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.

Out of My Comfort Zone

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. 

Four healings in Church this morning!

What an exciting morning!! We heard a couple of amazing stories during church about healings that have happened recently and at the end of the meeting me and a few other people prayed for those who needed healing.  The first one was a man who had hurt his back that morning and it was quite painful, we prayed and the Holy Spirit really met with him and he was completely healed! The next one was a man who had a pain in his neck which was linked to muscle spasms in his lower back, we prayed once and it was a bit better.  We offered to pray again and he accepted and this time the pain was better again, we prayed for a third time and that time it was a lot better.  Whilst we were praying I saw the muscles moving into place, I told the man this and encouraged him that I felt that there would be complete healing as the day went on.  The third person we prayed for had hardening tendons in his left hand as a result of diabetes, we prayed for him 4 times (we were feeling determined!), and each time the pain got less and less, after the fourth time he said that it had almost gone.  He later told us that before he left church that morning the pain had gone completely! The last person we prayed for was a lady who had painful knees and  black cloud/floaters which would float across her right eye.  We prayed for her knees first, I put my hand on her knees and as we prayed I felt something in her knee move! She tested it afterwards and she said the pain had completely gone!  We then prayed for her eye and when she opened her eye she could no longer see anything floating across her eye!  WOW!  What an amazing morning!  Thank you Father!

Three of God's Treasures

Whilst Treasure Hunting this week we found 3 lovely Treasures.  The first one we met as soon as we started Hunting, I spotted the Blue Leather Bag from across the High Street so we went over to speak to her.  She stopped and looked at our maps and four names meant something to her, Amy was her best friend, Mary was her Aunty, Luke was her Uncle and Anthony was her Cousin, that was pretty good confirmation that she was our Treasure.  She looked at the ailments and she pointed to Tonsils, she explained to us that she gets reoccurring Tonsillitis and has it about once every two months and pretty much lives on Antibiotics.  We asked if we could pray for her and she said yes - it still amazes me when people say yes despite not being Christians and when they don't really know what is going to happen, but it is fantastic when they do! We weren't able to tell if any healing had taken place as she wasn't suffering from Tonsillitis at the time, but we did chat to her for a bit .  One of the things I need to work on is opening the conversation up and being more on the offensive (for want of a better word) for God and his supernatural power.

The next Treasure we found was a lovely old guy who was walking past the Open Air Cafe in Princesshay. He was walking his dog  (all three of us had dog on our maps so we knew he would be significant) He told us how he had lost his wife of 48 years only a few months ago in March, we had Widow as a clue.  He was so sad and said if it hadnt been for his dog he would have thrown himself under a bus!  My heart went out to him, and I knew that God wanted to show him how much he loved him.  We asked him if he had any belief and he scoffed and said he hardly believed in himself!  We offered to pray for him, and he accepted.  We spent a bit of time just ministering to him and asking God to show his love to him, he was visibly moved when we finished. He then asked us about Church  so I invited him to come along, I shall keep an eye out for him, I really hope he comes.

Our last Treasure came from determination on my fellow Treasure Hunters.  I had the clue Pink Belt and Lizzie was determined to find it, so we headed to St James area of town (I had St James as a clue but I didn't know if it was a location, or something else - we later found out!) In front of us was a lady and I just caught a glimpse of a pink belt so we got ahead of her, so as not to pounce on her from behind. When I looked again it wasn't strictly a pink belt, but a pink band on her trousers. We decided that was close enough and went and spoke to her.  She turned out to be a Christian so was really open, I asked her where she went to church and she said St James!  So the clue was actually two fold as we followed it as a location but also it was significant to this ladies life as well.  We asked if there was anything we could pray for her about and she was worried about work so we were able to pray for that and she was really grateful.

In some ways these three Treasures seem quite small and insignificant, but God spoke to me about not belittling the small things and thanking him for them and then they will increase.  I also think that we do not know what impact we have on a persons life, take the man who had been recently widowed, we were able to show him the Fathers love and spend time with him.  It didn't really cost us a lot but could have been worth everything to him.