I passed a woman in town. She appeared to talk to herself and I wondered if she lived in a care home. She said hello as I walked passed and I replied the same. She asked how I was, I said good, how are you? You could hear she didn’t speak English well.
Having done what I needed to do while in town, I wandered back to my car and here’s this same woman, swinging on the children’s swing set at the park. She looked at me and said “Chip.” Still thinking she’s not quite all there (after all she is swinging on the child’s seat in a park), I apologised and said I have no chips.
The woman said “No, chip, chip.” She made what looked to be wave like motions with her hand. In very broken English, she said “Cambodia, chip, I very sick.” I twigged then, oh, ship. “You’re from Cambodia and came by ship.”
“Yes, very sick and sunburn on chip. I sore legs and swing for exercise.” So, she was quite normal, mentally, just poor English. Ahhh, that explains why she’s swinging away on the children’s park set. I asked if I could pray for her. She asked how old I was. I thought she didn’t understand me. I told her I was 60. “Oh, 60. You very good. No pain?” “No, I have no pain,” I replied.
“I pain, lot pain in legs.” Again, I asked if I could pray for her and she agreed, rolling her trousers to her knees. I prayed, just a minute or not even that really. She thanked me for taking the time to listen to her and I went on my merry way. As I was getting into the Ute, I heard; “Hey! Hey, hey!” I looked across the road and here she was, jumping up and down, and running on the spot, arms waving.
“All good, look, all good,” she yelled across the road to me. “No pain, no pain.” To which I replied, “Praise Jesus. How wonderful!”
My adult daughter suddenly came down with an ear infection. She was in so much pain, she was in tears. I prayed and the pain left. I thought all was done. Apparently, while I was praying, in Olivia’s mind, she only asked that the pain go. She wasn’t exactly healed, but wasn’t feeling any discomfort.
Of course, in the meantime, we’d rung the local doctor. Being a Saturday morning, they couldn’t get her in. However, for $150 they could fit her in. They asked what was wrong and she said she had an ear infection. All of a sudden, the fee doubled. They’d see her for $300 at most. (This is a single income family. If $150 was out of the question, $300 was more so.)
I wasn’t there when Olivia made the call, as I was with her young daughters, otherwise I’d have paid for it. Olivia told me about it later. In the meantime, we did some more prayer and she felt ok.
Monday morning came around and Olivia made a regular appointment, without that exorbitant fee. She had no pain, but her ear was still blocked and by now she was vomiting. Not a good sign. Her doctor was mortified and said how serious her condition was. He was perplexed as to why Olivia was feeling no pain.
At the end of the day, a few antibiotics later and all was well. Next time, Olivia will know to pray not just for the pain to go, but to also be healed.
I have to tell you the story about the flies.
Whenever I’m out at our little weekender, my husband and I go for lots of walks. Oftentimes he’d have flies bothering him. He (the non-believer) would be shooing them, cursing at them, swatting them with a branch and I (the believer) would have no flies around me. None at all.
A few times over the years, he asked, “How come they don’t bother you?” My reply was always the same; “Because I’m blessed.” He’s since stopped asking.
Last time I was out there, we were eating dinner. John had all these flies around him and his plate of food. He unloaded half a can of insect spray (ok, maybe not quite half a can), while carefully avoiding spraying the food, but as this is a three-sided shed, they were soon back again. In his frustration, John vehemently blurted out; “Jesus Christ!”
All the flies left.
I laughed. I couldn’t help but point it out; “You can spray the flies all you like, but it wasn’t until you called on the name of Jesus that they left and didn’t come back.”
Gave him pause for thought.
My daughter’s dog got out recently. My daughter called me in a panic. This is a husky pup and doesn’t yet come when called. Plus, she is a bit of an escape artist, able to work out weaknesses in the fence that no one else has yet spotted. The last time Willow escaped, it took two hours to catch her and Olivia lives on a main road. Car horns were tooting and tyres were screeching as Willow darted between the traffic evading capture each time.
So, Olivia called me in a panic and I prayed. I told Liv to leave the front door open and she’ll come back when she’s ready. Olivia was stressed and I mentioned for her to lean into the prayer, trust God and not to worry. Within a few minutes, in waltzed Willow. Not a care in the world.
Fortunately, on this particular day and for the first and only time, Willow actually went up the side lane and not across that busy road. Eventually the fence weaknesses were all mended and all was well.
I feel the need to add another story, for God is the God who answers prayer. My 3-year-old granddaughter got her fingers caught in the cupboard. My daughter had to use some considerable force to open the now jammed door.
Heidi’s little fingers came out bent and at an odd angle. She was, of course, screaming. Big sister was crying because Heidi was so upset. Mother was also crying and trying to comfort the Heidi. I prayed straight away. By now my daughter had taken my granddaughter into her room and was cradling her. I was in my other granddaughter’s bedroom, comforting her, as I prayed for her sister.
I said to Stell, “It’s ok, Heidi’s fine.” I heard the Holy Spirit whisper quietly in my ear; “Stell doesn’t believe you.” So, I rephrased my statement, “Well, she’s not fine but she will be in a minute because I’ve prayed.” As soon as I said that, my daughter piped up from the bedroom; “Oh, look! Heidi’s fingers just straightened out.”
The chaos of the moment soon came to a halt and everyone was happy once again.
I have many more stories I could tell but I shall stop here. If you wish to see results like these, pray for Jesus to come into your life. He never refuses when asked.
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