This week

I'm aware I don't post stories on here very frequently, if at all. This is for a variety of reasons, chief among them a desire to respect the privacy of everyone I have the opportunity to interact with. Today, however, I have permission to share a very recent experience of a fellow LCM worker which I hope will be of encouragement to you.

X was walking her dogs down the street on her day off. She had a leash in one hand and a spray bottle full of water in the other, in case the dogs became too mischievous. It was another normal London day. As she walked down the street, a man approached her.

"How are you getting on with the dogs?"

X stopped. This was a rough area of the city, and London isn't generally known for its pedestrian chitchat. (Let that be your understatement for the day.) She made cautious conversation, telling him a bit about the water bottle she was carrying. The conversation eventually moved to his health and how he believed he had healed himself of a debilitating disease. X was curious.

"But you're better now?"

The man paused for a moment. It was evident something was still wrong. X gave him time to find words to describe his current condition, and at last he told her about the demonic oppression he was struggling under. He said he was dealing with it in his own way, but X told him she had the true answer to his problem. As soon as she mentioned the name of Jesus, the man began to smirk. X became nervous. It was an unsettling situation. What was she doing here, on her day off, trying to tell a man on the street about Jesus?

Suddenly, an enormous man approached from behind X. This gentleman was "suited and booted" as the saying goes - wearing an outfit that appeared to be incredibly expensive. He was an African man and had a handsome face with what X later described as "a permanent smile". As this new stranger walked up, he looked at X and said, "Lead him to the cross."

X and the oppressed man both turned to look at him. The stranger repeated himself, "Lead him to the cross." and continued walking. Before he walked out of sight, he turned around and called out,

"It's only through the cross!"

Then he was gone.

This gave X the courage she knew she needed. She was able to continue her conversation with the man she had just met, challenging him about his unwillingness to believe in Christ when he was so ready to accept the existence of spiritual forces. She tried to get him into contact with a nearby Christian mission. As it turns out, that ministry was already aware of this particular man, and they are now taking steps to reestablish contact with him. Please be in prayer for wisdom for the missionaries reaching out to this person, and pray for Christ's healing and redemptive work in his life.

"How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: And "how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
- Romans 10:14

X shared this message with our training class this morning, and it struck me that this was the second such story I've heard this week. I received her permission to share her story online, and now I would like to tell you briefly about another.

I have the opportunity where I'm serving to meet regularly with a woman named H. H speaks Bulgarian and Greek, but virtually no English. Thankfully Yordan, one of the missionaries at Ridley, speaks Bulgarian as his first language. This is a tremendous blessing as it's not a very common language in the sea of cultures that make up Forest Gate, meaning H often has a great deal of difficulty communicating.

On Tuesday, during the meeting with H, an interesting question arose. I had heard previously about the day she first arrived at Ridley. Sammy, our Centre leader, had been trying to learn where she was from and if she knew any English when Yordan entered the room. It became immediately evident that they (quite literally) spoke the same language. As it happened, she had a flat very near the Centre and had decided to visit. That was all I knew about how she became associated with the ministry to begin with.

The question that came up this Tuesday was how she had decided to visit in the first place. H told Yordan she had been in England a very short time and was walking down the street when a Bulgarian woman came up to her and told her to go to Ridley Christian Centre. 'There is a man there who will speak to you in Bulgarian.'

H hasn't seen or heard from this woman since. They spent some time trying to decide who it could be, but Yordan doesn't believe he has ever heard of this woman or met her at all.

Please let this be an encouragement to you. So often we can fall under the burden of not knowing who to speak or reach out to. So often we can become frustrated when we come up against a barrier - whether it's fear, language difficulty, or any of our myriad limitations. Please be reminded that God is faithful and very actively involved. I know it's encouraged me.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
                     - Isaiah 55:8-9 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
                     - 2 Corinthians 12:9a