IT IS ENOUGH- A HANDFUL OF FLOUR AND A LITTLE OIL by Marion Kilchester

             

A call had been made from our Pastor, to come to the front of the church if we needed prayer. Being the independent soul that I am, I remained seated. There are many with greater needs than mine. So, I sat, but tears welled in my eyes, and I couldn’t hold them back. I stood and made my way to the front.

      My very close friend of thirty-four years, Eileen was dying in Toowoomba, and I made the three-hour trip to spend time with her and her family. She was the third very close friend, as well as my beautiful sister-in-law who had all recently passed away.

      A telephone call came, asking me to play for the funeral of the father of my hairdresser. She was also the mother of three students who I had taught over the years, one of them to diploma level. I said ‘yes’. My two nieces and nephew had lost their parents recently, and now called on me in hard times. Vikki’s husband had just undergone eight hours of heart surgery, the day before I found myself in tears at the front of the church. He was not expected to live, and then my next-door neighbour died two days before Eileen’s funeral.

      I knew they all needed me, but I was overwhelmed. It was too much.

      My Pastor held me by my shoulders and began speaking. I don’t remember everything he said, but one thing he told me seemed to me, as though it was written in neon lights.

     ‘Marion, do you remember the widow at Zarapeth?’ He then went on to recall the story. There was famine in the land. She had gone out to gather a few sticks to make a fire and cook a meal, the last meal, for herself and her son and then they would die for that was all she had left. She had come to the end of what she had and was at that place of desperate need.

      Elijah had turned up and requested some water to drink and a piece of bread.

      She replied, ‘I don’t have any bread, just a handful of flour and a little oil, just enough to make a meal for my son and myself’, but Elijah told her to go, make a loaf for him, and then prepare for herself and her son. He told her, ‘The flour and oil will not fail, until the rains come.’

      She was overwhelmed already, but she was asked to give more. She had to exercise faith, she had to be obedient. She chose to do both and made the bread for Elijah. God came through for her and there was still enough for her to prepare bread for herself and her son.  Day by day she took from the jar of flour and the jug of oil and prepared a meal for the three of them, as God provided the requirements needed to do so.

      If she could do this, then I also could do what I needed to do. No longer overwhelmed, I was able to meet the demands on me. I was at peace. My nephew received a miracle and lived. I went to all three funerals in the space of about ten days.

      I know that many of you are struggling with life’s obstacles, while at the same time, striving to be obedient to your calling to write and whatever else.

 

     Marion Kilchester published her first book, 'Though the Storms Rage, yet I will dance in the rain'. Her second book, 'Ludmila's Story', is in its final stages.  As she is nearly seventy-five, technology really bamboozles her. There are many experienced writers here . She feels she's not qualified to  talk about how to write to many with far more expertise than her in these areas. So she has shared from her own faith walk.

      Her webpage is called ‘www.leavesof hope.com.au’ bringing hope in a loving God and His faithfulness, which she can give.  She loves to encourage other writers and runs a small writer's group.

Marion lives in the northern outskirts of Caboolture with her littel dog, Hope. She is surrounded by family and friends.

                                                                                

                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Marion Kilchester is a mum and grandmother. At 75, she loves spending time with family and friends and her little dog, Hope.

    

     Having taught classroom music and piano, now in her retirement, she published her first book, Though the Storms Rage Yet Will I Dance in 2021. Marion has just completed her second book, a biography about her mother-in-law, Ludmila, who grew up and survived in The Ukraine, under the rule of Stalin, before finding herself transported in a ‘cattle-train’ to a forced-labour-camp in Germany, under the rule of Hitler. At the end of the war, Ludmila made another epic journey, this time by boat, to Australia where she made a new life for herself and her family.

 

     Marion’s books are about hope, positivity, and resilience in the face of huge obstacles.

 

Her website is leavesofhope.com.au