Testimony: Stripped off everything part i (Jan 26-Aug26) || During doctorate& and as athlete || Aug 26 awarded PhD

Prior to all of this, I didn’t really believe in ‘visions’ or ‘prophesies’ but after the angel-butterfly image I had when lying in bed when i felt like i needed to be in A+E for those two weeks, which was later confirmed in September when I walked into a Christian cafe I did not know existed – ‘Open Heavens’- see first and second blog. I did.

One night in April I was lying in bed had a vision of a old cashtil and the handle thing turning. It was specifically an old til, I remember thinking old, and I remember something vivid about its handle. It seemed really odd, how could that be an image from God… but really strong, that I did prayer and ask God what it meant, but got nothing. Again at this point unfortunately I was only going to church every 2nd-3rd week as, while my health was improving, I was a month away from my PhD submission deadline. I went that Sunday and it was a more boring sermon, about ‘doing good’ etc. I was thinking maybe I will leave early. Shortly after thinking this the pastor mentions how his dad gave him an image to understand what was being discussed, he specifically mentions an old til and turning of the handle a a receipt comes out of how much debted to God, and how he wipes it clean. This was my first experience of something like this.

After passing my  PhD Viva (with minor corrections) mid-July I returned back to the island I grew up on from a mid-teen. A week ago I took an interest in butterfly identifying, and the second day into this I spotted a butterfly which is not listed in the 19 species known on the island- known for its leaf-shape- a  brimstone butterly. (the leaf image  taken on the 27th April 2025- see blog 1, when I was running around the field I usually train on, was where everything started, on that day with very scary palpitations. I never asked to interpret anything spiritually prior to this. But as I say, I couldn’t let the image go, and it was on my mind in June, when I was realising my health situation was a lot worse than I initially thought):

The wildlife trust on this island have since confirmed to me it is extremely rare and I have reported its sighting. I should add, blown away by the angel-butterfly image, on the 7th June I had purchased this necklace:

First church service back on the island- a beautiful, slow version of no longer slaves- bethel music was playing during communion. This was one of my first Christian songs I had heard, and got me through that parkrun pacing in Feb 2025- when I was actually unwell because of my thyroid but did not know at the time. The song really helped me get through hard times, I was experiencing alot of panic at the time due to the thyroid but didn’t know- the lyrics I am no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God . It was again hard not to cry tbh.

Second church service- I walk into them singing ‘Make room- the exact lyric I would play out loud continuously, grateful for finding a way to make money- as said in my other blog, without my illness, I don’t think i would have . God’s ways are better. John 13:7. 

I should add, these songs I came across myself over the last year. I never paid attention to worship songs until Feb 2025- these two songs were DEFINITELY in my top 4-5 worship songs during the extremely tough period in 2025.

Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better
Oh, Your way is better
Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better, Jesus
Oh, Your way is better
Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion

House-mate walks in wearing a t-shirt…with scripture…did not know house-mate was a believer. It’s the evening of the morning I’ve been awarded my PhD:

Just when I think the signs couldn’t get any more. I didn’t deserve half of what God showed me. But he’s not done. There would have been a few key scriptures during my health-scare, and ones ppl kindly sent me time and time again and make the most sense in such a context. Here are some:

-Jeremiah 9:11 : For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

-Isiah 40:31:But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”

-Matthew 6:25: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?“

-Peter 5:10: after you suffer for a short time, God will make you strong, firm, and steadfast.

-Joel 2:25: I will give you back seven times what you lost.

-Exodus 14:14: The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

– 2 Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

As a runner, ofc these two stand out to me: Timothy 4:7 and Isiah  40:31.

My house-mate, a lodger of my friends, who I did not know was a believer walks in  in wearing a t-shirt that says ‘you have fought the good fight..you have finished the race’, ‘2 Timothy 4:7’. 

Just ten minutes before she walked in, a fb memory popped of of a North Wales walk last year, where I was very very weak, and as beautiful as the scenery was, I felt so terrible. I was reflecting on being where I was today.

In June 2025, when my running dream was falling apart, I posted on social media using the song ‘take my pain and make it beautiful’ (Make it beautiful-Joshua Giants’ ). I couldn’t make sense of what was happening, but I said I believe everything happens for a reason...God has done much more than make it beautiful.

As I say in a prior blog, in 2023 I made a pact re. PhD funding, i did not stick to it. But God found a way to reach me still. To have my PhD 100% finish with his presence. To do it in such a graceful way…encounters I would have thought I would never experience in my life, and couldn’t have even made up if I tried. I can’t get my head around how I end up seeing a leaf butterfly- a butterfly I did not know existed, a butterfly which is not usualyl seen here…just as things are coming full circle with the PhD, the leaf where everything started for me.. how did my housemate walk in with the most perfect quote on the evening I finished my PhD, when I didn’t even know she believed. The pastor cashtil…etc , etc.. the angel-butterfly image in a cafe i didn’t’ even know existed. Yet alone a Christian cafe.. all of it is so mind-blowing to me. I’m just so grateful for it…I sent many of these experiences to friends at that time.. just completely blown away…never thinking they’d be so many, and they would just keep coming. I have screenshots of these… (In addition, in a prior blog I mention how October/November time I had a feeling God didn’t want me on the island then..these crazy two signs in the last 1-2 weeks (which a pastor crazily confirms- see 28th Dec prior blog), would not have happened then..) God’s timing is perfect, even when we can’t make sense of it. 

The leaf image, with all of its veins resembles the vessels in a heart. While I was scared for my heart health, God was shaping my heart in words I didn’t not even know where possible. When I saw that leaf image stubborn kind of heart was playing as I say in blog 1, a song I have never heard before…looking at my pact in 2023 ..I was stubborn. But God didn’t give up on me..God chased me down in the most crazy, beautiful undeniable way.. Ezekiel 36:26 .

“I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”

The wings on the  butterfly image in the cafe even look like leaves. (I’ll repeat the image here)

• Ran on field Friday last were took leaf image.

Smaller but still pretty strong things:

(March 22nd after a church service.

-The morning song at the service was was build my life Patt-Barret

-The reason lyrics: