Today as I sat in St Thomas Anglican church in Port Macquarie, New South Wales whose foundation stone had been laid on the 8^th December 1824, I reflected on what God had done during those 200 years in this convict built church. One memory was when I had been invited as a visiting teacher many years ago to do a teaching seminar on healing on the Saturday and then minister in the church on the Sunday. On the Sunday morning as I looked out from the vestry in the church before the service I saw a woman going along from one row of box seats to another with a hand raised in the air. She didn’t appear to be threatening anyone, for people she spoke to seemed to smile at what she was saying. Then she came into the vestry. 
 
Immediately I recognised her as a woman I had prayed with on the Saturday afternoon. She had come forward after the teaching on forgiveness to ask whether she could receive healing if she was willing to forgive someone who had brought a lot of hurt into her life. I told her that when we do what God commands us to do, we become more open to receive more healing from the Lord. I noticed as we conversed that her hands were shaking like a leaf. 
 
When this woman came into the vestry on Sunday morning, she told me what had happened after that Saturday meeting. She had gone home from the meeting feeling that she had to forgive her mother who had brought a lot of hurt into her life. After she asked God for His strength to forgive, she spoke these words of forgiveness towards her mother saying, “Mother, I forgive you in Jesus name!”  To her amazement she immediately felt a deep sense of peace and the shaking in her hands ceased. This was the story she was sharing with the people before the service, raising her hand to show that the shaking had ceased. 
 
When she shared that story with me I asked her to write her signature in the back of my Bible. This she did and she told me that this was the first time she had been able to write her signature in many months. She had been healed and remained healed for many years before her death. 
 
As I sat there this morning reflecting on this incident, I realised that there must have been hundreds of such examples of people receiving the grace of God in conversions and healings over those 200 years in the parish of St Thomas the Apostle. Many may have come to the church with questions or doubts in their minds but may have had an experience like St Thomas. After Jesus was resurrected, He was seen by all the apostles except Thomas who said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:25. But Thomas was an honest doubter as we read in the next verse, “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” John 20:26-27.  Confronted with the evidence Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” John 20:28. 
 
So as we praise God for the faithful ministry exercised in the parish of St Thomas for 200 years we look forward to the future in which many more people will experience the grace of God in receiving healing and having their doubts removed. Then they will be able to say with St Thomas, ”My Lord and my God!” and live their lives to His glory. May it be so [and it will be so] to the glory of God!
Blog No.561 posted on Sunday 08 December 2024.