Supernatural Living

Soooooo, I prayed for a Slow Worm today!

2012-05-01T13:00:00.001-07:00

Ok no laughing, it is true I prayed for an injured Slow Worm today, (well, you can giggle a little - I did, when I felt a prompting to pray for it!). You may be wondering why I would do such a strange thing, well it is all perfectly reasonable really, and I shall explain why. A while ago I made a list of dreams that I want to see fulfilled, I listed 20 things and actually to date a few of them have already been achieved! But one of my dreams is to pray for someone without a leg (or arm, I'm not fussy) and see it grow back from nothing. I can't wait to see the joints form and then the foot (or hand) and then down to the toes and fingers! I cannot even begin to comprehend what that would be like, I just really hope I have the presence of mind to take a 'before and after' photo or video the whole event!! But for this to happen I am going to have to pray for people without limbs and this is quite a scary prospect.

So this brings me back to the Slow Worm, I was in the garden and there was an injured Slow Worm on the path, he wasn't moving at all and the end of his tail was missing, it still looked red raw so I can only assume it was a recent injury. I watched him for a while thinking he was dying and not sure what to do! So I did what all sensible people do and went and hung out my washing. But as I was hanging out the washing I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit to pray for it, and yes I did laugh! Me being the obedient sort of person I am, I carried on hanging out the washing and went to go back inside but I had to step over the Slow Worm on the way, so I stopped again to see how he was doing. He still hadn't moved and he didn't look too well, so before I knew it, my hand was out and I was commanding life and health back into the creature!! I declared everything I would have done over a person - no more pain, complete healing, life and a new tail plus a few other things more Slow Worm related. As I watched he started to move and his tounge started flicking about and before I knew it he was trying to get back down between the pathing slabs. I would love to tell you that his tail grew back, but sadly it didn't (this time), but he obviously felt better after a bit of a touch from the Creator!

So why pray for the Slow Worm, other than being prompted too - because it was practice! It is definitely easier to pray for a Slow Worm in my back garden where nobody knows anything about it (until now, of course!), and the Slow Worm is none the wiser as to what I was praying about, than it is to pray for somebody in public without a limb who does know what you are praying about! I have heard people who are all fired up about raising the dead, saying that you should go and practice on Road Kill, so this was my take on that! I expect it brought a smile to Father God's face as well - it did to mine.

2012 - what is to come.....

2012-01-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

Since stepping out of structured church we have noticed many things that we took for granted about being in a church. When a church is functioning well, there is a great sense of community and purpose, as well as a wonderful sense of belonging and knowing that there is a large group of people who will help and support you when needed. There is also a trusting in the Elders to tell you which way the church is going and what the plans are for the year ahead. These are things that when you are in church, and maybe have been all your life, you may well take as a given.

This is our first New Year not having our year mapped out for us, we dont have any lists of dates of House Group Leaders meetings, or Weekends Away or prayer meetings etc. Our year is wide open!!! It is a very strange time for us but also very invigorating as well! There is a great freedom in seeing an empty year ahead and watching and waiting to see what God is going to do and being ready to move when there is some clarity. I can't say we have a lot of clarity at the moment but from what other people are saying who are in a similar situation, this isnt unusual. Structured church has a wide path and a clear heading, you follow or go with flow, depending on what sort of person you are, and that's great. We feel we are on a much smaller path with lots of corners and no clear view, but as we take each step along the path, things seem to fall in to place around us. I sometimes get a glimpse of what it is we are going to be doing, but it is always just outside my peripheral vision and when I try to look directly at it, it just seems to disappear. I know it is to do with new church, and community and breaking down old ideas but as to how this is going to look or be like, we don't really know. We will just keep doing what we are doing until God moves us round the next corner and we see the next little bit of the path before us. But until then our calender is wide open, and that is a wonderful thing to behold!

Church and Revival

2011-11-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

I have been part of a local church for most of my life and have been very active in New Frontiers Churches since marrying my Husband in 1994. We have run Housegroups, Alphas, Student Groups, led worship, been Trustees, been involved with Kids work - you name it we have done it! And for the most part have enjoyed it. But there came a point before we left our church there were more and more things that just didn't sit right with us, not because they were wrong but because we just didn't feel this was where our heart was anymore. We weren't interested in having a church building, and being a big church in the city. This whole ethos has never sat well with me particularly, but I thought that was the way to do it so went along with it, but really I don't think this option works for everybody.

I can see that there is a huge need for the local church and the work that they do, especially working into communities and the such like, but what about 'Joe Blogs' off the street, where does he fit into this. However hard we try, churches seem to be middle class, academic, youth and student based organisations, not that this is wrong but there are a lot of people who don't fit into these criteria, how do they cope with a church where they don't have a 'place'. There is coming a day when we are going to see a huge revival and I really don't think that the only people who are going to come to know Jesus in this revival will be middle class or students! How will 'Joe Blogs' or 'Josephine Blogs' cope with this alien set up of 45 minutes of worship, followed by some notices and then 45 minutes of an academically based exegesis of a bible passage? I don't think that it is unfair to say that they probably won't cope! So there has to be an alternative, but what is that?

This is difficult to answer at the moment, but I know that God is opening a way up for a new type of church or better still a whole new way of doing church. Have you ever given much thought to why we do church the way we do? How much of it is tradition and dare I say religion? What would it be like to do it completely different? What could it look like? These are the questions that we are pondering and asking Father God to help us with.

So we are looking at the bare bones of what church is, which is to gather with people who love God to spend time together and focus on him. For the last couple of months we have been gathering people we know on a Friday or Saturday evening once a month, to have a meal together and have a time of worship or something along those lines. It has been a really fantastic experience and really encouraging for us. One of our prayers has always been that the Father blesses us with every heavenly blessing so that we can be a blessing to others and I would love our house to be a place of blessing. One where people come in for a good meal, good company and some great worship and go off refreshed and blessed to go about their daily lives in their churches and homes. We don't want to start a church, but we want to live a life where we are the church. rather than going to a church. I think opening up our homes is going to be an amazing way to cope with the numbers of people who will come to know God in a revival. It wont be for everyone, as with 'Big Church', but it will definitely suit people who maybe don't fit into the other option.

How will this look as time goes on? Well to be honest we don't really know, we are walking a path where we can't see round the corner, but we are trusting in God and know that he is leading us and that he is good all the time. We said when we left our church that we were on an adventure to see what God was doing out there in the big wide world, we didn't know at the time that it would mean not being in a church! God moves in mysterious ways:-).

Its Church, but not as we know it!

2011-09-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Since officially leaving our church and finding ourselves 'between churches', we have been on a bit of a journey - cue X Factor style music! We aren't sure exactly what we are looking for, or even if we are looking for anything in particular, but we just know that there is a shift in the spirit when it comes to churches and how they run and what it means to be part of the church. We can't really put our finger on what it is God has for us yet, but it is coming.

With all this in mind, the other Saturday I suddenly announced that I thought we should go to the Sunday service at Exeter Cathedral! My lovely Husband is used to me making these sudden 'odd' announcements and made a sort of non-committal noise. But not easily deterred on these things, I said again later that it might be really interesting to go. So we checked times and began to learn a whole new language straight away; things like Mattins, Sung Eucharist and Mass. I have been to many churches in my childhood, including Catholic and Church Of England but my Husband and children, who became Christians in a New Frontiers church, had never experienced the whole liturgy type thing!! But we set off thinking a little more about what we were wearing than we might usually for a church meeting and secretly hoping it wasn't Communion as we didn't know how to do it formally! On entering the Cathedral we were handed a lot of information and went and found some seats. We decided sitting in the middle was good, so we could follow the people in front. Exeter Cathedral is a really beautiful building so sitting there and looking around was a real pleasure and the first thing I read was how the Cathedral had been used for worship for 900 years!! I was really taken aback by this and suddenly realised what a heritage we had in this place, I wondered what had taken place in the cathedral over the years and how the stones must resonate with worship after that length of time.

