Signs & Wonders in everyday life - Your stories of God’s intervention
Encouraging my Uber driver
I took an Uber this week and could tell the driver was looking hopeless, but prophetically I sensed he was a Christian. I started talking to him, sharing my faith. He shared that he had stopped pursuing God, as he was fearful of where he lived and was focusing on making money. I reminded him that he is divinely protected and that the ups and downs of life are so much better with God than without Him. I got to pray for him and his small family and he said: “Wow, God has sent you to bring me back”. I was so encouraged, as initially I wasn’t going to talk to him as he seemed hard-hearted. I’m so thankful that I did.
Lex
God’s care for my hairdresser
I’ve been going to my hairdresser for about four years and I see her every five months or so. We have long chats while I get my highlights done and I used to always invite her to Alpha, but she always turned me down. Eventually I stopped inviting her. About six months ago, I was busy doing some admin on my phone while she did my hair. Out of the blue, she asked: “When is your next Alpha starting?” I told her it was in a few weeks’ time. She said she wanted to come along!
She loved it on the course, and really experienced the love of God for herself. The next time around, I invited her to be a helper and she has joined our church small group. She told me last time I saw her that she and her sister are really worried about their mum, who has advanced dementia and their father can no longer look after her at home. They had looked around at dementia homes in the area and they were so bleak and depressing, as well as expensive. At one nicer home, there was a waiting list of eight people. The night before, my hairdresser had cried out to God for help as she was desperate. As she was telling me the situation, God put into my mind the name of a home and contact of a person I knew, whose mother-in-law was in the home. It turns out the place is Christian-run. When I told her the area it is in, it turns out it is just a few roads away from where she lives, but she had never heard of it before. While I was still having my hair done, I contacted my friend, there was a space available, and the cost was less then all the other places. Within a few weeks, my hairdresser’s prayer was answered in an amazing way, and her mother is safely in a lovely home. It is so exciting to see how much God loves my hairdresser, and hears our desperate prayers!
MJ
What God taught me on a challenging journey to South Africa
Last year, a friend of mine asked me to go on a walking holiday with her to South Africa. I felt I needed to do it, even though I knew it would take me well out of my comfort zone. My family were wondering how I was going to manage, but I knew it was an important journey I had to take.
My friend flew out a week before me, so I was travelling alone. As I was preparing to go, I felt the Lord say to me: “I am going to be changing your power source on this trip”.
Before I’d even left home the trains from where I lived to Gatwick were cancelled. I found another way to get to the airport, but on my way got a message that my 8pm flight was delayed by two hours. While I was standing in the check-in line, I noticed an old family friend who was travelling with her mother. Knowing she would be on the same flight as me really encouraged me.
Before the trip, God had given me several scriptures that became key to me. It was like I had these verses on repeat in my head, and with each situation I found myself in, challenging or good, I was able to draw from them, and apply them as I leaned on God.
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.
2 Corinthians 9:8: “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work”.
Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord…do not be anxious about anything…”.
While waiting for my flight, I decided to get something to eat. An official suddenly came up to me and asked if I was on a flight to South Africa. He told me I needed to go to Gate 10. I have no idea how he knew I was on that flight. When I arrived at the gate, I discovered the flight had been delayed until the next day. The gate was closing, but they were able to explain what I should do. If that man hadn’t found me, I don’t know what would have happened.
I was put up at the Hilton [in a room] four doors down from my friend and her mother, which felt like such a gift. The next day we returned to the airport for a midday departure, to be told the entire flight had been cancelled. At that point I just thought: “Wow, I have no way of getting to South Africa”.
Then I received a phone call about my connecting flight from Cape Town to George. The flight was leaving in five minutes, and the lady on the line said that unless I cancelled and filled out forms online, I would be marked as a no-show and charged. I had no way of doing that. I prayed for help and asked her if she could do it for me. She said she couldn’t. I prayed again, asked again – and she agreed. I didn’t have to pay for the missed flight.
I wondered how to get to South Africa, or if I should just go home. I joined the line again and found my friends. They had started looking for other flights from Heathrow with different airlines, and helped me find a flight with Ethiopian Airlines, with a layover in Addis Ababa.
I got on the coach with them to Heathrow. We were going to different terminals, so we parted when we arrived at the airport. I was so thankful to the Lord for them. I wouldn’t have been able to do everything I had done without their help, as I struggle to understand technology. God was showing me that He was changing my power source and that I had to be completely reliant on Him.
Throughout the whole journey I was filled with incredible peace. I just kept saying, “Lord, it’s over to You. You have to make this work”. My flight to Addis was packed, and I was seated in the middle next to a mum with a tiny baby. As we were landing in Addis, a feeling of anxiety came over me, and I prayed: “Lord, I don’t want to get stuck here”. As we were taxiing, I looked out of the window and saw a sign on the back of an airport van that said, “Follow Me”. I said, “OK, Lord, I’m following You. I will rely on You”.
I eventually arrived in Cape Town without any problems, then rushed to catch my connecting flight. When I arrived, the flight was delayed because the brakes weren’t working! I had only had about four and a half hours of sleep over two days of travelling, but God sustained me.
Throughout my life I’ve had to look after myself and have been very independent. This trip marked the beginning of the Lord realigning me. Some would see my journey as terrible, but I will never forget it as a time when God looked after me and showed me that if I follow Him, He will be my power source.
Emma
What’s your story?
Testimonies are an important way of encouraging each other in faith and we’d love to hear your personal experiences of God – whether that’s a miracle story or Jesus standing with you in the storm.
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