The Lord's Leading Through England

Ministering at Hollybush in North Yorkshire, England

We have seen the Lord do amazing things as we continued on traveling and ministering our way through England. We just recently passed the date where we have been in England over one whole month already. We came to the Island nation just open to whatever God might want to do, thinking we would be here maybe only a few days or so. However, the Lord has been opening doors all over and continued to lead our steps so we have just stayed here and ministered as He has led us.

Just a couple of days ago we preached at a very powerful meeting at Hollybush Christian Fellowship, a church in North Yorkshire. God moved in awesome power as we saw many renewed and empowered with a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit that swept through the fellowship. Many were filled with the Spirit and ministered to as God’s presence moved gloriously upon the meeting. We saw a number of people ministered to very powerfully who came forward for prayer and healing power was released. In fact, Patrick and a few other young guys prayed for each other and each were ministered to by one another and some healing took place there.

How God set this up is equally incredible. We had been ministering in Darlington in the Durham area and having some powerful spontaneous meetings there. Before that we had been in Newcastle in Northumberland as well as having a powerful time in the city of Southport over by Liverpool. Our friend Heidi in Southport is an old pal through meetings Lonnie Frisbee used to do; Lonnie’s name and heritage keeps ringing the bell for revival in so many places.

Well, our friend in Darlington had talked to the pastor in North Yorkshire and found out that he hadn’t heard from the scheduled preacher for that evening’s meeting. He thus wanted us to come over to the church that very night and be ready for anything that God might want us to do. The other preacher never showed up and so we ended up doing all the preaching and ministering in a church of a couple hundred people where we had a very powerful time as God poured out His power with mighty manifestations following—truly a glorious and blessed time. We both shared different Holy Ghost Stories and passages from the Word and saw a double impact as God poured out His presence in double portion! We also had a woman share what a unique experience it was for us to pray for her, this was just in a casual setting at a lunch at our friends’ home, as she had only been prayed for once before; she really experienced God’s touch and wind and fire and healing as we laid hands on her.

Visiting Lindisfarne, early center of Celtic Christianity in Britain.

We had a chance to visit the island of Lindisfarne, center of Celtic Christianity as well as the location of the first Viking invasions. We have also been blessed with fun surf all over the place. In fact, a Polish pastor who was ministered to when we prayed for him in a home meeting asked us to come fishing with him, but the waves were too big for the boats to go out or to even fish from shore. I had the boards with us so we went surfing instead and happened to get 4 to 6 foot bowls with offshore winds with only about 6 other guys out or so, all on the East Coast of England! Waves like this anywhere else in the world, even in Cornwall or California, would have been packed with the typical ten thousand other surfers fighting for each wave. Since it happened on the East Coast, there just weren’t that many surfers around to catch it—even on a Saturday—Glory.

After a month in England with plenty of ministry in so many places we are over to France now for some ministry there. Our friend arranged a complimentary travel passage for us across the English Channel, which is a huge blessing as all this transportation expenses do run up the bills. We were blessed to see the famed White Cliffs of Dover as we pulled out of the Channel crossing over to France. In fact, we will be preaching this Sunday in Tours in two different church services, as well as a bit later in Paris at a church there. We appreciate your prayers as we continue carrying out the work God has called us to do here in Europe.

Twists and Turns on the Road

Scenic views along the English Coast in Cornwall

We just had a powerful move of God in a spontaneous meeting in Newcastle, in the north of England. We connected through a mutual friend with a sister in the area who set up a meeting that turned into a powerful Holy Ghost time. God moved in great power with lots of manifestations and demonstrations of His power, grace, and love with a lot of prophetic encouragement coming through for all there including ourselves, we were able to give and receive! We were repeatedly encouraged with just how “brilliant” God’s timing and connection was with our coming there at this time – truly divinely orchestrated! Every last person in that meeting was touched powerfully by God including children!! Those willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and respond receive blessings beyond measure – those too busy, pre-occupied, and averse to any risk – well they just miss out because as John Wimber used to say “Faith is spelled R. I. S. K.”

