It was good day in Oxted when our intrepid team of three (Dale, Dave and Gordon) set off with our clues (underlined in the following text) on another Holy Spirit adventure. Our first location was the local library where we found a man with a walking stick. He seemed intrigued by our introduction but did not respond to any needs and did not want prayer.
Our next encounter was outside the flower shop with a man in a grey coat and his wife. He had diabetes and agreed for us to pray for him (at another time) but also requested prayer for his sick daughter. They were both happy to talk and laugh with us and had a degree of openness.
Next we saw a lady with yellow top. She was happy to talk and asked for prayer regarding moving house move, which seemed to be ‘stuck’ at the moment. At the end of the conversation she pointed to the clue, ‘grief’, and said that the yellow top she had on was originally her father’s and when he died it had been passed to her mum. When her mum died it had passed to her because of it’s sentimental value… and today was the first day that she had worn it since her mum died. Praise God for giving us such a good clue which meant so much more to her.
Then we headed to the park where there were trees and saw three teenagers sitting on a bench, two guys and a girl. When they looked at the clues the girl said that she had yellow hair and a blue wristband (which was actually a blue top which was under her coat but poked out at the end which meant it looked like a wristband). Her mum had a pain in her right arm and she was happy for us to lay hands on her hand and pray that when she next saw her mum next she would lay her hands on mum’s arm and ask God to heal it. We told her to come and tell us if her mum’s arm was healed.
We headed off to the local park guided by two more location clues: circus poster and under the tree. There happened to be a small fun fair in the park and they had posters all round the town. We wandered towards the funfair but couldn't see anyone. As we were walking away we did spot one of the workers and went over to talk to him. He didn't identify with any clues but then the funfair owner’s wife (Christine) appeared and after some initial conversation said there was a lady called Anne who worked for them but she was 85 and wouldn't want to speak to us. The owner then arrived and a full blown discussion about life and Christianity got underway. Christine then asked us to pray for her. They had had some hard times over the years and wanted us to pray for peace. So we prayed for them to know the peace of God in their lives and shared a little of the gospel with them. Christine then responded to a word about grief, she had lost two grand children in the last few years and we really sensed the presence of God in our conversation with them.
Finally as we were heading back to the coffee shop for a well earned drink we saw a lady with a black/beige dress. She looked at our clues and seemed very interested in the one that said heart trouble. It appeared that she wanted prayer but seemed awkward for her at that moment so we told her where the Church office was and if she wanted prayer to come and see us. We continued into the coffee shop when suddenly the lady in the brown/beige dress approached us and asked for our contact details. An hour later she came into the Church office asking for prayer. It turns out that she and her husband live in England with a 14 month old baby but have another 10 year old that lives with her parents in Zimbabwe. Her husband and her pay for parents mortgage in Zimbabwe as well as the rent on their home in England. She wasn't able to speak to us when we first saw her because she is a support worker and the other girl with her was her ‘client’. She wanted prayer because her heart had been so troubled and worried that her and her husband would not have enough money to send back to Zimbabwe. She was greatly moved and in tears because God had gone to the effort of sending a stranger to her and offer to pray for her.
Overall we had an excellent time and God gave us numerous divine encounters in only 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Dave
What better to do on a damp, chilly half term morning than go on a treasure hunt! Rachel and I were novice treasure hunters but soon got the idea. Before we went out with Dave and Jonathan we had all prayed for clues. These are underlined in the following text.
First stop was the kebab shop which was shut so we stood outside for a few minutes. We spotted a man carrying a ladder up steps. Could he be going up on the roof? We followed him to his upper floor flat which he was living in and renovating with his brother. They were both from Portugal and invited us in when we asked if we could pray for them. We prayed for them and their family in Portugal. They are only a few minutes away from the resources centre so hopefully we can keep in touch.
From here we went to Sainsbury’s car park to look for a man in a red t-shirt. Jonathan spotted a boy in a red T-shirt being carried by his mum. We went over to her and, as she put her son down, could see that he had Down’s Syndrome. We prayed that she would have a great half term and summer holiday with her two boys. She said that she sometimes wondered if God was “up there”. Dave told her that God wanted her to know that she was doing a great job and she was encouraged by this.
After this we went to the garden centre. Two NKCC members happened to be walking in at the same time. We thought this was a coincidence but didn't immediately think either of them could be the treasure. Then it dawned on us that the lady was wearing purple trousers and also had black hair. Further discussion revealed that she had diabetes and breathing difficulties, in fact she had asthma and a chest infection. We prayed for her in the garden centre and then spotted a fir tree to one side of us and a fern to the other! Just behind us was a clown toy and a paw print. I felt like we should almost put a plaque on the spot, it was so amazing!
Deborah
