I Will Only do Good for You

Judy Nieuwendijk

A woman of faith, of love, a storyteller and writer, a seeker and ponderer.

Dusk was fading into nightfall on that New Year’s Eve in Kahurangi National Park when the six of us from the Auckland Catholic Tramping Club finally reached the campsite on the Anatoki River bend, our bodies aching, all memory of our lazy lunch in sunshine alongside the peaks of the Drunken Sailors, now way above, blotted out by hours of bush crashing down from the tops.

A dream woke me early the next morning; God giving me a slip of paper with the words - I will only do good for you, Judy. Handing it to me He said, ‘I printed it so it’s easy for you to read, and see - I have signed it, GOD.’

Ecstatic, incredulous, I wriggled from sleeping bag into thermals and out of our tent into the chilly hush of dawn and the gentle snoring from the other tents. Too buzzy, cold and impatient to wait for someone to wake I skipped along the track to the river, God-with-me, His presence palpable above, underfoot, and all about me.

Arriving back at the campsite Father Bill was stirring so I made coffee to entice him from his tent; it did and squatting together on a log away from the sleepers, I shared my dream. We sat, silent on holy ground, sipping our coffee, then Bill spoke. I don’t recall his words, something like, ‘How blessed are you, Judy, to have God visit you,’ but I do remember the awe and reverence in his voice.

Today that dream, God’s voice, His words are as clear as on that morning long ago; down through the years since, through many crises and struggles He has been true to His word; that promise has been my rock not only to stand on but to cling to, as I did through all the hideous hours in the Waitakere Hospital ED that Saturday after my beloved grandson, while deep in psychosis, had thrown himself from a car onto the North-Western motorway. Miraculously he survived.

God is good, thanks be to God.