The Service began and it is a little odd to repeat set words back in response to what the person at the front is saying, but the amazing thing about it was that the words were truly wonderful! We found the whole thing an amazing experience, the service covered every part of the Christian faith and when the words, which could be seen as religious, are read with the right heart and you truly mean what you are saying, it didn't matter that we were reading words from a page, as they were coming right from our hearts. It was fantastic to hear them pray for the Monarchy and the Government and for the sick and it was excellent to read The Creed which is a fantastic declaration of who we are and what we believe! The other thing that I loved about the service and it being in the Cathedral was the reverence of it, I think with Charismatic churches we have 'thrown the baby out with the bath water' some what when it comes to reverence as I think the fear is that it will come across as religious and that is a label that we try to steer clear of. But there was something amazing and almost heavenly being in this grand and amazing building with a feeling of holiness and grandeur that we don't usually experience. God reminded me of the Throne Room and how this was akin, on a very small scale, to the regalness and all the ceremony which takes place there, a fantastic experience.

I should also say that taking communion wasn't as scary as we thought it would be, we just followed the people in front and held our hands out at the appropriate moment. It was all quite user friendly really and both our kids enjoyed it, actually our Daughter loved it, I think she just really liked taking part in the service without pressure and being in such a historic building and enjoying the beauty of it all.

I don't think I would like to go every week, but for an experience it was definitely up there with some of the best and an eye opener to the fact that being religious, or not being religious, is a matter of the heart - if you really mean with all your heart the words you are saying then it doesn't matter if you have said those same words over and over before; God sees your heart and that is the most important thing.

A change of perspective

2011-07-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

I spent two hours this morning doing ironing for a lovely little old lady, I really enjoy doing it as I get to listen to her tell me all about her life and things that have happened to her and she is also very open for me to pray for her and has experienced a healing in her back as a result of prayer. The other perk is, of course, that I get paid and in this economic climate every little helps as a big Supermarket says. I put my wages in my back pocket as I always do and left to walk home which is 5 mins round the corner. As soon as I got home I put my hand in my pocket and the money had gone - it didn't matter how many times I checked my pocket it was definitely gone! I headed straight back out to retrace my footsteps and check that I hadn't left it at the ladies house but no, there was no sign of it at all despite praying and putting all my treasure hunting skills into action! I came to the conclusion that it had been picked up by somebody and I prayed that they would be blessed by it. I had to fight the urge to keep 'kicking myself' for losing the money, but in the end I let it go and I do believe that the person who found it probably needed it more than me.

I put this to the back of my mind as I was going out to meet a friend in town. I met her and had a lovely chat and a bit of a shop and then headed home. On my way home I was again aware of so many people who needed prayer but didn't quite take the step to approach them, feeling annoyed with myself I carried on home praying about it as I went. As I got to Exe Bridges roundabout a guy who was walking across the roundabout (no mean feat!) approached me and asked me for some money as he hadn't got any money for food. I don't usually give people money as I am aware that most of the time it is used for drink or drugs but this guy seemed different, and he asked really apologetically and politely. I thought, why not, so I gave him a bit of money and then started to chat to him. He said that he had only been homeless since October, when the job that he had at a Caravan Park came to an end. His accommodation was included in the job so he lost his caravan as well! Since then he had been on the streets and been trying to get work but couldn't get anything. I listened for a bit and asked questions and then told him that I was a Christian and asked if I could pray for him. He was so grateful and accepted eagerly, so I prayed for blessings in his life, a job and a house and for his two daughters that they would be blessed as well. I asked him if he knew God and he said yes and that he prayed so I encouraged him to keep praying and told him how much he was loved by his Father in heaven. He went on his way after warmly shaking me by the hand and saying thank you.

This encounter really put losing my money into perspective - this guy had lost his job, his house and his children in one go! I find that too huge to get my head around but I will keep praying for him and also keep my eye out for him so that I can catch up and see what God is doing in his life. A prayer of blessing is a powerful thing!

Stepping out into God's love

2011-06-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have been Treasure Hunting for a long time now and I love it, and most of the time find it quite easy to stop people and pray for them, but take me out of the Treasure Hunting scenario and it is a lot more difficult.

Whenever I am in town I see people all the time who are sick or in pain and need some prayer and I ignore the nudging of the Holy Spirit as it is to scary, and what would I say! God has been talking to me about this a lot recently but I didn't really want to be put on the spot and have to do it - but I decided today would be the day that I would pray with determination to find the one person that God would have me pray for whilst in town. I usually pray before I go out but always with a lack of any confidence that I would actually step out. As I prayed I got a picture of an elderly lady in a pink coat sitting on bench, I even thought I knew where she would be. I went to town and was quite scared really as I knew today would be the day, so after much too-ing and fro-ing I walked past the bench where I thought she would be and she wasn't there! I was more than slightly relieved, but then I realised that there were plenty of people all over the place that needed God's healing power in their lives but sadly I couldn't bring myself to speak to any of them. I was beginning to think that maybe this wasn't a calling in my life and that I was happy doing Treasure Hunting and that I couldn't be who I wasn't, when in front of me I saw an elderly lady in a pink coat with a walking stick! I would love to say that I ran over to her straight away and offered to pray for her but after walking past her and then following her for a bit I chickened out! Oh dear!

I went into Tesco and I felt bad and disappointed with myself but then I thought that wasn't the way I should be thinking and I thanked God that I had obviously heard from him correctly and that next time I would do it and if I were to see this lady again I would most definitely stop her and talk to her. I thought this was a safe prayer as I thought she was heading to the Bus Stop! So I went on my way and did a bit more shopping and then went to meet my Husband, but who would walk round the corner towards me but the lady in the pink coat with the walking stick! I couldn't believe it!! I nearly let the opportunity pass me by again as I am so goal orientated and I thought that I would be late to meet Steve but I just had to turn around and go after her. She had stopped to catch her breath so I introduced myself and explained that I had seen her when I had been praying and could I pray for her for anything and she said yes straight away! She told me all about herself and her ailments and wanted me to pray for a quick appointment for an MRI to check her arteries in her heart - so I offered to pray for her heart to be healed and the arteries clear. She was thrilled to have me pray for her and then she went off with me having told her how much God loves her.

As I turned to walk down the road I saw a couple from Jubilee who came straight over to me as they had seem me praying for the lady and wanted to know what had happened! I explained that it was the first time that I had stepped out like that on my own and they were so encouraging, I felt like it was a heaven sent cheer squad! God is so good!!

Here's to the next time!

Back in the Saddle again and it was amazing fun!!!

2011-06-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Its been quite a while since I have been out Treasure Hunting and I was beginning to believe the lies that i was hearing that said it was really hard and I didnt really enjoy it etc, but the truth is that I love Treasure Hunting and it is such alot of fun even if a little scary, but in a good way! We met so many lovely Treasures, some who wanted prayer and to chat and those who didnt. The one that stands out the most to me was a man called David, he was wearing an orange baseball cap, outside Sainsburys, when he looked at our maps he was quite blown away by how much matched up with him - he had a relative called Daphney and a friend called Lawrence, he had a painful lower back at times and his knees also caused him problems. We asked if we could pray for him and he said we could, he didnt know if anything had happened as neither of the ailments hurt all the time but he will know in time. Before we left him we had the pleasure of telling him how much he is loved by God and as soon as we said those words he welled up and looked visibly moved. I wish we had said more to him but sometimes my Englishness gets the better of me and I dont like to be too pushy. But I am now thinking that it wouldn't have been pushy to have asked him how hearing that God loved him had made him feel and offering to pray for him to experience the Fathers love. But that is my prayer for him now and maybe we will see him again. We also met someone whos friend was Treasure! We stopped to talk to Janette as she was wearing a bright pink coat and she was outside Sainsburys, when she looked at the map nothing much matched with her but she did have a friend called Daphney who was in alot of pain with a back problem. She was a Christian and was thrilled to have us pray for her friend.

