This month has been full of surprises - certainly the miraculous hand of God!

First of all, we have randomly and very unexpectedly run into a number people we previously prayed with, which was no doubt God building upon His calling for them on a personal level. Some were caught off guard, perhaps as a reminder by God that they haven’t been taking Him as seriously as they initially started to, while others welcomed the opportunity to learn more and share the wonderful things that have happened in their lives since they were water baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Various tradesmen that have come by the house have been keen to hear Don’s testimony — excited to learn about “real” experiences with the Living God versus the shallowness of their church upbringing. Of course, most of the time, it has been Don’s efforts in stepping out in faith to start a conversation about God. But, this willingness to “step out of the comfort zone” seems to break through the hard outer shell and cause even tough guys to open up about their struggles. It’s very touching to see. Most recently, we got to pray with a lovely older tradesman that came to give us a quote on our gutters.

Then, of course, there are the opportunities that consistently come about during grocery shopping. The most recent was at Trader Joes while there was a stunning double rainbow sitting over the store. A storm had just passed, and as various shoppers stopped to admire the bow, Don would ask them if they knew the true meaning of the rainbow. The last lady he asked happily replied that she did; that it relates to God’s promise to Noah and his family in the Bible. This opened up a great conversation, and after hearing about some of our ministry experiences, she was keen to accept Don’s offer to come back to the house to pray with all of us. She received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and was excited to receive our encouragement to pray in tongues as much as she can every day, and to go in faith that all things are possible with God. She had already been water baptized unto Jesus about seven years ago and attends a mega church with literally thousands of others each week, but she had never experienced the true power of God in her life until the other night when we all prayed over her.

Finally, during a week-long conference, we met quite a number of other Spirit-filled believers who also love to pray in the Holy Spirit every day, and we were able to share with them some of what we do for the Lord (always emphasizing that we don’t take any money for it, but rather, we do it in obedience and out of love for God and for helping to save souls!).

We even had the privilege of praying with a couple of different ladies who had yet to experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit. One of the ladies texted us not long before we were planning to leave the conference center. She said she wanted what Don had been describing to her because she had been feeling something missing in her relationship with God for many years. So, although we were exhausted, we knew we had to put God’s work first, so we stuck around the area to wait until she was available. We met her outside her hotel in the parking lot and prayed right there in a quiet corner, and she received! She was so happy.

The other lady we met after we felt moved to change location from where we initially sat to eat a very late lunch. As Don brought us the picnic bag from the car, he said he felt we should come out from where we were tucked into a corner and move somewhere more visible and busier. As a result, we ended up getting into a long conversation with a couple. They told us that they, too, had been thinking of leaving but then changed their minds because they believed there were some other people they still needed to meet. Praise God for moving upon them, too!

The lady shared that she was so thankful to learn she had been praying for the incorrect thing all these years - that she had been praying for the gift of tongues versus simply praying for the Holy Spirit anointing (and that she would simply start to speak in tongues as proof of being filled, as the Holy Spirit started to speak through her). It was a blessed end to the convention week!