Good morning people whose lives make a difference

…continued from yesterday

(By Martina Sonneveld – thanks to Australian Marketplace Connections)

The second one came a week later – Sam, who had been abused as a child in Christian foster homes. He suffered from severe depression and alcohol abuse and he told her his life story. He had told her several times before he was an atheist and did not want to have anything to do with Christianity. Now he came to her and admitted he tried to find peace at lunchtimes and went to the St Paul’s Cathedral and would just sit there for a while. He asked her if she could come with him to the Cathedral and there pray with him. Together with another new staff member, who was a Christian as well, they went to the Cathedral and prayed with him. During this time of prayer his face changed. All the anger and bitterness disappeared.

A few months later we met again and I asked her how it was. She replied that now five out of six had surrendered themselves to the Lord. Praise God! He was indeed powerfully at work in this office, and I believe the intercessory prayer of my friend’s mother and her friends had a lot to do with that.

The third person that came to Christ was Anna, an orthodox lady, divorced with four children. She suffered from depression and was probably one of the most difficult ones to work with. She and Sam hated each other and verbal abuse and swearing during the day was not uncommon. However, after she had seen the change in Sam and in his behaviour, she also longed for this peace and surrendered.

Alisha, a Muslim girl was next. This girl had been sexually abused from the age of 2 by nine different men. She had no feeling of self worth and was probably the roughest girl in the office.

The next one who came to the Lord was John, a Hindu Indian student.

That was a couple of months ago. Yesterday afternoon, when I came to my friend’s office, I heard about the last one, Nadia. She was suffering from depression, was lost and had no guidance in her life. She came to the Lord and is now a true worshipper. “You are my hiding place” is her favourite song.

All these people still need ongoing healing. But thanks to God they now have a reason for living.

They come together on a Saturday afternoon at my friend’s place to study the bible together, pray and worship.

Last night, seeing them all after hearing the stories and seeing their love for each other and for God was an amazing experience. Our God does work in wonderful ways. He will search for the lost in places where we would not generally expect it.

This story has taught me so much. As Christians we are placed by our God in the positions we hold for a purpose, as messengers of the Good news. We all are called to be a living testimony of God’s love for this world. Ongoing prayer is a key to a breakthrough of the Holy Spirit. And finally, we can never expect too much, God will exceed our expectations!