CGWF West London

07/06/2026

15/05/2026

Testimony of God’s Faithfulness

Good evening, all,

To all of you who have been praying for me, I would like to thank you and let you know that your prayers have not been in vain. Today, I received the all-clear: the cancer appears to have gone into hiding, or it’s on the run. Either way, it is no longer with me, for our faithful God has sent it packing, and I am now declared cancer-free in Jesus' name.

Angela Doreen

27/04/2026

Today, Combine Gratitude and Cancer Update.

I must be the most blessed person in the world to be managing a group of over forty people who are so caring and supportive of me. It is not just that they are forever gathering to buy me gifts and surprise me now and again; it is because I know they genuinely support me and care about me. Even through my sickness, they ensure everything runs as smoothly as if I were there. For some people, it's "out of sight, out of mind," but my volunteers are genuine. And come to think of it, my clients and donors, too, have all expressed their desire for me to get better and come back.

Anyway, Friday was another genuine surprise, always unexpected. They go through so much trouble, handcrafting gifts and spending money to cheer me up. I mean, how on earth can I go wrong, knowing that I have God on my side, but also my volunteers?

I wanted to share an update with you, because you have walked this road with me. To date, I have completed six cycles of aggressive chemotherapy. Tomorrow, I go into the hospital for my third PET scan, the one we are all praying will tell us that I am in remission, and that it is safe for me to move on to the maintenance part of treatment. If the result is positive, I will begin maintenance treatment once every two months to keep the cancer away.

I am expecting good news. But I must be honest: the fatigue is still with me. The doctors say I cannot rush back to doing everything. My body has been through so much trauma that it will need a few months to get back to normal. Normal. Lord knows I have forgotten what that is, or how it feels to be normal again. With no hair, and my hands and nails damaged to the point where they look as though there is no return, and the constant assault on my arms that leaves me looking as if I have done ten rounds with Tyson. I am puzzled as to what normal will ever feel like again.

And yet, while I believe we have won the battle over the cancer that has been affecting my lymph nodes, neck, throat, armpit, chest, stomach, abdomen, hips, bone and spleen, it seems the battle is not quite over. I am to be retested for cancer in other areas, areas that were first checked last March, before my current diagnosis. Back then, they said I did not have cancer in those places, but it was not a full all-clear. It was more of a "watch and see". There were concerns: polyps, shadows, and signs that need monitoring. So now, once this PET scan confirms remission, I will be called in for further testing in those other areas.

That is the truth of it. The best hope for the current cancer diagnosis is remission, because the type of cancer I have been diagnosed with is not curable, only treatable. However, I am not ruling out the fact that, with God, all things are possible, and He alone has the final say. They tell me it is a lifelong chronic illness. Remission could be short or long. But I am still thankful to my God. I will remain positive, and as usual, wherever God takes me is okay, for He knows best.

And through all of this, I am truly grateful to God for helping me stay grounded and to continue managing my work in a way that makes those who work or volunteer with me feel valued, and those I serve feel loved and seen. I am also grateful for those who are always reaching out to help with what I need to fulfil the purpose of running the soup kitchen.

You have carried me. And I will never forget that.

I pray that every kindness you have shown me returns to you a hundredfold, wrapped in peace, health, and joy. Amen.

Further updates will be forthcoming as they become available.

Written by

Angela Doreen

21/04/2026

BARABBAS

Who was Barabbas? I wonder how many of us who have truly given a thought to this seemingly unsavoury character, you know, the man, or should I say villain, that the people opted to free instead of Jesus (Luke 23:18–19). Anyway, in the season we have just passed through, I think consideration ought to be given to who Barabbas was, or at least to what or who he represents.

I know many of you may be thinking, Why does it matter? or even, Who cares who this Barabbas was?

Of course, it is understandable to ignore him and focus our thoughts on the One who loved us so much. But I believe that in ignoring him, we miss something, like when you are doing a jigsaw puzzle and discover a piece is missing, leaving the picture incomplete.

Barabbas is one of the few names mentioned in the New Testament to which we give very little significance. Yet this character was profoundly important in the fulfilment of prophecy (Isaiah 53:12, “numbered with the transgressors”).

If we cast our minds back to that time, we can glean from the conversations between John and the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Jesus that the people were anxious to know when the promised Messiah would arrive (John 1:19–21). After all, the prophets had been proclaiming just such an arrival. The Israelites, who throughout the years of turning their back on their God, lost the plot, no longer in alignment with the promise, yet were living in deep expectation, dreaming of the ultimate victory that would be theirs once the promised Messiah appeared with His army and weapons.

Oh, how they misunderstood, having not listened or studied well enough. I guess, preoccupied with rebellion, they got it so wrong. Can’t you imagine it? For all those years, the one thing that kept them going was the thought of being restored to their former glory and finally freed from their oppressors. However, misalignment causes them to become blind to the truth, totally missing the one that led them all those years. What hope the Jews must have had, thinking of that day.

When you think about it, people like Barabbas became notorious, rebellious, murderers, robbers, insurrectionists, in the hope of helping, in their minds, to get the party started. He was not unlike Judas in his expectation, for did not Judas try to force the Messiah to pick up the sword (Matthew 26:47–49)? Barabbas set out to defy the captors. In fact, Barabbas, one could say, deserved to be in prison. He deserved the death penalty. Punishment was rightly due to him.

Barabbas was no doubt a hardened criminal. A great catch for the authorities. Here is a man who, in all likelihood, took the lives of Roman soldiers, perhaps even the lives of some Jews along the way. He flouted authority and broke the law. Now he was in captivity. Then along came Jesus. The Gospels highlight that Pilate, who should have had no clue, caught the revelation that the Israelites missed and wanted to release Jesus, for he found no fault in Him that would warrant death or imprisonment (Luke 23:4, John 18:38).

Oh, Jesus was innocent. Barabbas was guilty. Pilate knew it, and the people knew it. But guess what? Pilate, not wanting to cause a revolt, thought he would try to be clever. So what did he do? He offered the people a choice between a hardened criminal and an innocent man (Matthew 27:17).

What a choice: Jesus, an innocent man who had performed so many miracles and healed so many people, or Barabbas, a wicked and evil man. For all intents and purposes, the choice should have been easy, at least, that is what Pilate thought. But of course, Pilate, like so many leaders, did not reckon with God’s plan or God’s design (Acts 2:23).

Can you imagine how a whole crowd of people could become so blind to right and wrong, so confused over who was innocent and who was guilty, that they began to shout, “Free the guilty and slay the innocent!” (Matthew 27:20–23). No wonder Pilate, seeing that his plan had backfired, tried to absolve himself by washing his hands (Matthew 27:24).

Now, I began this writing with a question: Who was Barabbas? And if we read and truly absorb what the Gospels are conveying, which is their truth, then we would get to the realisation that each one of us is very much a Barabbas. For Scripture says our hearts are exceedingly wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). We are the notorious sinners. We have rebelled against God and His law (Romans 3:23).

Like Barabbas, we deserved the death penalty. We deserved judgment and punishment. Like Barabbas, we were on death row (Romans 6:23). But thank God for His love in sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place (John 3:16, Romans 5:8).

The crowd shouted to free Barabbas because, deep down, they recognised that he was just like them.

Jesus silently went to the cross, recognising humanity’s inability to free ourselves from sin. He knew the only way to break that curse was to take the place of Barabbas, and us (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus became the scapegoat. Not just for Barabbas, but for me and for you (Isaiah 53:4–6).

He died to free us. He died so we could live. Jesus died so Barabbas could be free to live.

So we are Barabbas.

Written by

Angela Doreen