Dear lovely and beautiful readers,
Oh, how I’ve missed you all! It’s been a while since I’ve written something here. Life has been life-ing and I’ve been quite busy as of late. I started university and moved to Shanghai for my year abroad and am currently writing this blog on my desk here in Shanghai. Oh, how life can drastically change within a year.
I know, you're probably wondering what's up with the picture of some random empty road. Bear with me for a sec. I have recently been reminiscing about all the great miracles God has performed in my life, particularly last year, but there is one that is still engraved in my mind. It is something I can’t keep quiet about because of just how purely awesome it is. It is one of those moments where, if you didn’t take a picture of it for proof, it never happened. And that is what I call “the miracle of 10th March 2023”.
Last year in the month of February of 2023, North Church (my church in Leeds) had been selling tickets for YA Souls, which is a Christian conference for young adults. At first, I was reluctant to go, because I didn’t know whether or not it was worth it, and at the time, I was in a state of doubt about a lot of things in my life (a spiral that life itself naturally puts you in oftentimes). But in the end, I bought my ticket, and as I did, I said to God “Lord, if I’m going, I need you to talk to me. Speak to me. Come with me.”
On 5th March (five days before said conference), I went to have dinner and went bowling to celebrate my friend’s birthday. But for some reason, on the walk back home, I was out of breath. I felt very faint and dizzy, and my head started to ache. That night, I woke up to a fever, cough, and runny nose. As the days went on, the state I was in had progressively gotten worse. My head ached so much that it was pounding. I could feel my pulse in my temples. I could barely walk to the kitchen without being out of breath. It progressed up to the point where it became painful for me to swallow my own saliva, let alone any food. What I couldn’t believe is that it was painful to simply breathe. Such a simple bodily function I couldn’t do without being reminded that I was in pain. The back of my mouth and my throat were inflamed and red. The pain worsened because the air I was breathing in was dry and cold. I’d only sleep 4 hours maximum at night, because most of it was spent in agony. I genuinely didn’t know if I’d make it to the next day. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the doctor said I had contracted a virus, and the reason as to why my throat was red and inflamed was because I had gotten cobblestone throat. Imagine that, your throat being so inflamed it looked like cobblestones. I got put on antibiotics and heavy medicine to relieve the pain.
Note this, I was in the worst possible state even until 9th March. There was only one day left until the YA Souls conference, which I had been looking forward to for a while now. At this point I didn’t even know if I could make it, not just because I was in this state, but also because I could barely walk to the kitchen without being in pain, let alone to North Church which was miles away by foot. It was just physically impossible. I had prayed so much in the days leading up to the conference, and told God “Lord, if it is Your plan for me, You will heal me and I will make it to YA Souls without being in pain. I know You will make a way for me.”
The next day, 10th March, the day of the conference, my temperature surprisingly dropped enough to not be considered as a fever, and it wasn’t as painful for me to breathe. I could actually walk a considerably good distance without being in pain. And so, I decided to go to YA Souls. BUT (there’s always a ‘but’), it had snowed heavily during the day, and the walk from my house to North Church was downhill, meaning that the journey would be icy, frosty, but mostly, slippery. The air was too cold for me to breathe too, so that was going to be a double kill. I really didn’t know if I could make it alright. All I knew is that God was calling me to go to YA Souls. As I opened the door and left my house, I prayed “God, make a way for me. Part the Red Sea for me.” Just when I began commuting, that’s when I saw it.
On the road downhill to North Church, just like any other normal road, there are two pavements on each side, right? Snow covered the entirety of the pavement on the left of the road, and the road itself, where cars would drive, was covered in ice. But the pavement I was on was completely dry. DRY. Not even a bit of snow or ice was on it. It didn’t reach over. Not even a single drop of water. And this whole pavement directly led me all the way to North. I was so shocked my jaw kept dropping the more I approached the church without having to encounter snow or ice, when that’s all found on the opposite side of the road to me. LIKE WHAAAAATTTT???!!! HOWWW??!!
I arrived at North safely, still in utter shock. I didn’t know what to expect. I just came with an open mind, and simply had the best time of my life during those two days of conference. There were 500 young adults from around the UK, Portugal, Sweden, and other European countries, which is insane, considering that in one Sunday alone we’d usually only have 300 people. But seeing how the Lord works and the movement that is stirring up here is so unbelievably beautiful. All the beautiful souls from so many countries, backgrounds, different walks of life that tell different stories, all united together under one roof. There were so many talks on all aspects of life and so many empowering conversations. But being in the presence of the Lord and dancing the night away to the rhythm of worship with my friends was genuinely so overwhelmingly beautiful. The atmosphere was faith-filled. And the fact that I get to be a part of that? Oh my… You just had to be there to experience it. If I were given only one chance to travel back in time, I’d travel back to that exact moment, that exact night to experience it all over again. It’s all I could’ve ever asked for and everything I needed. I left each day of the conference a totally different person, and what was even crazier is that I prayed for healing right? As the conference progressed, that Friday night, my fever and my headache disappeared completely. On the Saturday, my throat got completely healed. THERE IS MENTAL, EMOTIONAL AND SPITITUAL HEALING IN HIS NAME! And we all have access to that. ALL of us.
To conclude, I just want to leave you with this. God is just one prayer away. It doesn’t have to be the most long-winded prayer known to man. Even a whisper under your breath will do. It doesn’t need to be faith-filled. Most prayers are prayed even when there’s no faith instilled in your heart at all. And that’s fine. Even when you have no hope, when you’re in pain, whatever the type of pain you find yourself going through, all you need to do is believe, even when you’re hanging on by a thread. That string of faith is sufficient. You don’t need a big miracle to experience a miracle. Miracles are everywhere, in fact. The fact that you woke up this morning is a miracle in itself. You already woke up winning. Every day is a day of victory. You get to breathe without being in pain, you get to walk around without being out of breath, you get to talk, see, smell, hear, touch, laugh, cry, sing, grieve, dance, shower, shout, learn, study, drive, run, jump. You get to MOVE. Whatever you want to do, you get to do. Whatever food you want to eat, you have easy access to. People tend to overlook this and forget how much it is a privilege to live. It’s a PRIVILEGE to live. So live. We’re all unique in every single way, but one thing that we all get to experience in life is the miracle, the blessing, the privilege of being alive. So live. Isn’t it just beautiful?
GOD IS GOOD. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.
Lots of love,
Sam
Instagram: samsenna_