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Our visit to Smyrna now called Izmir was an extremely moving experience.
We travelled from the Limestone Terraces, Laodicea, for about 2.5 hours to visit the oldest church still open, Polycarp the bishop established this church in the very early days of the young church.
Today this church stands as memorial to Jesus in an Islamic country. The city of Izmir is home to 4 million people and is the most westernized and progressive city in all Turkey. We strolled through several streets as we arrived early for our 4:30 pm appointment at the church. I would call it a very cosmopolitan city with many big businesses setting up shop.
The church is small but very ornate and wonderfully beautiful. Many icons and statues lined the walls and many beautiful frescos were painted on the ceiling and walls, and as normal there was a lot of marble, columns & flooring.
As we walked into this amazing little church we were struck by the presence of God, His Holy Spirit came and touched us in a remarkable way so that we felt His touch and breathed in the atmosphere of heaven. As we sat in silence I was overcome by grief and sorrow that turned to remorse and repentance which was very quickly replace by a sense of great love and the presence of Father.
Someone started to sing, How Great Thou Art, and before long I could not sing sitting down but stood with hands lifted high in praise to my Father. A short silence followed then we begun to sing " Jesus thou art everything to me". I could not sing for the lump in my throat and the tears in my eyes, God was not only in the house, but in my heart, drenching me with His wonderful presence.... How good God is; in the middle of this Anti Christ country, in a bustling city of 4 million, in a church with every icon imaginable, God came and touched my heart and life, and not only mine but Jean's as well, and later chatting to others on the bus all our pilgrims had received a new touch from God, Father of us all.
Back in the bus we are heading to our motel about 2 hours away, it will be a long day and late diner, but who cares; God come close today!
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