I cant wait to go out again and banish my Englishness, and be full of compassion for people and expect lives to be changed by the Father's love.

Margaret, Martin and Maggie!

2011-03-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

Treasure Hunting is great but as was pointed out to me the other day, it would be great to have some follow up about the healings. Once those people who are healed walk away from us, it is up to them if they make contact with me or the church and as of yet no one has! But whilst I was out Treasure Hunting the other day I saw a lady who we had spoken to previously and who we had prayed for about her finger which was broken and slightly bent. As we prayed I felt the finger move and straighten and when I asked her how it was she said that the pain had completely gone and she was really amazed! The full story is here! I approached this lady again and as soon as she saw me she gave me a big smile and I didnt really have to explain who I was as she obviously remembered me. I asked her about her finger and she said that she hadn't had any problem with it since we prayed - thank you Father!! We offered her prayer again but she said that she was fine but this time we gave her some details of who we are and Church details as well. I was so pleased that she was genuinely pleased to see us and gave us a beaming smile and asked us our names before we left her. I shall keep praying for her and keep my eyes open for her again.

It was a very different Treasure Hunting trip but really good. Before we went out we prayed a lot about seeing people coming to know Jesus and to be able to pray with people for this. We had two amazing conversations, one with a man called Martin, who was a street worker ( he was sweeping the paths in Princesshay), he had a colleague called Alan who had been going through a hard time and through reading the bible had become a Christian. He was quite intrigued about this. We had a really long conversation with him about beliefs and God and he was really interested, we talked about peace and how we could live in the peace of God even when the world is seemingly going wrong around us and I asked him if he would like to know that peace and he politely declined. Sad for him, but a breakthrough for me as it was the closest I have got to asking someone if they want God to impact their life. He than began to talk about Paranormal things and how he had seen a film about a girl with a demon who had gone through deliverance. Amazingly before we had come out I had the clue Deliverance but I hadnt written it down as I was a bit worried to do so as I wasn't sure what we were going to encounter! I should learn and always write everything down! But it opened up a whole conversation about the supernatural which was exciting. Before we left him we gave him a 'Why Jesus' and a card with contact details on it and seeing as he works in Princesshay I shall keep my eye out for him again.

The last lady we spoke to was called Margaret and we saw her outside the Post Office, just before we saw her we saw a lady with the longest, woolliest Doctor Who Scarf on, so we knew we were on the right track. Margaret has a pink scarf on so we stopped her to see if we could pray for her. She looked at the clues and Alan was her Neighbour, and her brother was dying of Cancer (a clue that both me and my friend had ). We talked to her for a long time about beliefs and her beliefs and all sorts of things and she was genuinely interested in what we were saying but she said that it wasnt for her. So as we left her we gave her a 'Why Jesus' and she said that she would definately read it.

In some ways this doesn't sound like an amazing trip out, but for me it really was. I love to pray for healing and to see people healed but we want them healed and saved and this seemed to be a training trip for me, and it is lessons that I am happy and excited to learn. Next time ..... healed and saved!

Bright Yellow Coat!

2011-02-15T12:17:00.000-08:00

I went out Treasure Hunting the other week with a girl from my Church who had only been out Treasure Hunting once before, she was really excited and keen to have a go. It is always exciting doing it with some for the first time as you can see the amazement on their faces when they find that they have really heard from God and how he has orchestrated for all the clues to come together. To begin with it was very slow and nobody wanted to stop to talk, we even resorted to talking to the man holding up the Subway sign as he was a bit of a captive audience and we did have a good conversation with him. One of the clues my friend had was Yellow, not a yellow anything specific but I have found with colour clues like that you definitely know when you find them! As soon as we started out we saw a lady in the brightest yellow coat and debated as to wether to talk to her but we decided maybe not, little did we know, more about that later! We went down Ghandi Street and there were three work men in bright yellow High Visibility jackets surrounded by bright yellow barriers - never have I seen a yellower scene! But however much we tried to be brave to approach these men, we just couldnt find it in ourselves - what put me off was that one of them looked very official and looked like their boss and I really didnt want to stop them working when their boss was there! So despite passing them 3 times in the vain hope of being brave, we bottled it each time. Its a good job that with our Father God that we have a billion chances!

So we went on looking, we were coming back through Princesshay and there in front of us was the same lady we had initially seen - there was no mistaking the yellow coat! So we stopped her and she was lovely and looked at our clues. Lots of the names meant something to her, Hilary was her Sister In Law, Adam was her Nephew and Fiona was her Niece. We had the clues of Knees and hips and she had athritus in both of them but her knees were the worst and most painful. We offered to pray and she accepted and she was amazed and there was a big improvement in the pain, we prayed again and it improved again but not gone completely. She then asked us about our Church and we told her where we met and she was amazed as she knew a couple who went there and they were her neighbours. We asked who they were and she said Jon and Fi - I was blown away as not only did we know them but also that Fi/Fiona had been a clue! It is such a small world when God is involved!

So many Plaits!!!

2011-01-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

It seemed a very different experience Treasure Hunting today, not sure if it was just because it was freezing and nobody wanted to stop, or just that God was showing us new things!

One of my clues was Cowboy Hat! I really didn't think we would find it and just thought I had gone a bit loopy! But as we stood outside the Travel Agents and contemplated whether we should talk to the man in the green coat next to us, a man went steaming past us with a cowboy hat on !!!! We had to run after him as he was going so fast, but we caught up with him in the end and he stopped to chat. Lizzie and I both had Steve on our maps and he had known a Steve who had committed suicide a few years ago, but nothing else matched up with him particularly so we offered to pray for him and he accepted, but then his bus appeared and he was gone! I was still amazed by the hat though!! A great clue - thank you Father!

Lizzie and I also both had plaits on our maps, Lizzie felt they would be red and I had blonde but both of them plaits. When we first started Treasure Hunting Lizzie had had Plaits a couple of times and we had never found them on either occasion so we were both a bit dubious about putting them down again but never the less we did and after much searching and thinking we would never find this illusive hairstyle, along walked a girl with blondish hair with red highlights and low and behold a PLAIT!!! She and her friend were going at some pace again but we began to go after her and as we did another girl walked past us with two brown plaits! We were so amazed that we went to follow after her, but changed our minds and went back to the first girl but they were then busy trying on Boots in the warm, we lingered for a while but it didn't look like they were coming out. We went back to where we had seen both girls and as we looked there was yet another girl with Plaits! But again she was walking so quick and went into a shop and was intently looking at clothes. Again we lingered but she wasn't leaving the shop so we went back again to 'Plait Corner' and as we looked, we nearly fell over, there was yet another girl with plaits coming towards us. I cant remember why we didn't stop this 'plait' lady, maybe shock :-). It was like a Plait blessing from God, I expect he was laughing in heaven as our amazement grew at each person! Perseverance really does pay off!

We stopped a couple of people who didn't seem to be on the maps, one man who, thinking about it now, had on a green jacket. We asked him if there was anything we could pray about for him and he told us that he had a prosthetic leg and the bit of his leg which went into it was very sore, it was at the knee. He was really pleased that we prayed for him and he said that he knew it would get better now. I was really thrilled to talk to him as one of my dreams is to see a leg grow out from a stump. I didnt feel that I could offer to pray for that quite yet, but there will come a day and this just felt like God giving me a gentle nudge and a smile of encouragement.

