Yesssss! I Am Surprised

Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all HIS benefits – Psalms 103:2

YESSSSSSS !!! I AM SURPRISED

… Count your blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done…says a beautiful hymn. Yes, I am surprised at what the Lord has done, is doing and is going to do in my life. There are so many blessings that if I were to count them one by one , I will surely lose count. Praise God!!! I humbly and gratefully acknowledge HIS mighty presence in our lives.

On the joyful event of our church’s 20th anniversary, I felt it would be apt to share how this wonderful church came into our lives, rather, how we came into it, personally chosen by GOD himself. Here, I would like to share two of the many wonderful blessings from GOD.

• How we became a part of UECF 2. How UECF held us up during our deepest crisis

We moved to this side of the globe in 2012, to a scenic, hilly little town in Massachusetts. After the initial euphoria settled down, we started looking out for a church near our place. There were a few beautiful Gothic churches around and we started attending them Sunday after Sunday. We were longing for a church which was similar to the churches back home in India. The services in this small town were sombre and short with not much of Sunday school activities happening. No complaints though, as this must be the custom in this part of the world but for us, who were used to houseful churches with spirited singing and soul stirring sermons, our church experience left us longing for more. The Dream

While all this was going on, I had a dream which showed us that we were in a new location with a church in the vicinity. In that dream, I could hear church bells ringing, on closerinspection, I heard wonderful songs being sung. On entering the church I noticed people in Indian attire and glorifying God singing Telugu songs. I was overjoyed. The happiness I felt in that dream was inexplicable. We tried to figure out if there were any such churches around but were unsuccessful.The nearest such church was minimum 4 hours by road and driving 4 hours to and fro every Sunday was not conducive. So our yearning remained unquenched for a year

Fulfillment of the Dream

A very short time after this, our movement came by in an unexpected way. My husband was promoted and handed over a large media account which was located in New York and Los Angeles. Initially the movement was planned for LA. An apartment was booked, school identified and confirmed. In a sudden turn of events, one week prior to our movement to LA, he was asked by the Client to relocate to NY and not to LA. My daughter and I were disappointed as we had set our hearts on LA. But it was God’s will that we move towards NY. So NY it was!! We started looking out for a community closer to NYC. But God had other plans. We reviewed multiple communities and finally settled in Edison, NJ. Next came our search for churches around us and found UECF, which was at that point in time, 2.5 miles from our community. This was in 2013. The church’s website looked very impressive. The following Sunday, when we stepped into this sanctuary, a tremor ran through my being. What met my eye was an absolute delight. It was as if I walked into the dream I had seen a few weeks earlier. It was a beautiful church, the choir was singing Telugu songs and the congregation was in traditional Indian attire just like I had seen in my dream. We were warmly welcomed by the elders of the church. This was the moment I realized that God had shown me this very same church in my dream and had a specific plan for us to be here. It has been a wonderful journey since then, worshipping in this wonderful church. The love

and warmth we received from the congregation, is beyond words especially, when my family was struck by a calamity in 2016.

The Calamity andThe Testing Time

August 3rd 2016 - My husband, Eric, a healthy and strong person, was never hospitalized before this. He was taken to the Emergency as he was suffering from high fever which was not getting controlled by outpatient treatment even after 4 days. At this point in time all his organs were normal. We had to spend 3 weeks in the hospital with multiple tests being performed on him. Due to tons of blood being drawn, heavy antibiotics, Intravenous etc., his body had bloated and things were going out of control and he had to be shifted to a super specialty hospital in Philadelphia. Things really went south when internal bleeding started. He had breathing problems, drop in Heamoglobin and fluid retention. He slipped into Coma on his birthday[24th August 2016]. He was in Coma for close to 12 days. Chances of survival were bleak as per the doctors, though they were trying their best to revive my husband. This was the time when UECF stepped in for my support. The Pastor, church elders and the congregation, drove all the way from NJ to Philadelphia, to be with me and Eric during these darkest days of our lives and supported us in all ways possible. The entire church, from the youngest to the oldest, prayed for us. There were also special prayers heldevery Wednesday for Eric. Without this kind of support, we would not have survived such a huge tragedy in our lives. God brought new friends into our lives in Philadelphia who shared our pain and prayed for us with tears. Not to forget the prayer warriors around the Globe who were constantly praying for Eric. After spending an agonizing 2.5 months in three different hospitals, Eric returned home in a wheel chair and was using the walker to walk around. The following six months were no less agonizing with doctorvisits, physiotherapists etc. At this time, we had the church strongly standing by us, visiting us regularly and praying for us. God also sent some mighty prayer warriors into our lives.Also a couple of months ago we were fortunate to get in touch with the pastor, a very powerful man of God, from a church we used to attend in India, who is currently praying for Eric every week. This way God has placed His special angels around us to uphold us in their arms when we needed it most.

God’s Mercy

The past year has been a roller coaster ride for us, which has considerably slowed down but is still moving. We are hoping that God in His great mercy stops this ride and bringsour lives to normalcy soon. We have the church standing by us like a rock. We have strong and powerful God’s people upholding us in their prayers. By God’s amazing grace, Eric has come a long way from where he was at this time last year. Still a few miracles are to be manifested in his life, till then “I will not fear or be dismayed…for HE will upholdus with His righteous right hand” as said in Isaiah 41:10-13

I would like to thank the entire church, pastors, church elders and all the families of UECF for standing by us during this time. Would also like to thank the church elders

for helping our daughter, Olivia, who could glorify God through

her music and Bible quizzes, even during these testing times.

Heartfelt thanks to our families back home and across the world,

Eric’s cousins from PA and TX, friends, neighbors and colleagues

who had gone out of their way in helping and supporting us.

Promise from God

John 11:4 –This sickness is not unto death but for the Glory

of God that the son of God might be glorified thereby.

Holding on to this promise of GOD.

Merlyn Davidson