Little twists and turns can turn into unexpected blessings when you’re following the Lord. After ministering in London and seeing some of its historical sights we had headed out on the road:

We stopped at a little side of the road food store while traveling through the English countryside and while taking a moment to read some Scripture a woman asked what we were reading. Turned out she was a fellow believer who herself was on a small journey wondering what God’s purpose was for her on this little travel she was on. We talked a bit and then we ended up praying for her right at the gas station and she received a revelation from the Holy Spirit that this moment now with us was a divine appointment and then she realized a chance meeting she had with someone earlier who had a death in the family that she comforted was also a divine appointment. “Yes! Divine appointments! That is why God led me out, I didn’t get it before, now I do!” So we were mutually encouraged by the presence of God and for us another divine appointment along the way—we had one earlier with a Korean girl we spoke to as well. John wrote in his third letter that the brothers who went out were faithful in serving the Lord even though the people they ministered to were complete strangers, 3 John V.5.

Newcastle was the northernmost border of the Roman Empire

with many historic Roman ruins still intact

We took a quick turn off the road to look closer at some directions and found a beautiful medieval English castle in the rolling green hills. A little tour through it led us to find that the early Protestant Charismatic founder of the Quakers, George Fox, had been jailed there for evangelizing in the area. The Quakers were a radical group formed out of the Reformation who sought to fully follow the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. They would meet and simply wait on the Spirit and when someone had a leading, that person be it a man or woman, would share a short message or verse or prophecy or song depending what the Lord was leading. They didn't follow regular church structures or systems and for this reason they were heavily persecuted and eventually fled to the New World of the American colonies like the Puritans. Being jailed was a danger they lived with as George Fox experienced in this castle. Interestingly enough John Wimber was a Quaker and came into the reality of Quaker history when he came into the fullness of the Spirit. It can surely be quite an endeavor to find places like this castle, so it was such a blessing to just “stumble” upon it by the leading of God and get to see up close a place that reflects the price others have paid for the Gospel.

We ended up at the coast later and found not only a beautiful sunny day—quite rare in England—but also a nice swell running with glassy, fun conditions. We grabbed the boards and headed out for a fun unexpected surf session on the English waves. Traveling with a board can be a pain for sure—at times I thought why not just throw it in the Thames and be done with the burden—however when you come across some fun waves in these little nooks and crannies you are glad you have your own equipment, even though not on a surf trip, a few waves here and there refreshes and gives chances to witness to others who will never come in to a church. Furthermore God’s little rewards make all the enduring you’ve gone through worthwhile—which is very illustrative of the rest of the journey of the cross as well. You endure so much when you travel and seek to serve the Lord—long lines and travel hassles are common and it is not all endless fun and frolicking—however God blesses and rewards us with all kinds of little and big blessings as we follow his leading!

We also had a radical day in the glory and grace of God with Davey “Grace” Vaughn in Wales. The presence of God was so manifest in overflowing glory and joy as we reveled in the revelation of the incredible mercy of God. We also had opportunities to share the love of Christ with others spontaneously, as people regularly come up to him as he was featured on UK big brother. After being flooded with the love of Jesus all day we headed out and got lost in Wales and while trying to find our way back to the right road we somehow, by the sheer grace of God, ended up at a great surfing pointbreak which had waves similar to San Miguel in Mexico and grabbed a few fun Welsh pointbreak zippers--a real gift after getting lost and it topped off being in the glory all day long!

Grabbing some waves along the English Coast gives us a

chance to witness to people who would never come to a church.

Patrick

Bryan

Euro Update--London

We had a very powerful move of God when we preached in London, England this week. In fact one of the elders of the church had three of his sons get powerfully baptized in the Holy Spirit for the first time as well as some other kids who got powerfully empowered by the Holy Spirit too. One of the elder's sons had been quite far from God and was brought into a new relationship through God's touch.

We had absolutely no jet lag at all even though we had just arrived--thanks for your prayers! We did have some intense spiritual warfare just trying to get into Europe. For the first time in over 10 trips to Europe we were held for some time and questioned--more like grilled--extensively and basically had some accusations that had no application to us leveled at us for no reason, until they came to their senses and realized we were Americans and not trying to emigrate to Europe.

