News & Views
Holly, on DNA this year, on our February Residential
written by holly parrish
published on 18th March 2010
I was not aware of the significance of the residential until about two weeks before when we were told by the DNA team to ‘expect God to do big things’. This terrified me. I knew that I wanted God to be do big things, but for some reason knowing that we were going to be at Dalesdown for a week expecting God to do these things was scary. I was thinking ‘What on earth is God going to do?!’ Two weeks after and I’m thinking ‘What did he not do…’
For me the Residential brought with it freedom from the past, and empowerment to walk into the future with hope and expectation.
For the past 12 years I have been tied up in unresolved grief, and a negative self image which have been nurtured and were completely out of control. The last few years in particular have been a struggle to keep my head above water, and many times I have felt I have been drowning, and couldn’t find God through it at all.
The lectures during the week were brilliant, they were the tools that I needed for God to deal with the issues. They focused on preparing our will for God to do the things, helped us to recognise people and situations that have hindered our freedom and helped us to ‘own’ our issues. Then God stepped in.
The Tuesday and Wednesday evenings were the poignant times for me. My diary entry on the Wednesday evening reads ‘I feel so Different. Transformed; Glowing and FREE’.
I feel that I am no longer grieving. That God has brought joy and hope back into my life again. It is absolutely incredible. I just still can't quite believe what God has done; A miracle. A real, freeing amazing miracle.
