Service: C3 Destiny Church, Sunday 18 October 2026
Speaker: Emily
Key scriptures: Psalm 23; Daniel 3:17–18
Watch the message on YouTube
Summary
This week Emily shared a personal testimony about what it means to rely on God, through miracles and through unanswered questions.
Emily grew up in this church and has served on the worship team since 2007. She has seen God move in remarkable ways: people delivered, healing nights, and one moment she has never forgotten, when someone’s shorter leg grew to match the other as they were prayed for. At home, prayer was simply how life worked. You prayed on the way to school, before meals, before bed, and about every worry or scraped knee.
Her nan, who lived with multiple sclerosis, was the person in whom she saw the most healing. One Saturday morning her mum woke her to come and see Nan walking up and down the living room with no walking frame, steadier than she had ever been. Yet Nan was never permanently healed. Her health ebbed and flowed until she passed away. That was confusing, but Nan never complained or blamed God. Her favourite passage, Psalm 23, sums up a life of relying on the Shepherd who walks with us through the darkest valley.
In 2022, at 27 and newly married, Emily woke with numbness in her hands. It was the start of a four-year roller coaster that led to her own MS diagnosis. She admits she has not always been as steadfast as her nan, but says she has never been closer to God. With no control over what is happening in her body, she has recited scripture over herself, kept worship on repeat before treatments, and known a peace that passes understanding. She has learned that God’s peace doesn’t cancel out anxiety, just as sadness doesn’t cancel the joy of the Lord.
She drew on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3. Verse 17 ends with a full stop: God is able to deliver, and he will. That is a complete statement of his power and authority, not one cancelled out by what follows. Verse 18, “but even if he does not”, is a decision to keep relying on God whatever the outcome, and never to turn to the gods of this world.
Asked recently why she believes, her answer is simple: she has seen too much, felt too much and heard too much of God’s word to ever deny him. Relying on God isn’t always easy, but it strengthens our relationship with him. It also makes us a witness. Her nan’s quiet trust preached to her more than words could.
She closed with three encouragements:
- Read and meditate on Psalm 23 this week, asking what it says about relying on God in your own circumstances.
- Don’t let people, events or offences stop you coming back to the basics of your faith, which is relying on God.
- If you need healing, God is able and willing. Don’t let “even if he does not” discourage you, because verse 17 stands on its own.
The altar was opened for prayer for healing and any other need.
Five questions for reflection
- Emily remembers both her nan’s miraculous good days and her decline. How do you hold on to faith when God answers a prayer one way, then things change again?
- Read Psalm 23 slowly. Which line speaks most to the season you are in right now, and why?
- Daniel 3:17 ends with a full stop: God is able, and he will. Do you tend to read "but even if he does not" as cancelling out that promise? How does seeing verse 17 as complete change the way you pray?
- Emily said God’s peace doesn’t cancel out anxiety, and sadness doesn’t cancel the joy of the Lord. Where have you experienced peace and struggle at the same time?
- Her nan’s quiet trust was a witness to the people around her. Who might be watching how you rely on God right now, and what would you want them to see?