Christine wrote @ Julie 29, 2008 at 8:59 vm

this is the story about how Christine, a French girl living in South Africa, got to meet Stanley:
about 10 years ago I was attending gym classes , Stanley was our instructor…and those were my favourite classes, because we were not just doing movements there, we were dancing, and we were laughing and we were bouncing around full of energy, though not high impact though, Stanley knows his work very well I was able not only to exercise through it all but my body grew stronger without ever hurting…and Stanley was full of bounce and laughs, a permanent smile on his face from the time in entered the room, tising us older ladies about the flab falling off our body …and it was awesome to have such a fun time training and laugh at ourselves and be on the receiving end of this high energy throughout the hour….at that point I was just another face in the class for Stanley, but our Father in Heaven had a plan….one morning as I started the class I heard HIs voice telling me: “Tell Stanley that I love him…” I discarded it as a silly thought and carried on…but through out the class the Voice would say at regular intervals ” Tell Stanley that I love him” and then when the class stopped, my heart was pounding, but it was not only the exercise but also anxiety building up inside of me: I can’t tell Stanley that, he’ll think I’m crazy…in fact I must be crazy to hear voices like this… like Joan of Arc…! I am crazy, forget about it and go home….and so I did….I got home…but could not get on with my day as the Voice would continue to say to me, gently, but persistently: “Tell Stanley I love him” and I soon realised that I would not be able to carry on that day till I had delivered the message…so I returned to the gym deternined to tell Stanley, though I was certain to make a fool of myself in the process….I felt like someone about to bunjie jump off a bridge: I knew I would not die really, just die of embarrassment perhaps….I was so scared! Why was God putting me through this ordeall!!!??? but as I drove back to the gym, so the voice would continue to remind me of my quest: “Tell Stanley I love him…” so gentle a Voice, so soft, so tender, so loving…so I pick up the courage to deliver the message, only as I got there Stanley had left…..oh well, I thought, I did my bit, he’s gone, it will be another day then….I was releived…but the Voice kept on, and again I realised that if I wanted to get my day done, I would have to deliver this message today, one way or another ….so I asked for his phone number and called him
“Hello ….is this Stanley?”
“yes…who is this?”
my name is Christine…you do not know me really, but I come to your classes regularly…”
Oh…that’s nice….”
“so ….hummm…I am calling you today…..hummmm because God told me to tell you that He loves you…”
……………………………………………………………..
(big silence)
…………………………………………………………..
(long silence)
………………………………………………………….
( now I did not know what else to say!…so I was waiting for Stanley to talk…the silence was pregnant with twins….then he finally spoke)
“Oh………..Thank you……………..I never had a phone call like that before……..”
“Well Stanley, to make you fell better, let me share this with you: I never made a phone call like this before.!…….”
“Well…..thank you…….hummm….who are you? What is your name again?”
“Christine…well, I had to deliver the message and it’s done now so….good bye , have a nice day….”
“Will you be coming to class again?”
“yes! I love your classes! I would not miss them for anything!”
“Then please come and talk to me afterwards and we can have a cup of coffee, I would like to see who you are….”
“OK, see you then”
and so the following week we met and then Stanley shared with me a bit about who he was, how he grew up going to an Afrikaans church and when he was a little boy, God was very close to him and how a minister had once prophesied over him when is was little yet he remembered, and he shared the scripture with me in the book of Isaiah that says ” they that rest upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not grow faint…”
we met again a few times after classes until Stanley left to go and work on the ship and we kept in touch for a while, Stanley sent me a postcard from Tuscany telling me how much he loved things there, the country side and also the medditereanean coast with there white houses with the blue roof and how it was his dream now to one day live in such a home, white with a blue roof and by the sea….through emails we kept contact until eventually we lost touch after about a year…..every now and then in my prayer times I could sense the Spirit of God reminding me about Stanley and how I needed to pray for him….so I did….years had gone past now, I had moved out of Edenvale, and was leaving in Buccleuch since I got married, I had stopped going to gym in Edenvale and was now attending classes at the brand new gym in Rivonia….and then last year in November, I remember clearly how the Spirit of God would have me pray now for Stanley almost on a daily basis, praying for protection over him…..and then at the gym one day I asked for a time table, in search for a new class….and I saw :Friday, Pilates, with Stanley…..I thought…could this be Stanley? The Stanley that God loves so? …no… it can’t be… last time I had heard from him he was living in Cape Town, ….and if he was in JHb he would be on Kempton Park side ….surely….could it be him? No… definetly not, not doing a Pilates class, it cannot be him, this is too tame a class for Stanley….but ….it is a class that suits me so I will come on Friday and who knows… may be it is Stanley…..could it be?
and so it was…..by Divine appointment we reconnected…..we had coffee….and then he told me that he was leaving again in the following week to work on a ship and that the next day he would be running his very class class in JHB…..oh yes, it was a divine appointment indeed, with divine timing….we communicated via email regurlarly, and it is at that time that Stanley was able, with God’s help, to reconnect with his true personality and the beautiful sensitive artist that he is….but woven in there I saw something else…when I had met Stanely again at that Pilates class, first I barely recongnised him, he had changed so much! Gone where the laughs and the care free bounces, instead there was a dark black cloud hanging over him like a sword that was about to slaughter him….depression….despair……and God spoke to me again…He said that Stanley was at a cross road now and he had to make a choice….I remembered the scripture in Deuteronomy that says: “behold I lay before you today, blessing and curses, life and death, therefore chose life….”
Chose life Stanley! Turn back and chose life! God loves you and He is calling you back! walk with Him, rest upon HIm and he will cause you to rise like the eagle…..

….and so Stanley did, Stanley chose life, chose to rise like an eagle. During those times, the battle over him was fierce….the dark forces would not leave without a fight….evil had a grip and would not let him go, but Jesus had an even stronger grip and Stanley kept his eyes on him and walked on the stormy sea even as Peter did….well done Stanley! Out went the false Stanley, and in rose the true Stanley: a mighty man of war and of valour…..I saw that strenth in the very first painting he did on the ship which he gave away to a friend….Stanley emailed it to me and I could see: gone was the darkness and in it’s place there was light, there was life there was freedom and there was very high life giving energy…..what an awesome journey it has been and how privileged I am to have been able to walk along Stanley in his journey back to his true self, back to be what His Father had created him to be….again I say well done Stanley, I know how hard it is and what courage it took but you did it, and now I wish you all the very best success in all your endeavours. Mighty man of war and of valour, that ‘s who you are and God loves you….
And all the stories you write… they seem so intriguing and I want to know what they tell….so here is my new quest : I have to learn Afrikaans ………and so I will! 🙂

  Ferdinand wrote @ Augustus 26, 2008 at 9:44 nm

Hi Stanley
Nice. Ek lees tog te lekker. My webwerf is nou klaar …. https://www.philadelphiapottery.co.za. Kom loer in. Hoop jy drink n koppie koffie uit jou eie geverfde koppies, terwyl jy skryf.

  Mina wrote @ Augustus 28, 2008 at 9:52 nm

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