Healing

"LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me." - Psalm 30:2

It would seem that the girls at Potential rather enjoyed me doing a write up of last weeks events and so I have been asked by quite a few to carry on doing it. Well I guess that's not a bad idea! I'm not always the best at speaking but I do enjoy being able to get my thoughts down on paper (or laptop in this situation) as they just seem so much clearer there than floating about mid air. So after each week I will write up what we discussed and perhaps some things that happened and what I took from the night. Obviously because it is only me doing these write ups you'll be getting mostly my own opinions, so you'll just have to deal with that! Also I'm aware that things could get quite personal with this blog if I'm to write about these nights honestly. I'll just have to deal with that too, but testimony is a good thing so I shouldn't be afraid of being honest about myself. Things could head that direction in this post so I best just dive in the deep end!

Last night we read the other half of Acts 4, being verses 23 to 37 [click here to read]. This passage focused on the power of prayer, especially praying in the name of Jesus. We discussed our prayer lives, and we were all pretty open about the fact that we struggle with prayer. Praying's hard, man! People discussed their various methods of praying, for example some people used journals, some people prayed out loud, some stayed silent, some even prayed in tongues. One thing we all agreed on was that we all could do better. A lot of things hit home with me through out the night, but one thing to do with prayer hit home in particular. Now, one of the things I find hardest about living in Scotland is that I miss my friends at home a lot. It's quite hard to keep in contact sometimes, and when there are times when we go without speaking for a long time I get quite sad and want nothing more for them to just call me and we can have a catch up again because I miss them. We discussed tonight how this is what God feels about us, except so much more. He wants desperately for us to come and talk to him, to tell him everything, but we don't give him that. While I'm sitting in my room pining for conversations with my friends, God is wanting the exact same thing from me. From all of us! Makes you think, doesn't it? (Interestingly this is the second time this week God has pointed out that I'm being hypocritical, that's always fun haha). 

Now's the point where I use a personal story to try to convince you that this prayer thing is important (yaayyy honesty). There have been some things I have been struggling with unconsciously for years that have suddenly become conscious to me, and I have realised how much of a big issue they are, and it scared the crap out of me. I have been getting really stressed out and worried and angry and basically not good. To be honest I hadn't prayed much about it, because I was ashamed. My prayers were brief, mostly just "Help me God, I'm sorry God." However, I knew that this was an issue, and I could feel it bottling up, which is never a good thing, so I decided I wanted to talk about it with someone. I felt that this is what God wanted, so I was like okay God, I'll talk to someone then. I tried, and failed. I tried with a few people, either the conversation was sent other directions, or just went nowhere or never even happened in the first place. It was frustrating. But after the discussions last night, I got home and I thought I should probably just tell God everything, even though he already knows. For some reason I had left God as a last resort, wanting to talk to other people first. So I got home, sat on my bed, and decided to pray out loud to God, something I don't often do. As soon as I started I felt like God was saying "Yes Jo!! Finally you get it!!! The someone you need to talk to is me!!" It was very humbling, and it hit me just how much more I need to do this. God should be my first resort, not my last. Anyway, I kept praying, and I told him everything, all I felt, all I feared, all I wanted. When I finished I was blessed a sudden wave of peace and felt him say

"Jo... I will heal you." 

And that was it. He will heal me. I felt a lot better. So much better. I know I'm not there yet, but now I am confident I will get there. It's weird for me being open about this on the internet like this. It's pretty hard, but I like to hope that someone will get something out of it, and that makes it easier. So seriously, if you're reading this, pray, pray, pray like mad, it's so important! God wants you to talk to him!!

But let's move on from the intense stuff right now, and move on to intensely awesome stuff!! Speaking of healing, we saw something pretty darn cool tonight... healing!! (Never saw that coming, did ya?) Our lovely friend Keziah turned up last night with a complete lack of voice, couldn't speak at all, only whisper. That's never fun, so at the end of the night we prayed for her healing. The whole time we prayed I was thinking how cool it would be if when we finished praying it would immediately be fixed and she would just be like "hellooo!" again. Well... guess what happened. HECK YEAH SHE COULD SPEAK IMMEDIATELY!! Did I mention how important and awesome prayer was? Yeah. It's the best.

Pray guys. Pray.

Indiscriminate Acts of Kindness

Foy Vance & The Ulster Orchestra - Indiscriminate Act of Kindness

Tonight I was hanging out with a few girls from my church, in a group we like to call Potential. When I hang out with these girls every Tuesday night I can expect a whole lot of laughs and friendship and good times, but also awesome God times, I can expect to be challenged. Tonight we studied Acts 4:1-22 (click for link to the passage). One of the things we focused on quite a lot through out the evening was the acts of kindness that the disciples were performing. This kindness was recognised by so many people to be something of God, and many came to faith through this. Yet, as the passage states, the disciples were ordinary men, no one of earthly importance. So if they do this, why can't we?

How amazing would it be if people could see our faith and our God through the things we do every day? It shouldn't be too much effort to perform little acts of kindness to those around us every day, yet do we do it that often? No, simply no we don't. We could be so much better at this! At Potential this week we have challenged ourselves to go beyond the call of duty, and show God's love to our friends, family and even strangers through the things we do for them, the way we treat them. You never know, this could lead them to the God who first loved was kind to us. And I have no doubt that this is what God wants of us, in fact I had an experience on the way home from Potential that made this pretty clear to me.

I was almost home, and the street I was on was still quite busy. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this woman came up to me and stopped me. She was crying, clearly upset and freaking out. She explained her situation and how she had just had an argument with her flatmate and so seemed to have no way home tonight. She asked for my help, quite distraught at her situation and also the fact that she had to ask for help. I was able to pay for her buses home, and she was extremely grateful, trying to work out a way she could somehow pay me back, but I didn't want that. It was a brief encounter, I don't know her name, she doesn't know mine, I only know she works on the street I live on. I do regret not talking to her more, I would have told her about the connection she had to what we were studying tonight. Who knows, maybe I'll see her again. It was strange, I was not the only one on that street, in fact there were a good few other people walking around, yet I was the one she came to. Maybe she saw something different, something approachable in me. I hope so. Basically, I felt like that encounter proved to me that God wants this from us, he wants our kindness, why else would he have immediately presented this situation to me?

So, I want to continue this, not just this week, but beyond. This is our calling, and I dare you to take up the challenge as well. Be kind. Expect nothing in return. Show them God. And in the words of Foy Vance up there, consider it an indiscriminate act of kindness.