The other lady we stopped who wasn't on our maps was a lady in a wheelchair, we offered to pray for her and she said that we could but it would probably do us more good than her and she sped off. Lizzie had begun to ask her before she left why it was she was in the wheelchair and she shouted over her shoulder 'Polio!'. Lizzie looked shocked as she was going to put Polio down on her map but had thought that nobody had Polio these days so hadn't written it down! What a shame - but a lesson learnt for us. Always write things down, even if they are as odd as Mr Bloddy, and Sherlock Holmes which we didn't find today - there's always next time!

Oh yes and I saw yet another girl with Plaits on the way home! Amazing!!

Look who we found!!!

2011-01-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

I had often wondered whether we would find Treasure and it would be somebody that I knew, well it happened the other day! My friend and I were round the back of WH Smiths next to the big Columns there, when out of a coffee shop came a couple from our church! We went up to say hello and I was joking about them being treasure, but as we looked we realised that they were actually Treasure. The man was carrying a Green Bag, they were by the Columns and by a jewellery shop which had Diamonds in it! One of my friends Ailments was Mental Illness but as we talked she said that actually she had seen a brain and something wrong with the brain so had assumed it was mental illness, but it wasn't. The Treasure we had found had recently had a stroke and still has a brain clot in his brain which is inoperable. He said that his life had come to a stand still as he isnt able to drive and he is worried that it the clot move again and cause another stroke. So we offered to pray for him which he readily accepted. I have prayed for him a couple of times before and I quite clearly see the clot breaking down little by little as it is bombarded with prayer, so I was happy to give it another good hammering! He gets tested in the middle of February so we wait to hear what the Docs say. The lovely thing about this Treasure was that all the clues were on my friends map who didnt know this couple at all, so it was really encouraging for her and for the Treasure.

We spent a lot of time looking for purple shoes and really didn't think we were going to find them at all when all of a sudden a girl in the purplest shoes ever walked past us. I didn't hesitate and approached her straight away. She was with her Gran whose name was Sandra (another name - yippeeeeeee), and she was suffering with weakness due to just finishing chemotherapy for breast cancer. We offered to pray and she jumped at the chance, she was getting her results early February and wanted them to be clear. So we prayed against the cancer and for strength to return to her body after the Chemo. Her Granddaughter was really pleased that the clue that we had stopped them for had been her purple shoes as it was her Gran, who we had just prayed for, who had bought her the shoes - she was really touched!

Wahoooooo we got a name! (and Wolf Jacket AGAIN!)

2011-01-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

I have been praying recently for more specific clues and for them being spot on so that the person cannot deny that it is them and that God has spoken. I went out a few days ago with lizzie and I had the name Jackie on my map, we also had white trousers, and pink scarf. We were walking up the High Street and I looked behind me and there were two ladies walking towards us, one with white trousers and the other with a pink scarf! We stopped them and explained what we were doing and when they looked at the maps they both gasped as Jackie was the lady with the pink scarf. She then looked at the Ailments and she was having problems with Toothache. I was able to tell her about two people in our church who had been prayed for with toothache and both had been healed. Sadly she declined prayer and went off with her toothache - but I was still thrilled to have got the name and all the other clues as well!

One of the most interesting Treasures on that day was a person wearing combat trousers, a baseball cap (I had blue, but his was black but we wont worry about that!) and, can you believe it, a wolf jacket again! Now the Wolf Jacket wasn't on our maps but it was a clue that we had about a month ago and never found and on our last Treasure Hunt, Lizzie and I had an amazing encounter with a lady with a Wolf Jacket on (we think we may have the Wolf Jacket anointing!) We thought we were approaching a man, but when we got up to him we found this wasn't quite the case. He was fully made up and wearing diamond jewellery, I then recognised him as a man I had seen a few times walking around town in women's clothes. I completely amazed myself as I didn't bat an eyelid at all - and I felt completely accepting off him! He looked at our lists and said sort of apologetically that he was Trans Gender and that he was going through a sex change - we said that it wasn't a problem and asked him to look at the ailments. The lady told us that she had fallen over in the snow and chipped the bone in her knee. We offered to pray and she accepted. She wasn't healed at that point but we were able to have a conversation with her about her beliefs and her life and it was an amazing encounter. It turned out that she read the bible and would like to go to church but due to work wasn't really able to and that she believed in God. We told her how much God really loved her and after a while she went on her way, I don't know what will come of that for her, but it was amazing and she went away feeling accepted and loved by God.

'Its the Wolf jacket!'

2011-01-17T12:49:00.000-08:00

A while ago, Lizzie and I were out Treasure Hunting and we both had two very similar clues. One was somebody wearing a jacket with a horse on it and mine was somebody wearing one of those fleecy jackets with wolves on it. We both felt very strongly about them and they were also the last clues we both wrote down, but we didn't find either clue on that day and we were a little perplexed about it at the time!

We forgot about it as each Treasure Hunt is new and different, but whilst out this week we were walking along looking for clues when I said 'Look at that lady with the fleecy jacket with dogs on, its a shame it isn't wolves!' and at that instant Lizzie pointed right next to the lady and said 'What! Like that one!' Walking in front of us was a lady with the exact same jacket on that I had seen a few weeks before, so we quickly decided to stop her. We later realised that she was outside WH Smith which was a clue for this hunt. She was moving at some speed but we caught up with her and explained the best we could that she was a clue from a previous Treasure Hunt and could we pray for her about anything. She said that she had heart problems and had been depressed for a couple of years. She told us about her heart (it is always good to find out exactly what is wrong, so you can speak specifically to it). Amazingly, her heart problem was exactly the same as somebody elses in our church who had been prayed for that Sunday, and when he went for the tests the next day he had no signs of any problems at all and was completely healed! So I was able to testify to her about this and build her faith and then we prayed! Both conditions would be difficult to tell right away if things had changed but she had tears in her eyes as she thanked us for praying for her and she was obviously touched by God. We may never know what happened, but she was God's Treasure and he showed his love for her on that rainy day outside WH Smiths in her Wolf jacket!

We stopped quite a few people that day and they were all amazing and special, but the other one which stands out was a Big Issue Seller who was wearing a High Vis Waistcoat, stood outside Boots, When he looked at our maps and we started to go through the names the connections were incredible - Shelly was his Sister, Heather was his Aunt, Fiona was another Aunt, Keith was his Uncle and married to Fiona, Ryan was the son of Keith and Fiona, and Josie was a worker at his Hostel! It was nearly every name on the list! Then he looked at the ailments and he had a cough, Sinus problems, and problems with his eyes! We told him that he was definitely God's Treasure and asked if we could pray for him and he said yes. We prayed for him but were so blown away by all the clues matching up that neither of us remembered to ask how he was feeling afterwards - whoops, good job we have a billion chances with our Father!

Healing via Facebook Chat!

2010-12-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

On Saturday evening my friend contacted me on Facebook chat. We were meant to be seeing each other that day but due to the snow she wasn't able to make it. She said she was disappointed as she wanted me to pray for her knee, she had fallen over on some ice a few days before and her knee had frozen up and was really painful. I remembered stories of people being healed by text so I thought I would offer to pray for her over Facebook! It seemed a bit mad but I felt it was the right thing to do. I typed a prayer and there didnt seem to be any improvement, I then told her to put her hand on her poorly knee and say what I had written. I didn't hear any more from her that evening (I don't know where she went - I will have to ask her!). But I just spoke to her (again on Facebook chat) and she told me that on the Saturday evening there hadn't seemed to have been any improvement, but when she got up on the Sunday morning, her knee was a lot freer and it was at lunch time that she realised that she hadn't needed to take any pain killers all day and up until that point she had been taking lots of them. She went out for a long walk in the snow today and had a little residual pain but hardly anything at all! She is thrilled and I am so excited! Who would have thought that God likes Facebook too!! He really can use anything! Thank you Father!

