Fast Forward Seven Years

And so, forward seven years to continue the story!

Throughout the seven years that followed the initial word from the Lord about going to Scotland, I continued to receive words from the Lord and confirmation through the Body of Christ that this was indeed what God was saying and going to do.  And I myself dug in and learned a lot more about Scotland.  In the process of both I fell in love with this wonderful country.  Who wouldn't?  It has such a rich history of revival, war, beauty and pain.  There is so much to love and so much for which to pray.

I continued to wait for God to reveal what was next in the plan regarding Scotland, determined not to force His hand or 'make something happen', as I am unfortunately wont to do.  I remember someone once saying, "God told you He was taking you to Scotland?  Well, girl, get on a plane!  You'd better go!!"  But thankfully, that's not the way God works with me, usually.  Sometimes it's the way I work with God, but historically that hasn't always panned out so well, as you might well imagine.  But in this case, I did wait.  Truthfully, I couldn't quite figure out how it was going to happen, not being in a position financially to just pick up and go, and not knowing what on earth I was supposed to do once I got there. 

But then, something wonderful happened.  A very close friend and prayer partner of mine phoned me up one day in 2006 and told me that she had to go to Wales on business, and that she wasn't going to Wales without going to Scotland and that I was going with her.  She herself had felt a pull to Scotland for a short while, and has said to me afterwards that she believes the Lord put that in her heart just so that it would open up a way for me to get to Scotland.  So within about 6 weeks we planned and departed on our trip!  And better than that: since my friend, Karen, was going for business, our rental car, petrol and much of our hotel stays were paid for.  I was able to fly totally on Air Miles points that my mother had been collecting for my Scotland trip for years.  Though we weren't going until September, I still had my holidays from work available.  Everything worked out amazingly, and I still marvel at how inexpensively and easily I went for a two-week holiday in the United Kingdom.  That can only be God's hand at work.  How beautiful.

We left Vancouver on September 3rd, 2006, and flew to London, staying the night in Nottingham with family of Karen's.  And the day after that we drove north, all the way to Edinburgh. 

I don't think I will ever forget the experience of crossing the Scottish border.  Karen and I had stopped at the sign that says "Scotland" to take pictures (of course), and I actually took a picture of my first steps into Scotland.  But it wasn't until we actually got back in the car and drove across the border that the real impact came. 

I was in the driver's seat at the time, and as soon as I drove across the border, I started to weep uncontrollably, and through my sobbing I said to Karen (no small feat, by the way - talking, sobbing and driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road!) that I'd just come home.  Like no other experience of home I've ever had, I just knew somewhere deep in my spirit that this was my home, and I had come home.  It was strange, since I had lived in Vancouver since I was four or five, and it was truly my home and where my family was.  But this was something deeper.  This was my true home.

After explaining that to Karen, I told her that I had to pull over and get on my knees and thank the Lord for bringing me to this amazing country.  And that's just what we did.  About 100m into Scotland we pulled off the highway at a pullout and got out of the car and got on our knees in the dirt and praised God.  By this time we were both weeping, and our praise was not hindered by that in the least.  In fact, we only stopped because some big rig trucker pulled off behind us - I think he might have thought we were ill or in trouble!  Little did he know.

And this was only day one.

About to cross the Scottish border for the first time (you can see it in the background on the right of the picture, actually).  God is good.