(both group leaders), and a student named Tabitha. All of us were quiet
people, not the sort to just walk up to someone and start a
conversation. This was their first time going door-to-door/prayer
walking in this way. We didn’t know what to expect…. but were excited
about what could happen.
As we started walking through the town, we realized that all the stores
were closed. There was no one around. We prayed and turned left, then
found ourselves at another street corner, prayed, and turned right. At
that point, I reached into my pocket and realized I’d left my phone in
the car (which never happens). The group agreed to continue walking
straight down the road while I returned to my car for my phone. On the
way back, I noticed them stopped at a corner, talking. Jennifer
suggested walking back to an earlier location and trying another street,
where she saw people earlier. We prayed about it and started walking in
that direction.
But when we got to that street, no one was there. It turned out that
everything in the town closed at noon on Saturdays. I kept praying,
“God, please just lead us to someone who needs to hear about you.”
A few minutes later, a car drove past us, parked in front of an
attorney’s office, and a man got out. He walked to the door, tried the
handle to find it locked, and walked back to his car. Something in me
jumped… this would probably be one of the only people we’d see the
entire afternoon.
So I spoke up, “Anyone there?”
He started telling us about his roof, how shingles were blowing off it
and he needs to get it repaired. He said he was going somewhere, but
kept talking with us. He was from West Virginia, and when my group, who
was also from WV heard that, they started talking like old friends. That
opened the conversation wide open. He told us about how he’d been
sick… he’d lost over 90lbs and couldn’t eat. “Could we pray for you?” I
asked. “Sure.” He said.
he injured his back in the 1950’s and his back/neck had hurt ever since
then. He wasn’t able to stand for more than 10 minutes because he was
always in pain. “Can we pray for your back and neck?” I asked. “Sure.”
He said.
end of our hour long conversation, in which we were standing the entire
time, we learned about his neighbor with a “nasty” attitude, his
bi-polar daughter who was a drug addict and scammed him out of $27,000,
his grandbaby that died…. so much pain. The group shared with him
about the Lord and how He can heal a broken heart. He started to cry and
said, “Thank you. I am so glad I met you today. I knew the office was
closed but still felt like I should come anyway… now I know why. And
you know what? My back doesn’t hurt at all! I’ve stood for longer than I
ever have- and I don’t have any pain!”
We left so excited to see how God worked… seeing Him heal someone-
wow! And seeing His use us to encourage someone who really needed it…
how incredibly humbling.
