Stories from all over our city & beyond

On the London mission trip, we split up into pairs or 3s and walked the pop up “farmer’s market” at Kings Cross Square in front of the Kings Cross St Pancras station. Caryss and I met […] at a cannoli booth. She works full time for this booth and was very kind. She’s been in London for 15 years and really likes it. I think she said she was originally from Pakistan???? When we asked what we could pray for her about, she mentioned her son […] who is 10 and has Autism. I was so surprised and shared that I also have a son with Autism who is 9! We prayed for him right there, and she thanked us. When we met up with the group afterwards to debrief, we learned that Allison and Christina had been by to talk to her before us (without either of us knowing), and when they asked her if they could pray for her, she said “just general stuff” – but when I asked her a little bit later, I was surprised that she answered so quickly and without hesitation, “yes you can pray for my 10 year old son […] who has Autism” I believe she must have thought about it after the other girls asked, and realized what she would have asked for prayer for! This was a cool connection God made for us too, because it showed in “real time” what we had been praying for – that God would bring other believers into the path of those we have been meeting, to continue the conversation and share Jesus with them!

[…] was a homeless woman sitting on the side of King’s Cross Station [in London on the Northwest mission trip] asking for money to get into a hostel. I was walking around with a partner from my missions team, looking for people to have conversations with, and we didn’t have any cash on us but I asked if there was an atm nearby. [She] said yes and led me to the atm, but as we walked I was able to pray for her and the other member of my team was able to share the gospel with her as I got her her money.

A co-worker […] who I’ve been trying to minister to shared with me that he has been reading Genesis and praying daily.

The cheerful lady at the return counter of the giant box store patiently tried to help me out with my mixed up order. When she finished, I gratefully handed her a DVD of The Jesus Film. “It’s a gift for you”,  I said. “It’s the story of the life of Jesus Christ”. “Oh,” she said as she grabbed it and held it close to her heart. “This is perfect, perfect timing. I have just finished watching lots of documentaries on TV, and made the decision to watch something about God or religion now. This is perfect, wonderful!”  She said delightedly. 

I handed her a basic gospel tract to go with it, as I left to go to the garden dept. Five minutes later, she came running up to me  breathless with tears in her eyes saying that her Mother would also love to see the DVD with her. She kept thanking me over and over.

When I finished my purchase in the garden dept., I handed the tired cashier a copy of The Jesus Film. She grabbed it, perked up and said, “My Family did not get to go to church on Easter, but we can all look at this together tonight. Thank you so much. You are always so kind when you come here.” 

As I left the store, I was aware that someone was following me into the parking lot. I turned and saw a clean cut young man who demanded, “What did you give that cashier? I was watching you.” I told him, then I asked if he would like a DVD too. “NO,” he said,

He was a Christian and didn’t need one.. He said he was impressed with the way I witnessed to total strangers. He had not seen it before. I asked him how he shared the gospel with others. He said he liked to sit down with a cup of coffee to talk to people and answer any deep questions they might have.

“I applaud your method of sharing the gospel,” I said. “God uses us all differently to reach all types of people, and we never run out of them. Carry on with what you are doing and so will I.” He waved a friendly goodbye. I was thinking that I would enjoy meeting him in heaven again some day with those that he led to Christ over a cup of coffee.

My husband joined a work volleyball league two years ago. I would pack up the kids and we’d go watch him play. I struck up a friendship with the wife of one of my husband’s coworkers. She is Muslim and had just recently moved to Texas to marry her husband. Shortly after that time she discovered she had a brain tumor and underwent a horrible year of surgery and rehabilitation. I got to follow along her journey and pray for her often through text messages where she could read them over and over which she said she did and was a huge encouragement to her. Last week I invited her to join us for Easter Sunday and she is so excited to come and learn more about “my religion.” Please be praying her and her husband would come and I’d have more opportunities to have conversations about Jesus with her.

Yesterday, Pastor Neil spoke about the first miracle in Acts 3 by Peter. A homeless man outside of Jason‘s Deli asked me for money, I said, can I pray for you, and bless you with the Holy Spirit. The man was confused at first, then surprised, then he became approachable. After our conversation, I came inside Jason‘s Deli, and a mother of four asked if it would be appropriate for her to buy the man lunch. The elderly man was grateful.

So obvious, the Lord needs us to be humble, share the gospel with kindness & love, respect and dignity to all.

Today after shopping at the grocery store …. I had the bag boy take my groceries out to the car. I reached into my chain pocket to give him a tip. I mentioned that I hope the store pays him a good wage. He assured me that they do. I mentioned to [him] that I was not use to having a bag boy take my groceries out to my car and that I was new in the area.  

[He] asked where I had moved from. I said “Guatemala.” He had a confused look on his face and asked where that was? I said below Mexico.

I then asked if he was named after anybody? He said “my mom got it from a Bible verse.” I asked which one and he stumbled over the words of “I know I have a plan for you.”

I asked, do you go to church much and he said, not really, but I go to an awesome church camp each year.

I encouraged [him] to look to Jesus.

Alright – here’s the story.  It’s so cool what God can do.

(For Context) – This year, I’ve had car troubles.  My catalytic converter was stolen; also had to replace some parts.  It’s been a tough year for my trusty steed.  Also, I love having surprisingly easy-to-start conversations about Jesus or just talking about things that matter with people, but I haven’t been able to have many conversations for a bit.