Partially Sighted in one eye - healed!!!!!

2010-12-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

I went Treasure Hunting this week with a friend of mine and we found lots of Treasure, we were amazed at how many of the people we stopped to talk to were Christians! It is lovely to speak to people who already know God, as you feel like you are talking the same language as them and it is lovely to get to pray for them. The person who stands out the most from the morning was a lady we met at the back of M&S who was wearing a blue coat with a white stripe, on the coat was also a sewn red motif of trees! She had a friend called Gareth, and Simon and her best friend was Diane. She was definitely treasure! She looked at the list of ailments and nothing related to her but she said that she was partially sighted in one eye! We asked her what was actually wrong with her eye so that we could pray specifically and her Husband said 'Its called blindness', so that made it pretty clear for us. I asked if I could put my hand on her eye and apologised as my hands were freezing. I began to pray and spoke healing over her eye, I took my hand away and she was rubbing the side of her eye and said that is was really warm and she had tears in that eye! I had felt warmth as well which was amazing as it was sooooooo seriously cold, and my hands were like blocks of ice. I told her that it was God's healing power causing the warmth and asked if we could pray again and she accepted. After praying I took my hand away and asked her if there was any difference and she said that she could see my face, she said it wasn't fully clear yet - so we prayed again! Again, when I took my hand away I asked how it was and she said it was amazing, and she could see the sky clearly. She was so happy and declared that she was very pleased that she wore her blue coat that day! We chatted for a while and I asked her how her eye was and she said it was getting more clear as the time was going on. She gave us a big hug and her Husband shook our hands and they went on their way. It was so exciting and such a thrill to see God use us like that.

Shoulder Healed!!

2010-11-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

Lizzie and I decided to Treasure Hunt in the Cowick Street area. It was a very different feel to Treasure Hunting in town - there weren't so many people and those who were there, were definately about their business and didn't want to stop to talk (probably because you only get 2 hours in the carpark and also people are there just before School pick up time, so time is limited.) But saying that we still found Treasure and had an amazing experience.

We had a clue of the Park near the river so we headed over to it, as we were nearing the park we saw someone walking towards us with Sunglasses on! We stopped her and explained what we were doing, but none of the clues seemed to fit with her until she looked at the Ailment clues and one of the clues was Muscle Weakness and she immediately said that was her and that she had just been to the Osteopath (could have been Physio, I cant remember) as she had got a problem in her shoulder which was causing her pain and poor movement. She said that the muscles and tendons were weak, so we offered to pray and she accepted. We prayed and afterwards we encouraged her to test out her shoulder. So she lifted her arm out to the side and looked amazed and said that she was able to lift it alot higher than before. She could still only lift her arm to shoulder height so I offered to pray again and she readily accepted. We prayed and again asked her to test her shoulder out and this time much to her amazement she could lift her arm right up! We thanked God for what he had done and told the lady how much she was loved by God. She went on her way a much happier and more mobile person! What an awesome God he is!

One of the things which is amazing us at the moment as well, is how many Christians we are stopping and talking to! We are lead to believe by the Media that Christians are few and far between and that we live in a country where nobody goes to Church any more, or believes in God. I think this is far from the truth. We stopped 6 people on this Treasure Hunt and 2 of them were 'Born Again' Christians - that's a third of the people we stopped! God's people are alive and well in Exeter! It is still great to find Treasure who already know God - I would love to be on somebodies Treasure Map one day :-).

Its a Small World!

2010-11-15T12:46:00.000-08:00

This was the second training and practical session for Treasure Hunting which I have run, and this time I was in a team with two lovely ladies, one who had been out once and it was the first time for the other one. They were great and their clues were brilliant! There were three prominent Treasures in the morning, the first one was a lady called Phylis who had a Purple Coat and a black fur lined hat, Joyce and Vanessa were friends of hers and she suffered with Insomnia. She was the most lovely lady and we were able to chat to her for a bit and then we offered to pray for her, she accepted but then her family turned up and she had to go, so it ended up being just a quick prayer for peace for her to be able to sleep. But it was a real encouragement to the two with me who hadn't done a lot of Treasure Hunting.

The second person who stood out from the morning was a lady called Barbara who was wearing a Purple Coat and was outside Boots. We started a conversation with her only to find that her Husband was an Evangelist and that she was a Christian. So we asked if there was anything we could pray for her about and to begin with she said no, but after a little while she told us about a situation with her Son which we were able to pray into and ask for wisdom for her. We chatted for a little while longer and she said something about living in Lapford and the lady in my team who was taking the lead in talking to the lady said that she lived in Lapford as well! As the conversation went on they found that they knew loads of the same people and that Barbara also knew the church leaders of the church which my team member went to! Its a small world when you are Treasure Hunting.

The third person was a real character of a man. I had spotted him coming up the High Street and thought, before we had even seen if he matched our appearance clues, that he looked like Treasure and sure enough he was! One of my team members smiled at the man and he stopped immediately which slightly took us aback and then we noticed that he had a thick gold chain around his neck. He was so smiley and kind, with the most amazing teeth - it is strange the things you notice when you are talking to someone! We chatted to him for a while and found that he was Polish and that he hadn't been in Exeter long, but was there because his Wife had died and his Daughter and Grand Daughter lived here. We went through the clues with him and he said that he suffered with depression at times, and that's when the misunderstanding began. We asked him if we could pray for that and he said 'Why would you want to?' which we thought was a bit of a strange response, especially as he had told us that he loved God and knew that Jesus had died on the cross for his sins. He went on to say that he was OK really and then I noticed that he had hearing aids in both ears and I mentioned them and again offered to pray for them. He gave us the same response again and said 'Why would you want to, I use the NHS?', it was then that I realise that he thought we had said PAY and not PRAY! Whoops - our accents let us down! When he realised we meant pray and not pay he accepted, even though he wasn't sure it would do any good. We prayed, but he wasn't keen to take out his hearing aids to test his ears but I hope he was surprised when he took them out when he went to bed.

Well done you new Treasure Hunters - we had great fun with our Daddy God today and spoke his love to people.

3 People healed!!

2010-11-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have been Treasure Hunting twice in the last 5 days and have seen 3 people receive healing! They have been such exciting experiences and so encouraging. I went out on Friday with a fellow Treasure Hunter and we found lots of treasure. I had a clue of Red Coat, well I think God was having a bit of a laugh as I have never seen so many red coats! So we tried to be selective in who we approached, else we could have been there all day! We also had Red Scarf which proved to about as popular as the red coat! We stopped one lady who had on a Red Coat outside of Burtons. We explained what we were doing and asked if she would look at our maps, there weren't many clues which matched up with her, but I had a clue of arm pain. I thought it was lower arm but it turned out to be upper arm! She said that she was just on her way to the Doctors as she had a lot of pain in her upper arms and restricted movement but she had no idea what it was, hence going to the Docs! So we offered to pray and she said yes. We prayed and when we had finished she went to go and thanked us, but I encouraged her to test out her arms and to see what God had done. The expectation in people for God to heal is so low, a lot of the time they just think you are praying to be kind but God loves to heal and my expectation is very high so we didn't let her leave to quickly. She was a little surprised but put her shopping down and began to move her arm. The look on her face was one of complete surprise, as she was able to move her arm right back which she hadn't been able to do before we had prayed! She was so thrilled, we chatted to her for a while but then she had to go.

