"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble..."
In the stillness a laugh erupted from my mouth. I could not help it. There was a quick giggle from my two companions. It was funny, even in the midst of morning prayer. I believe God sees the funny side and I hope you will too.
A few Tuesday evenings ago I sat snuggled up on the sofa, laughing at Gilmore girls and trying to finish a cross stitch I started for friends a few weeks ago, a belated 70th birthday present.
Black. Everything went black.
"Oh no!" We groaned in unison.
Hannah and I carefully made our way to the lounge door, discussing whether it was only the lounge where the power had tripped or the whole house. In the hall a light was on. Based on this Hannah thought it may just be the power in the lounge which has ceased. However, it was the emergency light. We definitely didn't have power.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs Hannah yelled up to another of our housemates "Jane, have you got power?" The response was resoundly no.
Great, just great! The three off us stood in our cramped hall and discussed what to do next.
Being intelligent, capable women we looked at the electricity switches and tried to flick the fuse. Nothing.
It was cold, it was dark, it was 10 o'clock at night. What were the options?!
"I could stay here, I would be ok, I have a hot water bottle." One of my housemates declared.
"And how would you heat the water to go inside the hot water bottle?" I asked.
It had been cold for days. Any vague heat which had once filled our home had vanished. We hadn't had heating since Thursday and although we had had fan heaters on in some of the rooms, many had not and now without any electricity heat would not be a viable option at all.
We had two choices, curl up and share body heat or pick up the phone. I love my housemates dearly and if it had been a necessity option one was valid. However, we opted for option two.
As a dear friend answered the phone I burst into hysterics, quickly joined by my housemates. Explaining our situation, through fits of laughter I spluttered "It's...not...funny...but..." It was ridiculous. I mean, it was 10pm on a January night, we had no hot water and not electricity the last time I was in this situation I was in Tanzania, and I expected it there!
We were offered shelter for the evening and each dispersed to her own bedroom to pack what belongings we could remember we may need for a stay in someone else's home.
Automatically we all found ourselves trying to switch on bedroom lights, to no avail off course. Not having a torch to hand I found myself trying to remember where I kept my belongings, sensing things by touch and smell to decipher if this item were indeed the one I wanted.
Re-congregating in the hall, we set out in the wind and drizzle up the hill to seek warmth and lighting.
On arriving we were welcomed by gracious friends who had organised us areas to sleep and welcomed us to use their home as long as we needed.
Now, here we were sat the following morning, teas or juices in hand sharing in the morning office together (one if the many highlights of living with my particularly wonderful housemates!) and the psalm declares...
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble..."
In the stillness a laugh erupted from my mouth. I could not help it. There was a quick giggle from my two companions. It was funny! After our night and the unknowing of what the day would face, of when we might have working electricity and heating again, of where, how and when we were going to do the assignments we needed to do, to read this brought us joy, hope and laughter.
