A year of refining
When Pastor Gordon put forward the idea of taking a year out I was delighted as it is something I have always desired. I was then told that the course was going to be called Refine. I didn’t realise how prophetic this word was going to be! One of the things ‘refine’ means is ‘to remove by purifying’ and this is exactly what God is doing in my life. My character is being moulded and my mind renewed. You may be thinking by now ‘what on earth is this girl is going on about?’ Well, let me explain to you what we are doing.
We have input from Pastor Gordon and Fiona’s cell members who bring us powerful words in every session. We receive teaching in areas such as discipleship, the pastor’s heart, leadership, business, worship and evangelism. Evangelism is one of our more hands on subjects - we go out on the streets and share the good news with the young people of our city every week (scary, but fun!) Also, on a Wednesday we help with ‘free soup’. This is something that has been running for a long time but desperately needed to see some fruit. Already we have seen a great harvest. Running an Alpha course straight after the soup meant that inviting people was easy. The Alpha is coming to an end soon but we have seen great things happen through it.
Being on a year out just for God makes the devil so mad. He has tried so much to make me give up but I just laugh in his face! God however is very happy and is using the year to discipline me and form me into the young women HE wants me to be. I tell you, He has brought up so many things in my character that need to be shaped and it stings a fair bit. To stick at something, I believe we need to be given a promise, and mine is that if my character is moulded God will use me to impact my generation. With this promise the sting of being moulded is well worth going through.
My heart is to reach my generation - Dundee is my mission field. Whenever God speaks to me about being on Refine, He always says “I am training you to be my warrior”. It’s like God is giving me the equipment for what I need to help see my generation saved. It is so hard for young people to keep focused on what God has for them. I believe God is rooting me in so that when the winds come (and I know they will) I will not turn my eyes from Him. To see the young people saved in my city is going to take young people who won’t be silent and won’t be tolerant. Give Jesus back the young people!
Rachel Thomson