Another Treasure on this day that really encouraged me was a lady we stopped in a bright red coat and who's friend had a red scarf on. As soon as I began speaking I knew that they didn't speak English, or at least the friend didn't - the blank look somewhat gave it away. One of the things I had always wondered about was how can you get foreign names as clues if you aren't even aware of what the names could be. I know God could definitely tell you them, but it is hard to hear a word that you don't even know exists! On my map was the name Simone, so we had explained to these two ladies what we were doing and the lady in the red coat was translating for her friend. They then looked at our maps and began looking at the names and none of them meant anything until I said Simone and the lady said that she was called Simoy! I know they aren't the same name but they sound pretty close to me, especially considering the name was Turkish. We then found that Simoy had a problem with her Knee, so we offered to pray. It was only afterwards we found out that they were Muslim, and the lady who didn't speak English was asking questions through her friend about what we were doing. It was a great experience.

I went out today with another fellow Hunter and we had an amazing time as well. I felt really excited about going out and what God was going to do. The first person we spoke to was a lady in a Pink coat, in the Cathedral Area. We began going through the maps and nothing seemed to match up with the lady in the coat but when we went through the ailments the lady who was with her said that ankle pain was her. Well it really turned out to be her Knee/Hamstring, but she has said it was her ankle to begin with. She had fallen over a while ago but was still undergoing treatment for the injured Hamstring. So we offered to pray and she was very enthusiastic about us doing so. Once we had prayed we asked her to check it out and she did and the look on her face was one of amazement! She told us that the aching had gone and she was thrilled! She had a bit of a walk around and she confirmed that the pain and aching had gone! She had to go off and do something so we didn't get much chance to speak to her, she was definitely touched by God though and who knows what will come off that.

The other Treasure which stands out from the morning was a lady who was wearing a Pink Coat, outside the Apple Store with a walking stick. She was a lovely lady and was very willing to stand and chat, we showed her the maps and Louise was her Grand Daughter, but nothing else matched up. So I asked her why she had the walking stick and she told us that she had a new knee and the operation had been three weeks ago - today was her first trip out since the Op! So I offered to pray for a speedy recovery from the operation and she jumped at the chance. She then told us that on Sunday she had begun to experience a new pain in that knee which she was a bit worried about. So we prayed and as I took my hand away I asked her how it felt she said that something was happening. She grabbed my hand and put it back on her knee and told me to do it again! So I did and after the second time of praying she tested her knee and she had much more freedom in her knee joint and a lot more movement which she hadn't had before! It was amazing! She was so excited and gave us big kisses and went on her way! It was only as I was walking home I felt a bit bad that she had kissed us, as the praise and glory was God's, so I apologised to God and felt very relieved that with our Father we have a billion chances - and he knows my heart as well.

Out of My Comfort Zone

2010-10-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I have a very strong 'Flight Instinct'. At the merest sign of danger, I will be out of the situation as fast as my little legs will carry me. Sadly this will also take place if I see an accident, I will normally feel so scared that I will be unable to stop and help. This has bothered me a lot in the past and I remember many years ago praying about it. I think the reason I would have such a great urge to get out of the situation was from a lack of knowledge of what to do, so feeling helpless. I had an experience the other day that amazed me and scared me but I didn't run away.

I was meant to be meeting someone to do some Treasure Hunting, they were a bit late but I was amusing myself with reading signs outside the cathedral and watching this huge gaggle of French School children with clipboards trying to find random things around Exeter. Some of them were beginning to disperse when I saw one of them running down towards the main entrance of the Cathedral, jump down the steps and pretty much right in front of me, fall over! As soon as he went down he grabbed his leg and was rolling on the floor crying out in pain! Now it is amazing what thoughts can cross your mind in a split second, I thought that maybe he was messing around, I thought that his friends would run to his aid, I thought that I had no idea what to do, I thought Yikes this boy doesn't speak English and I thought I need to pray for him! As I looked at him, he was sitting up and holding his ankle and I could see that it was swelling really badly, I thought it was broken really as the ankle bone was looking very odd! He shouted to his friends and they just laughed, like typical teenagers. So I went over to them first and said that he really needed help, as he was hurt. We went over, and the only thing I could really think was 'I need to pray for this boy - but how do I bring this up with teenagers who don't speak English and with someone who is in obvious pain.' I think I should mention now that my other nightmare is trying to get people to understand me when they don't speak English, or maybe it is me not understanding them - either way, it is way out of my comfort zone. I asked them if they had an adult with them and they didn't, but then their Coach Driver turned up, he really didn't speak any English, at least with the school children they had some understanding. Then some other children from the party turned up and one of the girls spoke really good English, so she was translating for me when I was asking questions. But really the only thought that kept going through my head was 'how am I meant to turn this situation around to offer to pray for him' By this time I was pretty sure his ankle wasn't broken as he was flexing it but it was swelling good and proper! So after standing there for what felt like an age I said to the girl 'Could you tell him that I am a Christian and I would like to pray for his ankle', the girl queried the word 'Christian' to me and as she did, the French girl stood on my other side said that she was a Christian as well! Well there is power in numbers, so at that I felt a bit more confident. The boy was asked if I could pray and in good French style he shrugged and said 'If you like'. So I asked the Christian girl if she would pray as well and she said she would. So we both bent down, laid hands on his ankle and prayed. It was quite a surreal experience because as soon as I began to pray some more of his group turned up and the boy we were praying for was regaling his story to all who would listen, so taking no notice of what I was doing. I asked him if it felt any better and he said no, and there wasn't really an option for me to offer to pray again as some Adults looking after the group turned up and they began sorting out what they were going to do to help him. I chatted to them for a bit and told them where the NHS Walk In Centre was and helped them where I could, but then there was nothing more I could do, so I left.

I walked away with a lot going around my mind, my fellow Treasure Hunter never turned up as I had got the wrong day, but it looks like God had another reason for me to be there. I was at the right place at the right time to help in a situation. It was the first time I hadn't felt helpless in such a situation, and so hadn't wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. I actually knew that I had something that I could do, my only concern was how to introduce it to the situation.

More healings in Church

2010-10-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

We had an exciting time at Frontiers Church this Sunday - I was given a bit of time to share testimonies of what God is doing in healing and signs and wonders from around the world at the beginning of the meeting. Testimonies stir faith and they also prophecy to what God is doing, can do and is going to do! I loved being able to tell people some amazing stories that I had heard, like the man who had his leg amputated above his knee and since he has been prayed for, his leg has been gradually growing out - he now has a knee joint and it is continuing to grow! Also the girl who had lost a finger nail and whilst she was being prayed for they watched the fingernail grow back and amazingly it grew back with the exact same colour of nail varnish as she had on her other fingernails! During the Worship time, people were invited to come forward for healing - there were loads of people who wanted prayer! It was fantastic to see people in faith, get out of their chairs and come to the front for healing! A lot of the things we prayed for in the morning are going to take a while to be able to find out what God has done, but I know that God is doing great things so we will wait to hear the stories.

We have been praying regularly for healings on a Sunday morning for about a month or so now, and I am beginning to hear stories of what God has done - here are some of them.

We prayed for a lady with painful knees and the pain has gone, I have since seen the lady about 4 weeks after we prayed for her and her knees are still pain free! Thank you Father!

We prayed for a lady who had a cyst on her ovary, she had a scan the day after we prayed, and the cyst had shrunk to half its size and at the second scan, the cyst had disappeared! The Doctors cant explain it - but we can! Amazing!

We prayed with a lady who was experiencing pain and bleeding in her pregnancy, she was quite worried, So we prayed and the baby had a fantastic time, spinning and kicking, and the Mum didnt experience any more pain after we had prayed!

