Lynn Attwood - Not Abandoned Nor Forgotten

In our modern age of technology, there are many people today who are sceptical about whether God heals, assuming they believe He exists in the first place. Even within the Christian family, there are those who, for whatever reason, believe that God only healed during New Testament times. But the good news is that when Jesus Christ was crucified, He went down into hell and took back the keys of death and Hades ( Revelation 1:18 ) then He rose again and is seated at the right hand of our Father God. Now we can be in relationship with our Heavenly Father and receive many blessings, including healing, as a result of accept ing Jesus Christ into our lives. Don t get me wrong, non-believers can and do receive healings too, but the point is that as children of God, we receive many blessings. God is not only our creator, He is our redeemer and healer. He is a faithful, loving God.

We only need to cry out to our Heavenly Father for him to respond. Whilst some prayers are answered instantaneously, at other times we have to be persistent, sometimes over several years to receive the answer we are hoping for; even then, the answer may not look or be as we imagined. I have experienced a lifetime of answered prayers, being a product of many healings, both physical and emotional, whilst being witness to significant healings in close family members. This book is about our God whose love is so awesome, it is indescribable; a God who loves us as we are, but loves us too much to let us stay as we are.

As we journey with God He will bring about changes in our lives and in our very being. Sometimes, we may need specific prayers to receive healings and for changes to occur; at other times, it is simply part of the process of sanctification as some of our rough edges disappear and we become more Christlike in our thoughts, words and deeds. He is a patient, faithful God, full of love, mercy and grace as I hope my testimony will demonstrate for His glory.

I accepted Jesus into my life when I was seven years old. The lesson being taught was about His crucifixion, death and resurrection. I felt such sorrow for what Jesus had gone through for us; I simply knew it was true and I gave Him my heart. I did not attend church, nor did any members of my nuclear family, although my mother had been a member of the Salvation Army in her younger days; that contact had ceased when she married my father and moved away from her home town. My prayer life developed soon after I made my commitment and has continued ever since.

I guess, at that time (and for many years afterwards), I was a Christian but hadnt received the teaching necessary to really understand how life-changing a relationship with Jesus could be. As the years passed, I continued to pray both for myself and intercede for family members and situations. I knew God answered my prayers; there were many situations I encountered and survived only because of His divine intervention.

The first part of my story attempts to show readers the depth of my wilderness experience; a time of significant troubles that often overlapped with each other, spanning decades. God often seemed far away whilst I struggled through a myriad of circumstances that I earnestly sought to be rescued from. There were many things I had to deal with and all the while He was working in me, changing me to become more the person I was designed to be. The changes are still ongoing and will continue until I am with Him. It is our goal, as children of God, to reflect His light whilst on this earth.

Readers might wonder what is meant by a wilderness experience; possibly imagining someone all alone, in a desolate place perhaps somewhere in the middle of sand dunes such as the Sahara desert or alternatively being alone in the middle of a forest, lost and not knowing which direction to take in order to find their way home. The imagination can visualise endless scenarios set in any climate, country or space in time. My time in the wilderness was not in some exotic place or somewhere uninhabited by people, but it certainly involved separation from others, both in a physical and emotional sense and sometimes a perception that God was far away too.

The biblical character, Moses, had his own time in the wilderness. After murdering an Egyptian, he spent forty years in Midian to escape Pharaoh (Exodus 2:11-15) . Consequently, he no longer walked closely with God, his soul was tormented by guilt and he became separated from the rest of the Israelite population. God redeemed Moses and brought him out of the wilderness. By leading the Israelites out of captivity from Egypt, aided by his brother Aaron (Exodus 3:4-10) , Moses became one of the giants in biblical history.