The first blossoms on the trees even amidst the hustle of London traffic, is a vivid picture of the theme we explored at the London Ministry Wives Conference, which took place on 30 January. Will we be disciples that last? Even in the choking atmosphere of London?
One wife I chatted to said to me: ‘My oldest is 8. Hers is not a great school, but it’s better than the first one she went to. We moved her to this one. Though I’m still not sure it’s the right school for her’. This is a clear expression of the tension London ministry wives face. She is serving alongside her husband on a tough inner-London housing estate, and it hurts. London life chokes.
Worries choke fruit
Anxious over my own child’s schooling I remembered the text we had studied at the conference. In Mark 4.20. Jesus said some people ‘hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.’
Singing God’s praise with over 100 other women in the beautiful Trinity Road Chapel was a wonderful antidote to the concrete jungle of stress in which I normally live and walk. Clare Heath-Whyte spoke to us so personally of how God’s Word has strengthened her as she’s gone through the very immediate struggles her family is facing. As she set Jesus before us, I couldn’t help but see how she herself was a living example of one that is flourishing in London – Jesus’s Word blossoming and bearing fruit in her life.
It gives me courage to know from the conference that other wives around the capital are struggling with worries and desires that choke. It was great to pray together that we would be disciples that last, not choked by London life, but blossoming in Jesus.
