Hello Steemians, its me, Brother Neil

Life gets tough and every now and again an encouraging word is like a sip of cold water in the desert sun. I'm so excited to be able to encourage, uplift and refresh in this community.

So you can expect from me refreshing stories that will hopefully restore your faith in God and his people.

One day, I was going through hell (my beloved wife and mother of two daughters had divorced me, i was alone, and to top it off in financial crises, and wondered aloud to God in my bath ( I was in the bath, not Him :) ),

"Am I mad? I am going through hell but I have joy? **

I was in pain, but the joy was there.

He immediately answered me,

"It's the joy of the redeemed"

Unaccustomed to him speaking to me like that, I immediately suspected my imagination was at work. Anyway, I dried myself off and dressed up to get ready for work. Before going through to a lonely plate of cereal, I sat down at my desk to read my Bible for a few minutes.

It opened up on Isaiah 35... you can imagine my shock and my joy at the chapter title, " The Joy of the redeemed"

Those words have sustained me through many a dark lonely night. That was 20 years ago.
Now I am happily remarried, with a beautiful wife who produced a delightful son 11 years ago and then convinced me to adopt a little baby 6 years ago....delight upon delight.

Enough for now, I look forward to sharing more in this space....