a glimpse of a new season

by Laurie-Ann Copple

"At the Burning Bush" - Laurie-Ann Zachar Copple, copyright 2020

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I'm a seer.  Since I'm a visual artist, I receive most of my impressions, visions and dreams from the Holy Spirit in a visual form - a picture.  Sometimes I receive words or sounds, but it's usually by a picture or set of pictures.   I don't necessarily need the burning bush experience, as shown in the line drawing above this message.   

I knew that there was a season beyond my cancer journey and our South African assignment.  I had to hang on, because God has a plan for us that He's been preparing for some time.  I knew I was called to the UK in some way - both in Northern Ireland and in northern England.  I also received impressions that my colouring sheets and books could be used as a platform for children's ministry anywhere we go, especially in Canada and the UK.    Our involvement with Legacy Relay in South Africa (where they encourage seniors to pass on their legacy skills with the next generations) is a beautiful covering for this form of outreach.  We were asked to represent Legacy Relay in Canada and work with our SA supervisors remotely.    We plan to work with school children or a kid's club in Canada, and in time short term in the UK.  We aren't sure how it will work out, but the plans will unfold as we pray.  For the meantime, we are in Toronto taking care of my frail near 93 year old dad.  This is a good thing, a necessary thing to do.   But there is more.  We are thankful for the more.  Here is the glimpse that I received recently.

Significant dream, Etobicoke ON, February 3, 2022

I dreamed that I was with Tony, but invited Tony’s mum Joan to Kenya for a journey from Nairobi to Mombasa.  We enjoyed the journey, noting the running baboons, and driving on.  She seemed to be happy that Tony and I were up for a coming adventure, and she was giving her blessing.

The next scene, I’m in England in an old cathedral with beautiful wooden panels, similar to the inside of Christ Church Cathedral (Anglican) in Ottawa.  I walk through a corridor, and I don’t have any trouble walking at all.  I seem younger and much fitter (and smaller).  I meet with Nicky Gumbel (of Alpha and Holy Trinity Brompton).  He agrees to be my sponsor for my upcoming academic studies in Church History and Theology.  I’ll be on a fast track programme that includes an MA that tops up my MDiv, to a THd (or PHd). I won’t even need Latin, French and German as I was advised back in the 1990s, since this is the fast track).    Nicky told me that he and the hierarchy of the Church of England were very impressed with the work Tony and I had been doing and were doing in Legacy Relay in the UK (northern England and Northern Ireland).  There were many children all over the country colouring in my drawing sheets and colouring books. Nicky became essentially my sponsor, academically and immigration-wise.

The university that accepted me first as a fast-tracked MA student, then ThD, is Oxford University, with a few supplemented courses at Queens University, Belfast.  I remember being at both universities as a “tourist,” but this time I was a working student.  I was also involved with the Christian communities in London, Oxford and Belfast, with visits to Newcastle and Durham. 

Tony joins me later periodically on monthly intervals while I study and do some Legacy Relay ministry on the side.  Tony busies himself with pastoral care of people that are brought to us, and also time with children.  We seem to be getting younger, but not too young.  We are strong and our brains are sharp, with God’s help and the mind of Christ.