Early March 2020
I needed to return an item in town so went in late morning. It was strange to see children around during term time – presumably their schools are closed due to Coronavirus measures. There were less people about generally, which must be concerning to retailers.
On the way back to the car park, a couple of gents stopped me at their pop-up stand – something to do with beauty treatments. Anyway, being a quiet day, they had time for a good chat about all kinds of global and political stuff. They struck me as rather bohemian, alternative sort of guys, especially one of them - “Lars,” from Scandinavia. He knows a lot about conspiracy theories and is into all kinds of ideologies - but not Jesus. He did say, though, that he always found that those people who had experienced an encounter with Jesus (as I’d told him was my case) rather than just holding a belief in Him, stood out to him as having “real faith”.. Interesting! The other colleague - I think from London - is called “Joe”, a more straightforward, street-savvy kind of guy.
I really wondered how they would respond to my question about either of them having any physical pain and then an offer to pray for them! “Lars” said he thought it was only a good thing for people to accept an offer of help from others – though didn’t say he wanted prayer himself. “Joe”, however, said he had a number of health issues, especially stomach related ones and back problems due to two previous vertebrae fractures. I was genuinely surprised when he said I could pray for him. I thought both of them were going to – politely- send me on my way!
Joe’s back discomfort today was about 4/10 but can go to 8/10 after a long day and a lot of standing. I explained I would pray very briefly and he could just relax and then be really honest with me about the results afterwards . He was fine with that, now time to pray! After the first prayer, Joe said it maybe felt a bit different but nothing all that noticeable. He hadn’t noticed any sensations while the prayer was going on. I asked if I could just try something quickly and prayed in his back area again, this time commanding a complete realignment of his skeleton and all discs, back into their perfect position.
While my hand was still there on his back, Joe suddenly announced “Oh, it’s all tingly inside!” I assured him this was God moving in power to heal his back and was quite usual. He then said “I can actually feel like a stretching out is happening in my back! It’s stretching on the inside. It’s so weird. I have goose bumps!” he proclaimed. I reassured him that the Heavenly surgeon was at work to make his back well. He then went on “It’s much looser. I feel lighter there”. And as I took my hand away, he looked quizzical and, honestly, quite unnerved. “ I feel light! Umm…Thank you…for whatever you did!” I explained it was Jesus, not me, who did that because He loves Joe and wants to show him that.
Joe was clearly freaked out by what had happened and suddenly announced “I need to go and have a cigarette” and then just left the stand in a hurry! I didn’t even get to pray for his stomach issue. Sorry – no time to interview him about his experience either! Lars had obviously been watching Joe being prayed for and then leaving. I asked him if he had any physical issues he would like prayer for but, although he does have some issues, he didn’t want prayer from me as he has his own “spiritual guides”. It felt to me like Lars was also freaked out by the power of Jesus there at the stand today. All of a sudden he said he needed to go for a break - and left!!
Please join me in praying that today’s encounter with Jesus will ongoingly invade the thoughts and memories of these two searching souls, so that they too can come into “real faith”. in Jesus And that Joe’s back healing will be an ongoing testimony to the power and love of Jesus that simply cannot be ignored.
This quote from a well known book by C S Lewis came to mind after today - referring to Jesus: when someone asked if he is “quite safe”.
"Safe?"..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
(Quote from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis)