St Crida's Church, Cornwall

St Crida's church in Creed, near Grampound in Cornwall UK, is one of my favourite local 'thin places'. I've been there a number of times and have posts on the website of previous visits. This time we visited on the bank holiday in August 2022. The sun was shining and we settled to wait in the beautiful silence, away from tourists, traffic and hubbub. Even the air felt still and heavy with the presence of God.  Each time I go I'm amazed how God meets me in different ways. I go with no expectations other than to put time aside to be with Him. I found myself intitially releasing a heartcry similar to Song of Songs where the Beloved is seeking her Lover. It came in the form of a prayer/poem.

WAITING

Here I am Lord

Waiting in this place

Wanting to cross over

The bridge into Your presence

Here I am waiting

Knowing that angels gather here

In this ancient place

Here I am Lord

Waiting

Your peace enveloping me

Stillness

Silence

Waiting

For the whisper of Your Holy Spirit

'Come

Daughter come

My arms are open

Come'

My heart resists caught in this world

Then leaps with faith into the heart of Jesus

The one I love

Hidden in Him

The night before our visit I had a very vivid dream with some specific details and colours. I couldn't fathom what it meant but as I settled at St Crida's God began to illuminate what He was saying through the dream and deal with my heart at a very deep level. Step by step He took me through the symbolism, highlighting meanings and asking for my response, which was often to forgive people for hurting me even though I thought I'd truly forgiven.  He showed me there was a deeper level of forgiveness which my heart needed to release towards these people and events which had impacted me deeply. If I cooperated, I'd come into greater freedom.  It was so unexpected and just the way God initiates and speaks when we set time aside. I am truly grateful. Following this time of repenting and forgiving I began to hear the Holy Spirit's whisper, especially about the chaotic times we are living in with the war in Ukraine and rumours of wars, famine, plague. I could see the Father in a vision cradling the whole earth within His heart. Every person, every place, every creature, it was all there held in His heart of love.  Here's what He was saying to me about some of the questions I have right now:

“Delve into the depths of My heart. What do you see?”

 “I see the nations rising against each other fighting.”

 “Yet they are carried still within My heart of love. What do you see?”

 "I see the mother cradling her dead child wailing.”

“And she is still enveloped within My love. What do you see?”

 “I see the floods, the famines, the fires.”

 “Still in the centre of My heart. What is your heart asking child?”

 “Why Lord why? So much suffering, so much pain! Why do you allow so much heartache?”

I hear the Father sigh a long, heartfelt sigh. He doesn’t answer but wraps His heart even more tightly around the world of sufferings. I see the torn flesh, the thorns, the marks in His hands and feet, His brow, His side. I see the blood trickling down from the cross. I see His tears. I hear His groans, unfathomable pain. I hear His shrieks of agony for the pain of His creation, His beloved ones. Then He whispers,

“But a little while and I will rend the heavens and wrap up the earth, but I long to gather all to Me. Just a little while. All of this agony of waiting for My beloved ones to tune their hearts towards Me. And I will gather them like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. For I long that all be saved. ALL, ALL, ALL!” 

He throws his head back and releases a cry of agony at the torment being inflicted on each individual. 

I hear a clock ticking loudly.

“Not much longer” He whispers looking directly at me. “Not much longer now”.

 The clock ticks loudly and it sounds like it’s about to strike midnight.

 “The midnight hour is approaching fast.  Prepare My people, prepare.”

Prayer response:

May the cry of the lost reach heaven and may Your mercy release a flood of Your presence upon the earth. May the angels of war and the angels of salvation be released to bring in the greatest harvest of souls heaven and earth have ever seen.

Let it be Lord, let it come.

May all of heaven rejoice for the salvation of the many.

May the leap of faith, into Your heart, be taken by many

Come Lord Jesus come

After this rather intense encounter with the Lord we went and sat in the churchyard in the sunshine. It was a beautiful day and I meditated on what had happened, recognising this is still a very holy site. It's a place where God is waiting for people to come and engage with Him. Not that He isn't waiting anywhere, it's just I find some places which have been steeped in prayer are really much easier to pray in and hear from God. The 'thin places' the Celtic Christians recognised where heaven and earth meet.   I spent the rest of the time sketching and relaxing watching wildlife in the fields and neighbouring garden. 

We had noticed on a previous visit that a well is marked on the OS map and had tried to find it but with no success. This time we found where the spring exited opposite St Crida's church. Despite the drought it was running freely.  A beautiful carved granite bowl collects water and whilst this looks like an ancient holy well (and possibly could be), it's more likely it was for refreshing horses bringing people to the church.

We followed the hedgeline until we found a gateway where we could access the field where the well was marked. It was a bit of an adventure clambering through undergrowth and over a high hedge but my husband dropped down off the hedge into the field where we could see the well enclosure. I stayed on top of the hedge, praying and worshipping readily. It was easy to worship and this immediately indicated to me the presence of a holy well. Praise poured from my spirit to God. My husband fought his way through the undergrowth and found the well but sadly it's now capped and inaccessible. Whilst he was doing this however, as I was praying, I became aware of a bright yellow angel standing in the well enclosure. He must have been about 8' tall and was the happiest angel I have ever seen. He seemed truly delighted we were there and was waving, smiling and virtually bouncing up and down. It was a joy to see him in the Spirit. We released Numbers 21:17 again, Spring up O Well, praying for whatever deposit remains of St Crida and her nuns, that it may once more be released to bless Cornwall and beyond. 

So this was our adventure this time at St Crida's church and holy well. It's definitely a place I'd encourage others to visit. The church is not much to look at in the natural, other than it's amazing location, but in the realm of God's Spirit it's one of the truly beautiful holy sites. Why not pay a visit yourself and see how God meets with you there. Afterall, you won't be the first. Christians have been praying and worshipping here since 450AD! Over 1500 years....... now that's a place steeped in prayer!