We have been praying for quite a number of people since the last post. I will post a list below with a brief summary of how we met them.
1) Ethan & Meredith: Don found a used golf buggy for sale online. The seller (Ethan) suggested that they meet at his mechanic because he had an appointment there, and the location of the mechanic is closer to us. Don agreed, but when he arrived, he discovered that Ethan was going to have to hang out all day because of an unexpected diagnosis on his vehicle. Rather than waiting, Ethan called his wife, Meredith, to pick him up. This gave Don an opportunity to invite the couple to join him for coffee at a local cafe. Don quickly discovered that both Ethan and Meredith are Spirit-filled, so they all chatted for a long while about the Lord, and Don was able to offer them lots of encouragement from Scripture. Praise God how He continually uses the natural circumstances of our lives to orchestrate His work, bringing important messages to people who are praying and looking for answers.
2) Unknown name: On the way home from meeting up with Ethan and Meredith, Don saw a guy standing by a busy road holding a sign about Jesus. By the time things registered in Don’s mind, he had driven quite a way past the man, and it was going to be an effort for Don to turn around and make his way back. Don wrestled for a moment, but the voice of the Holy Spirit won (praise God!), so Don returned, parked, and made his way over to chat with the man. He was there of his own accord - he hadn’t been sent by his church; he just felt passionate about trying to touch people’s lives toward Jesus.
The man was really receptive to what Don had to share, including Don’s offer of prayer. In fact, the man was keen to pray right then and there, so they did. The guy received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues very clearly! They only got to spend that short amount of time together, but now the man’s life has been changed forever!
3) Roman: We were having some issues with our air conditioning unit, so our home warranty company sent a serviceman to take a look at it. Pretty much every time a similar situation happens (with the house or vehicles or something else unexpected), we proclaim, “Maybe there’s a reason…!” Don even told this to the serviceman assigned to our warranty job. His name is Roman. He’s of Russian descent, so it was a little challenging to communicate with him, but Don trusted that if God was behind their meeting, nothing would stand in the way of God’s message being heard. And nothing did…
It took courage on Don’s part to initiate a conversation about Jesus, especially since Roman had very little religious background (and any exposure he did have growing up in Russia was very traditional and stifling). Roman’s countenance sparked as he listened to Don’s testimonies and encouragement that Roman, too, could experience the same. Once the work was done, he happily accepted Don’s invitation to come inside the house to pray with us, and Roman was soon filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues. Praise the Lord!
We further encouraged him about the importance of water baptism and using the Holy Spirit that was now inside of him. Even then, Roman had to come back to the house for some more work, at which point Don recognized the opportunity to talk with him some more. When people like this don’t go and take time to seek after Jesus after being filled with the Holy Spirit, they don’t water and fertilize the seed that was planted when they first prayed (and God answered). This is what Don was able to further encourage Roman about, so we pray he will take things seriously.
4) Sharon: One day, Elisabeth felt moved to go check the mail later than she planned. She did something else inside the house and then headed outside. At that very moment, she noticed our next-door neighbor, Sharon, at the end of our driveway. As soon as Elisabeth smiled, Sharon tearfully asked if she could speak with Don. As soon as she got inside the door, she told us that Lightning (her sweet golden retriever) had just died. Of course, the timing was perfect with Elisabeth noticing Sharon, so we were able to offer her to come sit with us and tell us all about it. I had to rush off as I had to get Elisabeth to an appointment, but Don and Ethan were able to comfort Sharon, and Don shared his miraculous testimony of the Lord healing his pain when his first beloved dog died many years ago. Sharon is a believer, but she had never received the Holy Spirit, and she was intrigued by what Don had to share — about tangible, personal experience with God through Jesus.
The whole afternoon just seemed to progress effortlessly (according to what Don relayed to me). Sharon was keen for Don and Ethan to pray over her, and she received the infilling of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, at which point she seemed relieved and at peace. Of course, I was overjoyed to hear about how things turned out, and we’re all excited to know that our lovely neighbor is Spirit-filled and able to pray in the Holy Spirit any time she wants to. I rely on the Holy Spirit for so many things, including comfort, strength, wisdom, discernment, confidence, peace, and deep joy no matter what is going on around me — and, I pray that Sharon does likewise.
5) Ryan: One of the local lake gardens is a favorite spot for Don to go to — to see what the Lord will bring to pass (to help people come into a relationship with Him or to grow their relationship with Him). Don prays most times before he heads out, and the Lord clearly directs him to someone with whom to share a message. This happened about a week ago.
The park was very busy, but Don soon noticed a lone man sitting on one of the bench seats with a Bible resting next to him. Don rode up beside him and broke the ice with a bit of a joke (which he often does — he’s good at it!). The man (Ryan — about 30 years old) and Don had a great chat. Ryan had just been water-baptized two weeks earlier in an AOG church, but he was still struggling to connect with God. He was so genuine and hungry to know Jesus.
Needless to say, Ryan was soon back at our house, where we prayed over him. He sought after the Holy Spirit anointing for a long time, but it just wasn’t happening. He said he felt stuck. Many words of encouragement came to both Don and me, and we shared what we felt God wanted us to tell him. This helped immensely, such that when we all continued to pray from that point, Ryan received the Holy Spirit quite powerfully — he was so happy to hear himself finally praying in tongues.
Ryan was keen for us to record a brief video testimonial of this experience (which we will post at some stage). He said many wonderful things, and we could see a marked change in his entire countenance. Ryan came to truly “experience” Jesus for the first time in his life, and he was very eager to go and grow in his newfound relationship with God.
6) Azalea park definitely seems to be the spot for meaningful conversations! Don has been going there more and more, realizing how often God uses him to share a special message with someone in need of encouragement. Over the last couple of weeks, he has talked at length about the Lord with an entire family, a couple who came to fish at the dock, and of course, there was Ryan (see #5 above). Plus, he recently met Chris, a Spiritflled young man who is married with two little ones. Chris ended up accepting Don’s invitation to come back to the house to pray in the Holy Spirit together. I wasn’t there with them, but apparently he was really grateful and could see God’s miraculous hand upon him and Don meeting. It was Chris’ birthday and it was his first birthday without his dad in his life who had tragically passed away late last year. Then, this last weekend, Don met Becky who was visiting the park for the first time. She had just moved to the area from Buffalo, NY, and the very afternoon she decides to come check out the popular local park, she runs into Don! They got chatting about Lord after Don shared how Jesus healed him from his emotional struggles (and physical illness) back in the 1980s. He was reponding to something Becky shared about her life. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Becky wanted to pray, so she came to our place to meet the rest of our family and so we could all pray over her. She received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and she got water baptized, too! The most amazing thing is that Becky knew virtually absolutely nothing about Jesus or the Bible, and she certainly knew nothing about the Holy Spirit. She was starting from scratch, and God mightily proved Himself to Becky so she can now begin to grow a strong relationship with Him without any religious baggage so to speak. How beautiful!
