLIG he agreed to accompany Fr. “X” to listen, to concelebrate Mass and then assist with healing services following the Mass. I had to pray to find a venue and a good friend of mine in Glasgow helped me very much with the prayers. We prayed to St Andrew to help us and to St Patrick because of Frank’s involvement over in Ireland…..We were given a venue in St Patrick’s church for November 30…the feast of St Andrew..the Patron Saint of Scotland and Russia..we were able to consecrate both countries that night to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was very beautiful. We had arranged that books would be on sale..this is an absolute necessity. Someone kindly brought books and we were able to sell sufficient numbers that night. We got a venue for the following day in my local parish church..a very very poor parish in Edinburgh, St Joseph’s.
Now..only about 100 people turned up in Glasgow and 25 in Edinburgh….BUT …do not let the numbers put you off. My friend and I had spent three days preparing hand written flyers 500 of which we delivered by hand in Glasgow..going to the Greek Orthodox church, many Churches of Scotland and Episcopalian…but these were the people who responded. I say this so as to point out that do not get despondent if after a lot of work and effort not many people respond. Yes deep down it hurts..imagine what it feels like to the Lord. But keep your minds fixed on who did respond and work with them. We now have two prayer groups set up as a result of this witnessing.
I do have to add though that this does not just happen automatically. Do not think that because there has been a witnessing that the prayer groups take off by themselves. There is a lot of careful nurturing required, a lot of prayer a lot of commitment and a lot of trust in God.
A month after we had done the witnessing we went back to the venues after having advertised that we were attempting to start up the prayer groups. I am not the sort of person who likes to talk out in a group as such unless I have to…I realised I had to and asked the Lord to help me facilitate the first prayer groups. The English Priest attended both prayer groups and they went beautifully. Vassula emphasises over and over again that there are to be no leaders. This is so important. Everyone must feel that they have an equal part to play. What I suggested in our prayer groups and it has worked very well was that each person must take a turn to facilitate. If there is to be a healing service and people feel comfortable to have a healing service, then the person who facilitates lays hands that evening. I can only report that in our prayer group it has worked so beautifully and people’s confidence has grown so much.
How is it all financed…good question. there is a strong element of personal sacrifice involved at first. I pe