I prayed with someone who was in the early stages of pregnancy and was experiencing horrible Morning Sickness (well all day sickness really!) and she was finding it difficult to work. She hadnt had one day without being sick since she had fallen pregnant - after praying for her she wasnt sick all week and was able to work with no problem! Fantastic!

We had a girl come forward for prayer as she had lost her fingernail in an accident, the Doctor had said that the nail bed was dead and that she would never have a thumb nail again! Well we know that God is the God of life so a dead nail bed has no place in a child of Gods body - so we prayed and commanded life into the nail bed. I completely expected that when I took my hand away that she would have a new nail but she didnt, but our faith was strong (the force was strong with this one :-)). I didnt see her for a couple of weeks, but after hearing the testimony about the nail regrowing with the nail varnish on it, I really wanted to pray for her again. She found me on Sunday morning and showed me her thumb, with its new nail on it! It has grown back, but not from the nail bed, it just has sort of formed (!). She is thrilled and so am I! God is so exciting!

I am so expectant of creative miracles and God doing incredible things through his people, I want to see people have new limbs just growing out and where better to start than with a fingernail! There is no small miracle - all healings are incredible and miraculous and we need to give honour and thanks for all things that God does. Honour the little and God will give you more! So I am over the moon about this fingernail and all the healings we have seen so far, and my expectation is increasing each day! We can do all things through Jesus who strengthens us - all things!!! Cant wait!

Green shoes and loads of other clues!

2010-10-18T04:35:00.000-07:00

On my most recent Treasure Hunting adventure we really only found one treasure - we let some slip away as we discussed the actual colour of their shoes, but I am sure they will be treasure another day, note to self, just go for it!

We headed to Burtons and just as we got there we saw a man with green shoes on walk past, he was a very tall man with very long legs so we had to really move to catch up with him! When we finally stopped him, we explained what we were doing and asked him to look at our clues and so many of them matched with him. His middle name was Anthony, his wife's name was Lousie, she had fertility problems in the past and had been on IVF, he sometimes suffered with Asthma and had lower back pain and had just come from the Osteopath! We asked him if we could pray for his back and he accepted, but he said it wasn't hurting at the time so difficult to tell what healing had taken place. But then we chatted with him for a bit and asked him about his beliefs and he was a really interesting guy, very open. The interesting thing for us was that he had a Christian friend who he had quite a lot of conversations with, so it seems like we were just another step along the way for this man and his journey to find God. We have been praying that his eyes would be opened to see God, we may never know what happens but it is great to be a part of the bigger picture.

I am also trying to venture off the map when we are out, so if someone catches my attention, to go and talk to them and offer to pray for them. It is a little more scary as you don't have the clues to fall back on, but it is exciting all the same! So we approached a Big Issue seller, she was lovely! She told us that her boyfriend was getting out of prison on Friday and asked if we could pray that he gets a job, I said we would and then I asked her if there was there anything she would like prayer for and she began to tell us that he Son had been taken away from her 5 years ago and that she wanted to have him back. So we began to pray for those two things. She was really thankful that we prayed and seeing as I see her most shopping trips, I will be able to speak to her again. It always amazes me what people will tell you about and how open people are and also how genuinely touched they are that someone has prayed for them. Prayer to us, seems like such a simple thing because we are approaching our Father but to those who don't know God it is a wonder! It is like giving someone a gift.

Seven new Treasure Hunters and lots of treasure!

2010-10-13T04:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I ran my first training session on Treasure Hunting along with some time out on the street putting what had been learnt into practice. I had seven people come who had never done any Treasure Hunting before but were very excited, and nervous, to give it a go and see what God would do through them! I spoke for a while and then we separated into smaller groups and began to get our clues. It was so amazing to see God speaking to everybody really clearly, one group of three all got the clue Rainbow which I thought was fantastic and real confirmation to them that they were hearing from God, and the other group of three all got clues about Army/Soldiers, so they knew what they were looking out for and my fellow Hunter for the morning and I both had the clue John so we set out!

We came back after an hour and the stories of treasure they had found were amazing and really thrilled my heart to listen to. Here are a selection of them :-

One group had the clues Army/Soldiers so they headed to the Army Surplus Store which was nearby and as they came to the shop they saw a man walking towards them with an Australian Hat on (not the one with corks, but a leather bush style hat - if you know what I mean!), they stopped them to have a chat and they offered to pray for the man but he asked if they could pray for his wife instead, who was with him. They didnt want to say what was wrong but just that she was ill, so they prayed and the lady began to cry. The man said that they used to go to church in South Africa (they were here on holiday) and after this encounter they were going to go back to church as soon as they returned home. It is so amazing that they have travelled half way across the world and they had a God encounter on the street of Exeter, when they were least expecting it.

Another Treasure which was found was a lady who was wearing black boots, a beige bag with brown trim, and had a blue back pack on, she was walking past the Army Surplus Store as the team were returning to the office after thinking they had finished their Treasure Hunt. She was really steaming up the hill, so they had to run to catch her up, when they finally caught up with her and they began to show her the clues and how they applied to her, she was completely blown away! She was so excited because she is attending an Alpha Course at a local church and she just knew that the whole thing was God. The team had words from God for her and she couldn't believe it and couldn't wait to go to Alpha to tell her group about what had happened. What a confirmation for her - I would love to know what happens to this Treasure, maybe we will.

We had the clue head to toe in cream, we really didn't know how this was going to look, until we saw it! Coming towards us as we walked towards the High Street was a little old lady in a cream rain coat that came down to her toes! She was definately head to toe in cream, so we stopped her and another clue was crooked and this lady was bent over. We chatted to her for a while and she told us she was a Christian and that she went to a local church, and we offered to pray for her neck, she said yes. I would love to say that she straightened right up, but she didn't at that instance, but she said that it had been a privilege to have met us and who knows what happened as she walked away. We thought we were done with the head to toe in cream, but God hadn't finished with that clue. We headed to the back of M&S, and there was another little old lady walking towards us all dressed in cream to some description. She was also carrying a black leather bag, so we approached her and she was lovely! We chatted for a while and we asked her if any of the clues meant anything to her and she said she had a problem with her eyes. She told us that the Doctors didn't know what it was, but the retina in one of her eyes had dropped so they had filled her eye with oil and now everything was blurry. So we offered to pray and she happily accepted. We sat on the wall and we prayed for her and as I watched her, eyes began to water for no reason. We asked her if there was any change and she said she didn't think that there was, but she didn't know why her eyes were watering, I offered to pray again but she said no. She was another Christian lady and we were able to share some words from God for her.

The team with Rainbow found their treasure, but she didn't want to talk, she was outside McDonalds and had a Rainbow jumper on. She was definitely Treasure and it is disappointing when you know you have found the person God wants you to talk to, and they don't want to talk to you. But we have no idea what she may have got from the encounter or if she may be treasure again. All we can do is get clues and go and find the people and see what happens from there. I still think it was great that all three of them had Rainbow as their clue.

There were lots of other stories but maybe that is enough for now :-)

I am going to be running another training/practical Treasure Hunt on the 13th November and then regularly each month from then onwards, on the second Saturday of the month. Come and join us - never before has street evangelism been so much fun and so rewarding!

Jesus Culture

2010-10-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Wow what an evening! Steve and I travelled up to Bath to see Jesus Culture at Bath City Church. I wasn't too sure how Jesus Culture were going to ensure it wasn't a gig that they were doing, but an actual worship event. But they did - they are amazing musicians and it was so loud that we could actually feel the sound of the bass move our clothes! The light show was so bright that I was pretty convinced that Jesus had come back at one point! But the presence of God was amazing and being with all those hungry people just crying out to God and worshipping him was wonderful.