We have a more extensive update with lots of miracles, divine appointments, and lots of other stuff that God has been doing, check it out by clicking here: http://www.graceworldmission.org/news/pr_summer_2011.html

May God's richest blessings be upon your life!

Bryan, Mercedes and Patrick Marleaux

How to Get a Free Hotel Night in the Scottish Highlands!

We were traveling through Europe doing some different ministry when we headed up to the Highlands of Scotland on our way to their Outer Isles for our wedding anniversary during a short window of time we had available.

You just have no idea how interesting something is going to be when you stop to take a look, which is what happened when we decided to go to Stirling Castle on the way. What was planned as a quick stop for a couple of hours turned into the whole day when we discovered how much there was to see there, including the history of King James whose name became synonymous with the King James Bible.

Our extended visit at the castle, along with a quick look at old Nessie on Loch Ness, put us into dire straits when we got deep into the Highlands. It was high summer when the sun way up north there only dips a bit around the horizon and never really goes dark. Losing track of time in these conditions is really easy, which we did and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere late at night—though you couldn’t tell it was night—with that sinking feeling all hitting our stomachs. "Man we haven’t eaten anything all day!" Caught up in the activities and adventures we just forgot to eat.

Things were not looking good as we were hours up into the wilderness with nothing around and time was slipping away. The hopes of coming across anything that might be open in these remote parts to grab a bite seemed extremely dim.

Praying for something to alleviate our growling stomachs didn’t seem to bring much relief; no manna flakes appeared on our windshield so we drove on heading north towards our destination. Right before the road was about to take a steeper hike into even higher mountainous country I noticed a little dwelling we passed on the side of the road. There was no sign or anything so I didn’t have any idea even what the place was—it just looked like an old home or building--but the Holy Spirit impressed me to turn around and go back to it.

I had no idea what to expect. If anything, it could be empty. It turned out however to be an old B & B that had formerly closed, but just had been bought by a young woman and her husband that very week who were renovating it and had just happened to have put up a couple tables for eating.

We asked if they were open for dinner but we were out of luck. But then the woman there remembered that she had made some soup and happened to just have a few bowls left of it if we were interested. Anything tastes great when starved so I don’t know if it was some of the best split pea soup we ever have had or that we were just so famished that it seemed like it. Whatever the case, we filled ourselves with as much soup and bread as we could and then God opened up a door as the young lady sat down and talked with us. The Lord gave us a great opportunity to interact and share Christ with her for some time in a pretty relaxed atmosphere. God had obviously had more in mind for us than only food and we rejoiced at His hand displayed in the situation.

When we shared where we were headed she gasped and said, “You best be moving on. You have a lot of territory to cover to make it that far while it is still today.”

We rejoiced for a while at what the Lord had just done while we drove and drove towards Ullapool, Scotland where we had a room booked for the night. But then rejoicing turned into yawns after a while when extreme road weariness set in.

We arrived after 11:00pm looking forward to a good night’s sleep but no one would respond to our knocking on the door of the hotel and the door was locked. Nor could we get an answer when we tried calling the clerk’s personal number that had been emailed to us with the reservation.

We kept trying for quite some time to no avail. We decided to get out of the cold and huddled in the car but it didn’t take long to realize we’d be dealing with hypothermia in these northern conditions (we were near almost artic territory) if we slept in the car.

I got out and started walking around in the parking lot praying in tongues hoping to get warm and get some kind of answer from on high.

After I walked around for a while I sensed the Lord leading me around to the back of the hotel where I found a back door slightly ajar. I pulled at it and it opened and next thing I knew I was inside the hotel. I walked up to the front desk and there lying on the counter was a paper with our names on it, and a key to the room we’d booked, but no clerk.

I called Mercedes and Patrick in and we decided to just head to the room since we had prepaid anyway. We actually got a good night's sleep in spite of the weird conditions of no desk clerk anywhere to be seen.

