This update is quite a bit late, but it’s still an important movement of God in the lives of His children!
Kayte and I set out to find people to pray for when we came across a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk. We wanted to check if he was still alive, and we had bread to give him upon waking, but we couldn’t wake him. As we waited by him, trying to decide what to do, I noticed a guy coming up the sidewalk with a crutch and a boot and thought hey maybe we could pray for this guy. He and his friend were also concerned about the homeless man, so they made loud noises to try and get him to stir, and soon enough we found out he was breathing. What a relief!
So we started talking to these men just getting to know them a bit. There’s no formula for praying for people, but it turns out being genuine and taking a genuine interest in people is key. Just being the love of Jesus Christ and speaking truth into these peoples’ lives. Anyway, this guy had an injured his Achilles tendon in soccer. So we continued talking for a while and our other friends from our group met up with us, introduced themselves and all that jazz, and asked if we had gotten to pray for his leg yet. He said he had people pray for him, but more prayer wouldn’t hurt. So we all said a quick prayer. Instantly he felt a warmth wrap around his leg in the boot. He had to leave because he was playing a show, but later on we saw him again, and he didn’t need the crutch for support! Later on that week we got back in touch with him and he was almost completely healed. The recovery went from a few months to a few weeks within the time of that short prayer. Praise God!
Karissa and I had the privilege of being a part of two back healings on the same night.
We were on our way to say hello to the guitarist across the street, when I noticed a blonde woman all alone smoking in the cove of a shop front. I felt God pressing me to talk to her, so Karissa and I went back across the street. We had a short conversation with her. She didn’t want any prayer, but it’s cool, we don’t need to force it on anyone, just offer the invitation. Anyway, that conversation was the vehicle for being in the right place at the right time.
Shortly after the woman finished her cigarette and disappeared into the bar again, a group of drunk men walked by. They were from a bachelor party, on a mission to get the groom to do a bunch of crazy stunts. One of the items on their list was to bite a baguette, so I let the groom eat the bread roll I had been carrying around. He felt bad about it though, and his friends offered money for it, but we didn’t accept it because the bread was pretty cheap anyway.
So Karissa asked if any of them had back pain, recalling an impression that God gave her earlier that he wanted to heal someone’s back pain. One man spoke up saying he was having problems with it all night. She asked if we could pray for his back. He accepted. So we said a quick prayer with his hand on his back and Karissa’s over his, and just like that he instantly felt relief. He high-fived us and shouted “Yeah, Jesus healed my back! Right on! We’re Catholic. Nah, just kidding.”
His friends who wandered a few feet came back. He told them about his healing. Karissa asked if anyone else had back pain, and one guy spoke up about a pinched nerve in his back he had trouble with frequently. Without even asking if he wanted prayer, his friend who received the healing started turning him around so we could lay our hands on his back like “Dude, you gotta try this!” He agreed to letting us pray for him and again, he felt instantly better (though uncertain if completely healed).
So yeah. It was a cool experience getting to be a part of someone’s healing like that. And it just goes to show that God really is faithful if you follow him, even in the smallest ways like deciding to go back across the street to talk to that lady—he brought the right people to us!
God is good all the time. Yay, God!