After the worship Banning Liebscher began to tell stories of amazing healings that have been happening in their meetings, stories of mass healings of Asthma, lots of knees healed, an allergy to nuts completely gone and tested, one lady with serious knee problems and had had loads of operations on her knee, which resulted in many metal pins holding her knee together. She was prayed for and the pain went and she felt her knee and was unable to feel the metal pins any more. She went to the hospital and they x-rayed her knee and the Doctor couldn't believe it as all the metal pins had disappeared and there was brand new bone where the pins had been! That's just incredible, God is soooooo great!

After lots of stories he asked for people with asthma to put their hands up and he then asked them to go outside for a run because he believed that they were already healed without someone praying for them, so loads people went outside - I didn't really realise so many people were effected by Asthma! After 5 mins they started to come back into the building and they began heading for the stage as they had been completely healed!!! People with Asthma for 30 years, healed in an instant and without actual prayer - just being in the presence of God. One girl was healed and she had Asthma since she had come to this country about 10 years ago and it was so bad that she wasn't able to walk 5 steps without getting out of breath and wheezing, she was on a Nebuliser every night and she had just ran around the building and other than being out of breath she was fine - not one wheeze! Completely amazing! There were so many testimonies of healings it was incredible. We were praying with a lady who had Genetic Arthritis and she said she could definitely feel God doing something in her body and her joints were much easier to move and the swelling in the knuckle which we were focusing our prayer on was markedly less swollen and I could feel it moving whilst we were praying. Oh yes another story I heard out of the corner of my ear as we were praying, was a girl who two days before had been hit in the face with a hockey stick and it had broken her cheek bone and she was all swollen and bruised. After prayer the swelling went away and she was able to poke her cheek and there was absolutely no pain where as before she could hardly even touch it! So good.

God is moving in signs and wonders in such a new way, it is gathering speed and we need to jump on board and be praying for everybody with anything wrong with them as this is the season of healing - if this is what God is doing, then I want to be doing it to! More Father!!

A Treasure Revisited

2010-09-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

Whilst Treasure Hunting today we had an amazing experience! We had found a few lovely Treasures but we still had lots of clues that we hadn't found, so we kept going. One of our clues was Golden Hair, which we didn't really know what that would look like, till we saw it. So we were outside the back of WH Smiths, when a lady with what can only be described as Golden Hair, walked past us. She was moving at some pace so rather than racing after her we just followed her for a while, as sometimes people can lead you to other clues along the way. We followed her to the front of WH Smiths and then she went off, we discussed how we were surprised we hadn't found a Silver Bag which was another clue, so we decided to go to Primark where they would sell that sort of thing, as we got close to Primark we passed a market stall which sold bags and right on the corner was a very large and prominent Silver Bag, we stopped and looked around and realised that we were also outside a Key cutting shop! We knew we were in the right place and as we turned back round next to the silver bag was a lady with Golden Hair! We were so excited, so we approached the lady and her husband. She was a little confused by what we were doing but the name Craig meant something to her and we had the name Georgina and they said they knew a Georgia so we went with that, I had obviously misheard! We went through the ailments and she said that none of them related, but her Husband pointed out she had a Bunion and I had the clue Toe. I don't know why we didn't offer to pray, I think I felt she was a little embarrassed, but I really should have done - thankfully with God there are a billion chances so we shall just chalk that one up to experience. But as we started to walk away I noticed that the man sat on the bench next to them was some one who had been Treasure on a previous Treasure Hunt. We moved away a little and I told my friend this as she hadn't been on the Treasure Hunt when we had found him the first time, and we decided we would approach him again and this time give him a leaflet. He is an elderly man and he didn't recognise me to begin with, but when I reminded him that we had prayed for him about his wife, he remembered the encounter. We had a bit of a chat and I asked him his name again (names are not my strong point at all!) and he said Ken and on my friends map was the name Ken! How amazing is that! We went through the ailments with him and he said that he was fine but he kept having trouble hearing us so I knew he had some Deafness. I asked him about it and he said that he was a little deaf in one ear and that his dog had eaten his hearing aid. His dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrior called Lassie, was with him and was getting increasingly fractious the more we spoke to him and sadly the dog got the better of me, as yet again we didn't offer to pray because I thought I might lose my hand in the dogs mouth! I feel a bit bad about it but we did give him a leaflet with the church details on and amazingly he even remembered where the Church met from our last conversation. I am so amazed that he was Treasure again, maybe this isn't the last time either and next time his dog will be a little calmer and we will get to pray for him again.

Digging For Treasure

2010-09-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

I said in a previous Blog that each Treasure Hunting experience is totally different and our latest Hunt was definately a case in point! Before we started our Treasure Hunt, we were praying and just asking God's presence to come as that is the most important thing, so that we are able to release God's presence whilst we are walking around. I had a clear picture of a golden spade - it was really big and I wasnt sure if it was a clue for the Hunt or a picture for us. To cover both basis I put it as a clue but also discussed it with Lizzie, I thought it might be about digging foundations in our church for Prophetic Evangelism and Lizzie said maybe it was to do with us having to dig for Treasure! Little did we know!

We looked at our clues and decided on the route that they seemed to be taking us on so we went through the Cathedral Green, past the Pasty Shop, and up the high street towards the Odeon. We took a slow walk up the street expecting to see some of the clues we had for appearances, but we didn't see anybody at all, which is really unusual but undeterred we carried on. We carried on up towards the Odeon, and began to realise that we were passing lots of clues but they weren't people, they were things in shop windows or other shops on our list. We walked past a Flower shop, Sainsburys, an Orange jumper, and Dominoes. Everything seemed to be leading us to the Odeon and I really felt that when we got there somebody would be outside and they would be our Treasure. But no! We got to the Odeon and there wasn't anybody around at all, it was really quite odd because normally we would stop a few people and then strike gold but nobody we had seen had fitted any of our clues, not even slightly! I suggested that we walked back down the same way we had come up seeing as all the clues were on the same side of the road, and revisit them. We got a little way down when we suddenly saw her - she had crutches and was wearing a yellow top. We squealed a little with excitement as we knew this was God's Treasure. The lady disappeared into a shop for ages so we had to hang around outside and look a bit like stalkers, but it all comes with the territory. After a while she came out of the shop and Lizzie approached her and explained who we were and that we had prayed before we came out and God had given us the clue of a person with crutches and a yellow top. We explained a bit more that all our other clues had lead us to her and that we knew we had been sent to come and speak to her today as she was God's Treasure. She was blown away! We offered to pray for her leg and she readily agreed, so we found a bench to sit down. She began to talk and she told how much pain she was in and how last night she had been in bed crying out with all her heart to God for the pain to go, and also to forgive her of things she had done wrong in her past and that she wanted to turn to him - that sure sounds like a Salvation prayer to me! We prayed for her leg and she said the pain was less, so we offered to pray again and she agreed but it stayed the same but she looked at us and said 'This is a miracle, God really heard me last night.' and we agreed. She said she had always wanted to be a follower of Jesus and that now she was. I asked her if she wanted to know God and she said she felt she already did, so I gave her a copy of the New Testament, a Why Jesus and a leaflet about Treasure Hunting with our church contact details on it. She left us, a new women, knowing that Father God had heard her cry and that he loved her so much that he sent us the next day to find her to reaffirm to her what she had prayed alone in her bedroom the night before. Amazing!

I think the spade was definitely about us really digging in for treasure that day, we could have given up at many points (even before we started as I wasn't feeling too well), we could have given up whilst we walked up the high street and didn't see one person to stop, we could have given up when we got to the Odeon and there wasn't anybody there, we could also have given up whilst we waited outside the shop for the lady as she was in there for ages. But we didn't and kept digging and we definitely found Treasure. God loves perseverance!