stanford and now, london: A Special Wesley Christmas 2014

This is one of the more memorable Christmases for me because at this event, for the first time in my life, I felt God's presence touch me directly. We had been away on a fairly long trip to New Zealand, and got back just in time for this Wesley celebration. I will share the photos of the trip in another post but I mention the trip here because it was the first time in my life that I had spent so much time in the beauty of His creation and looking back at it now, I think it was the perfect prelude to this church event.

It had been a difficult year for me on the job. I did get promoted yes, but before that I went through a period of scrutiny due to that incident at the checkpoint in which I became the face of the department and had to deal with a press conference for the first time in my life. It was a time of great stress but I think I tried not to show it at home. So the holiday in NZ was a time of great peace and was just what I needed.

I think we had just started going back to church that year or maybe the year before. Praise God for mummy, who had suggested it. I think it happened when I was feeling a little lost in my life, and felt that I had not spent enough time doing things with all of you - the time with MOM was very good in terms of growing professionally but it was incredibly challenging in the first few years as there was a steep learning curve. After a while I think I lost focus of what was important and became too absorbed in work. And so one day, if my memory serves me correctly, I told mummy we should find something to do together - triathlons, marathons...just kidding. I asked her for ideas and she just asked if I would want to go back to church. And so we did, and it has been the single most important decision we have made, and it was God's love and guidance that led to this moment.

When we sang "O Holy Night" I felt this wave of emotion come over me and I cried. It is my favourite hymn for just that reason. Sometimes when I sing, I am not really thinking about what it means you know? I am paying more attention to the beauty of the tune, to the sound of my voice rather than connecting with God. This was maybe the first time I really understood what it should feel like. Something had changed within me.

The following year we got baptised.