Testimonies from 20th December 2008

Sandy Flanagan, HOTS team member writes of one testimony from 20th December:

I spoke to a woman and was explaining what Healing on the street was all about, she wasn't in a rush to leave, and she told me how it was because of religion we have wars, conflict and so many bad things have been done in the name of religion by mankind... I sensed a deep sorrow in this lady, and felt I needed to ask her if she went to church, she said ..."Yes I did a long time ago".... I shared with her why I was out on the street and that a friend of mine was healed at New Wine this year. I acknowledged what she said, and that so many things in life are difficult to explain, but then I felt its not about the world... this is about her and God.... so I suggested we take faith back to the beginning and its about the fact that Jesus died on a cross for her, and he loves her very much.... suddenly the woman had tears in her eyes... I asked her  name ... .. I then used her name and said 'name' Jesus Loves you and that's the most important thing...
 
At this point she began to cry, I asked if we could pray for her, she smiled and said no, and as she walked away wiping the tears from her eyes, I could feel Gods love for her and knew God had just done something special in the woman's life. There was a feeling of hope and not despair and she once more felt Gods love and not the weight of the world...



Heather Bellchamber, another HOTS team member writes of 20th December:

We had another great day ministering on the Streets last Saturday. In a similar way to people's emotions at Christmas time: either feeling very joyful and excited; or perhaps quite stressed or even lonely, we felt that people were responding with either a great openness or quite closed-off this week, with little middle ground. This is something to rejoice in as we know that the Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing!
 
We had lots of very good conversations with people, and many 'divine' appointments, being able to reach the specific people that needed to hear about The Father's love. There was one guy who stayed and chatted to us for a long time, and said that he just liked hanging around us because it was so peaceful. As we prayed for his knee he said he felt peace washing over him as we prayed. We also had the privilege of being able to pray for a lady who felt unloved, and were able to speak words of truth over her of how precious she really was to Jesus.
One member of the team had a conversation with a lady called Ann, who had recently gone to a fortune teller, who had actually ended up telling her that she should go to the Carol Service this year! How God works in all things, and is in control of every situation; even the least expected!!
We were reminded that God cares so much for all of us as team members too.. as Mary, one of our team members, was healed by God too. She had had a bad chesty cough for a number of weeks that hadn't been going away. Praise God!