by David Fawcett
We keep experiencing the coolest encounters when people seek prayer.
At the Nov. 8 food pantry, a young mother of two said she was inside a church for the first time since the pandemic.
A food pantry first-timer who lived nearby in Dale City, she planned on only coming in for food until she was invited to come into the sanctuary for prayer. This woman had never had anyone pray for her before so she was a bit confused at first why someone would do that.
She first asked if she could go up front and pray on her own. She was told she could but also told that the option remained available if she wanted someone to pray for her.
She chose the latter, and we prayed over her, her two sons and her mother. Still unsure exactly how this all worked, she did not state any specific prayer concerns. When offered the opportunity to pray for life in general, she agreed.
At the end, she shook the person’s hand who prayed for her but apologized because her hand was sweaty from prayer time and it had taken her aback. I took that to mean she was feeling the Holy Spirit’s heat flowing through her.
Here are a few more.
Before she received prayer, another young woman had this request: “I want to be able to bless people like this. Everybody needs it.”
While checking out the items at the first table with her husband, a woman immediately bolted to the sanctuary when she heard prayer was available. She came back later to make her rounds among the food tables.
And finally, this one:
A gentleman came in and asked for God’s comfort for his father. The man mentioned he had seven siblings. Team members prayed for the man and his siblings to be able to work well together and support each other in love to help their father.
During this time, God showed one of the prayer team members darkness (which he discerned as representing grief). Then the prayer team member saw an image of God’s large, opened hand with light shining on it. Next there were people standing in a circle in His palm, and all of the people were holding hands. The people were the man and all of his siblings. It was a sign of God's hope, comfort and caring while the family is loving each other, supporting each other and working together to help their father.
The image totally resonated with this man and he received it wholeheartedly.
We had 30 people come in for prayer overall. As you might expect, a number were government workers needing prayers dealing with the shutdown. There were also prayer requests for health and provision.
We handed out the rest of the ever-popular Beanie Babies and all but one prayer shawl our Dorcas ministry made. We also handed out at least five Bibles, both English and Spanish.
A real blessing once again to see God working in so many powerful ways.