Back in Autumn 2004 I was living in Manchester and came back home to London for the weekend, to visit family and also because my friend asked me to help her look for a church to go to when she moved to London for university. We went to three places that day, one of them being Hillsong. I really felt God prompting me to go their ‘Colour’ Conference, which was a couple months later in Nov 2005. It was the beginning of a great journey of discovery of what it means to be a female  follower of Jesus and a big turning point on my road to leaving Manchester and returning to London. In January 2005, I came to London again with friends.

I went to Hillsong again that weekend, and felt the Holy Spirit tell me I needed to return back to London quickly. When I got into the car with my firends to return to Manchester, they simply looked at me and said ‘You’re moving back to London, aren’t you?’ I said yes. However I dallied, I enjoyed Manchester life and although things had been unsettled for a while, I wasn’t ready to move. In hindsight, I was being primed to move back to London as early as 2003, but still I tarried. It got to April 2005, and God spoke to me very directly and forcefully telling me to move back to London by the second May bank holiday, and no later than 1 June 2005. I did just that,with nowhere to stay and no job.

I just knew I would be upsetting God if I didn’t move and disobeyed. I got accommodation the day I arrived in London with my cousin and a job 10 days later. Because I’d been to Hillsong a few times and made connections there before moving back to London, I also had a church to be part of when I returned. Furthermore, it was vital I moved back within the specific deadline God gave me, because it transpired that I needed to spend time with my Dad. He was diagnosed with cancer a few months after my return and he died the following year in Nov 2006. God has continued to speak to me, but I am still waiting for many of the things he has told me to happen. Maybe, in faith,  you’ll get to hear about them if Jared writes a second book!