Supernatural Shopping

I had been praying in the morning before my weekly trip to town, about doing more for God and what was it all about etc, you know the type of thing! I think I even said the words 'Please use me!', a scary prayer to pray but I felt the urge so went with it.  I didn't think too much about it once I had left the house and went on my merry way.

I was darting around doing bits and bobs, and was just going into Wilkinson's when I saw an elderly lady I knew.  I had heard that she had broken her shoulder recently so I stopped to have a chat with her.  She was telling me about how she was in terrible pain and couldn't lift her arm up, so everyday tasks were a real problem.  She told me all about how the NHS weren't moving very quick to get her sorted and the Physio had done more harm than good, and then I heard the Holy Spirit say to pray for her.  Now I don't like praying for people in shops as it seems strange to me, don't know why, and we were right by the door so probably in lots of peoples way, but when she drew breathe I asked her if I could pray for her and she said 'Oh yes please',  So I put my hand on her shoulder and began to speak to her muscle that had been torn to repair, for the pain to go and any tendons or ligaments to be as they should be.  She said thank you and was about to go, but I asked her to check it out and she looked very surprised as her arm went up higher than it had before.  So I offered to pray again,which she accepted.  This time I put my hand on her shoulder and it was boiling!! So I did the same again and thanked Father God for what he had already done, and then got her to check it again and she, again, could lift it higher and the pain was a lot less.  I prayed once more because the heat was still there and I wanted her to be completely healed, and again there was an increase in movement and a decrease in pain.  She was thrilled and gave me a big hug and we thanked Father for what he had done, and she went on her way home.  I was so excited!! But then things got a little surreal.

I headed out onto the High Street and I saw a man in white robes, standing outside the bank I was going into, with a 6ft high wooden crucifix!! I was a little taken aback, but he was chatting to someone so I went in the bank and thought if he is still there when I come out I would have a chat!  He was, so I did!  I said to him 'You look very interesting!', he laughed, thankfully! When I looked at the Cross there were names of cities and dates all over it, so I asked him what he was doing.  He began to tell me that he had been in the C of E as Clergy for 30 years and had retired a few years ago, and for the last couple of years he had been praying and asking God what he wanted him to do and he said that he didn't hear anything for quite a while and then God started to speak to him about taking a message to every Cathedral city and to deliver the message to the head of the Cathedral (sorry, I cant remember the title).  He said he was quite reticent to begin with and thought that he couldn't possible do it, but God kept asking him, so in the end he decided to do it.  For the last couple of years he has visited every Cathedral  city in the UK and did a Walk of Witness around the city, in his white robes and with the cross and taken the message that God had given him to every Cathedral and left it for the Head of the church to read.  He said that he really didn't know what good he was doing, but we began to talk about praying for blessings on people as he went and how just bringing God and the Holy Spirit into a situation can change the atmosphere of a place and that he may never really know what effect he is having but he would most definitely be having an effect.  He said that he prayed for people as he passed them and that he would make a note of people that he had stopped to talk to and then when he got home, he would journal about his day and pray specifically for those people.  I thought he was amazing!! That was some obedience and so brave of him.  Funnily, he said at the beginning that despite having been in the Clergy for 30 years he had never really spoken to people about his faith!! He was definitely making up for it now!

So I watched as Brother Cuthbert picked up his cross and walked up the high street, stopping briefly to write in his note book; my name I suspect.  As I am writing this, I have just noticed the similarities in our stories.  Only that morning I had been praying about what to do and for Father to use me, and there was Brother Cuthbert who had prayed the same thing and was on this amazing adventure.  I am sort of glad that my obedience didn't entail me dressing in white robes and carrying a cross, but that is the joy of being loved by a Father who knows you intimately and individually and has a path set before you to walk in.   We aren't all called to do the same things, we are all different and when the Father asks us to do something, it is individually suited to us, that's not to say that you wont be taken out of your comfort zone, but it is something that, with Gods help, you can do.  As when the Father asks you to do something, you aren't alone, he is doing it with you and through you.

I thank Father God for using me to help my elderly friend and I also thank him for Brother Cuthbert and I pray that he will be an amazing blessing where ever he goes and that God uses him greatly.

Its Church, but not as we know it!

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.