Stories from Halloween (Part 3) Three short stories

Today's stories come from Mike Crockett from The Gathering, and from one of the Bridge Church gang in Beverly. Below are the posts as they were sent to me. They exemplify the change which often happens in us as we seek to help others.

From Mike Crockett:

Dennis and I (dressed in a Monk’s robe) met with Nancy, who asked for a “spiritual reading.” Nancy was a committed Christian who was going through a difficult period in her life, caring for a loved one. She also was distraught about what she felt were failures in her life and had been teased and bullied by fellow classmates years ago in High School, something that was difficult to get over. Nancy was also in her 30s and wanted to have children and didn’t see this as a possibility with her spending so much energy caring for a loved one. I shared with Nancy that sometimes, life just stinks, without rhyme or reason. I mentioned the FOOTPRINTS poem and the passage in Isaiah where sometimes all we can do and all God asks us to do “walk and not faint” instead of “run on wings like eagles…” I shared with her the difficult adoption experience my wife and I had which turned out for joy and shared with her that I had gone through difficulties similar to hers, particularly after graduating college, and described God had brought me through. She was so encouraged to know not just I but millions of Christians around the world often feel, like Nancy, that they suffer in silence. Dennis prayed with Nancy and we talked for a while longer. Nancy left the Vault overjoyed. -----

Diane shared with me a dream of her and her two youngest daughters driving in a car. In her dream, a boy her older middle school daughter liked waved from the side of the road. Her daughter, who didn’t want to be embarrassed by having a boy she liked see her, hid in her seat. Suddenly, in Diane’s dream, the car went in reverse spontaneously and landed in a lake. The car began to sink, and water began to come into the sinking car. Diane was afraid. The boy her daughter liked called from the side of the lake, “You guys need help?” Then Diane woke up. She shared with me she was afraid of the dream, and felt it might mean a bad event in the future – event death. I shared with her that even though, in her dream, the car sinking in the water, that it did not mean death. I demonstrated that a dream with an encounter with water, particularly a large amount, even a fearful encounter, can speak to a significant spiritual encounter in ones life. The boy her daughter liked could represent someone, or even multiple individuals, such as a community, who are ready to help her and her family through life’s difficulties. Diane left greatly encouraged, feeling her wonderful experience with us in the Vault was worth any amount of time waiting in line.


From one of the Bridge Church Gang:

I was able to minister to an older military vet who had been through a lot in his past in the war.
He was testing the ministry team to see if we were accurate or not. After we ministered to the others in his group we asked if we could get a spiritual word for him. He agreed and we all were able to connect and give him some encouraging words from God that were accurate. This opened up a little discussion afterward and we were able to encourage him to be the man of God that God had made him to be. We were using his language and I believe that all three in their group were blessed by our encouraging and life giving ministry to where they were in their walk with God that day.