So, on 2/20, I prayed that I could have a divine appointment.  Just have one conversation or talk with someone that God wanted me to talk with or serve or love, etc.  I was looking forward to catching up with a friend for lunch (he had President’s Day off, and I could meet him during my lunch break).  So, the time came, and I left work.  As I was driving […], I passed through an intersection.  There was a car turning left, but I passed in the straight lane.  Then as I was going through the intersection, I felt a loud bump.  The car that had wanted to turn left had decided not to turn left but try to go into the lane over and go straight.  Unfortunately, my car was occupying that space.

I stopped (cause that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?), and got out of my car to stand on the median and see who was this person.  I will admit – I was pretty upset and mad.  Especially with my car trouble.  Then, I found out I hadn’t been hit by just anyone.  I had been hit by a French man! Like from France, who was in a rental car and didn’t know about insurance or anything and didn’t really think he was at fault.  We had a very tense conversation.  I tried to explain that insurance would pay, but he didn’t know what insurance was.  I said it’s like health insurance, only to realize that was a terrible analogy because France has socialized medicine.  He was also really young (23) and explained he had just moved to Dallas and America for a job.  He tried calling his parents in France, but wasn’t able to reach them.  I was thinking – do I call the police to get an incident report?  He thought the police would arrest him.  Like, I said – tensions were high and were not communicating well.

[The man] asked if we could get out of the street, and go to a parking lot.  I agreed.  As I was driving, I had a thought – would Jesus really be haggling over fault?  No – He would probably just love [him], see him as just a young kid who had his first accident, and as an alien in a new country.  And, I was now 20 minutes late for lunch.  I told [him] if he could just let me have pictures of his license and insurance, I would think about whether I would contact his insurance.  We traded phone numbers just in case.   I felt decent about myself – I had been mad, but had cooled down, and had wished him well.

Well, let’s just say you don’t easily forget when a red Chevy equinox driven by a bona fide Frenchman hits your car – it’s just so unusual.  I kept thinking, “That was weird.” What are the odds.  And, then God reminded me that I had prayed for a divine appointment (evidently, I hadn’t prayed for protection for my car – so be careful what you pray for).

I reached out to a friend at Northwest.  “I think I was meant to meet [him] for a reason, but what do I say?” – I asked.  [My friend] said, well, if it’s a divine appointment, just offer to meet and invite him to church.  If he takes it, then it was a divine appointment.  If not, then it wasn’t.

So, I did.  I texted [him] that I had thought about it and I wasn’t going to contact his insurance or ask him to fix (I had to wrestle with forgiveness on that).  Then I said that I imagine it must be pretty lonely to be in a foreign country, and that if he was open to it, he was welcome to come and visit church – it is a great way to meet nice people.  Almost immediately, I got a text back.  He thanked me for forgiving him and said that he would love to come to church, that he had been to one in France and that it was lonely in the US.

That Sunday, true to his word, [he] did come to Northwest.  He really enjoyed meeting everyone and seeing so many people worship at church (his main takeaway is that he had never seen a church so full).  I introduced him to young adults in our body (we all sit together in the back left).  And, credit is due – [lots of my friends] all took great interest in him.  I had mentioned to all my friends the story of what had happened, and people were asking me (whispering) “Is this the Frenchman”.  And, I would say, “Yes!” 

[This new friend] has come back to Northwest several times and has joined us for lunch (we go out for lunch every 2nd and 4th Sunday).  I’m not sure where things are going or even his story yet (just know he has a background in church in France and has been around evangelical worship music based off some comments on our worship songs).  But, he is so excited when he comes and is getting to know people.  And folks here are doing a great job on welcoming him to the community.  This is not just my story, it’s a story that involves God orchestrating so much and using many good friends at Northwest to love and welcome a stranger into our midst.

That said, God will do things if you pray that He won’t if you don’t.  I’m glad I prayed for a divine appointment, and that He gave me one.  Might have been nice if it hadn’t involved hitting my car though, but I’m not fixing it right now.  Now, I can see the red scratch on my car and have an Ebenezer.  

Thanks for reading my story.

A couple weeks ago (I’ll have to check my prayer journal for exactly when), something made me think to pray over my gym as a place for Gospel conversations. The front desk workers are always engaging in their greetings and farewells, and I wondered if my baking ministry could extend to them, or how God might use me there.

This morning, I was writing in my prayer journal at one of the lounge’s tables there, per my usual routine post-workout, and someone else sat in that area.

We accidentally made eye contact, he started a conversation, and before I knew it we were talking about Bible Translation, his church experience, and there were just several things about the conversation that were timely and ordained.

To top it all off, he used to work at the gym, so the staff that I was praying about how to engage, he knows them and also knows he’s going to have to explain himself to them when I left because all they saw was him having a 30min conversation with a regular who reads in the mornings. So… I don’t know what’s next, but by the end of the day the staff will have heard about my faith through this other man I met.

A very cool answer to prayer, and I pray it’s only the beginning at my Planet Fitness.

I have been praying for my neighbor, specifically for me to show her the unconditional love of Jesus especially when it might be inconvenient for me and my plans. 

God has given me 4 opportunities recently for this to happen. He has also redeemed my time twofold. 

Tonight she told me that my friendship and time has reconnected her to God. She also said she feels God had us move across the street from her for that very purpose. 

I am so grateful God has answered my prayers for my neighbor.