The next morning we ran into the chagrinned desk clerk who asked if we were the Marleaux’s. “Yes” I said, and then I asked “and so where were you last night?” He profusely apologized and then confessed that he had drank a bit to much beer and fell asleep while stepping out for a moment over at a friend's, basically totally left his work post, he explained, as his face turned as red as a boiled lobster.

He then asked quizzically, “But how did you get in the room?” “Well, that was a God thing,” I told him as I explained what happened while witnessing to him.

He looked quite amazed and didn't know how to respond really and then just said “Listen, everything is free for you: Your stay--we'll refund the whole thing--go eat all the food you want. Just sit down and order breakfast—eat all you want; it’s all on the house.”

Those Scottish breakfasts aren't cheap and are more like a dinner with more food than you can imagine: Eggs, sausage, potatoes, vegetables, beans, bread, juice, coffee and on and on. We ate our fill and rejoiced in how the Lord had turned two tough situations into major blessings: meeting our needs at the renovating B&B and now giving us a free room and food there in that hotel in the Highlands of Scotland—Highlands can also mean high-priced so a little divine comp on food and stay here and there is certainly welcome. The Lord met our needs and turned everything around for good and then some, while opening the opportunity to witness about His grace as well.

Glory to God !!!

Soul Surfer:The Movie and Reflections on Kauai

Some scenes and spring surf from Kauai and Oahu

I just recently saw a screening of Soul Surfer, a new movie that will be premiering tonight April 8 about Bethany Hamilton’s story. Hamilton went from rising surf star to shark attack victim. She had her arm bitten completely off by a tiger shark while surfing on Kauai’s North Shore and had to endure an intense recovery from such a traumatic event. Learning to surf again with one arm, as well as going through the trying process of understanding how bad things can eventually be conquered and overcoming severe adversity, it is inspiring to see someone overcome such a serious trial in their life.

On another level the movie stirred a lot of reflections for me since Soul Surfer was actually shot on the island of Kauai itself, where my own uncle lived and where I was first introduced to surfing and gave it a try. It brought on some vivid memories of days there in Kauai:

I was just a little guy around our son’s age when I was eating lunch with my family at The Waiohai, a resort on the South Shore, and noticed some kid out there ripping up some waves. He looked about my same height and age of about ten years, so it caught my eye. My aunt said: “You could learn if you gave it a try. I think your uncle has an extra board in the backyard somewhere.”

My uncle was a surfer but had gotten more into windsurfing over the years so the board had been abandoned in some bushes in the backyard. I dug around and found the board and cleaned it up. It felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, so my dad had to help me carry it down to the beach.

I’d heard you needed wax for surfboards so we got some out of my uncle’s garage, but then I was perplexed: “Where does it go? Probably on the bottom like skis.” I said. As I waxed the bottom of the board some guys coming down the beach yelled out: “Hey haole, you waxing the bottom, what you a potato-head from Idaho, you some kind of kook ehh.” Well, those sure were some encouraging words, but it did lead us to the conclusion that the wax goes on the deck, not on the bottom.

I tried paddling out but didn’t get far trying to go through the soup with that heavy barge. So back to the beach, where we found a little cove with some micro waves that seemed more fit for a first try. A few paddles and pushes from Dad and I was up and riding some six to ten inchers on the islands.

Stoked from just those little waves, I got my first board shortly after getting back to the mainland and persevered through freezing water and harsh conditions, wearing only a beaver tail wetsuit, enduring endless wipeouts, crashes, and dings to the head and body, to actually finally learn to surf.

The transition from warm water Kauai to freezing water in California, and from a 10-foot log to a 5’10’ shortboard, slowed the progress a bit, but somehow I pushed through and kept going.

This was the time before the plethora of today’s surf schools and soft boards when “we did walk in the snow both ways uphill to school.” Back then you literally froze if you wanted to surf in California--wetsuits were just not that warm in those days--and learning was up to you and wasn’t always encouraged by other “local” surfers. We only had the regular hard boards in those days so when you fell, which is a regular occurrence while learning, and the board hit you, it was often a painful experience with actual blood oozing.

I spent time on Kauai on numerous surf trips over the years, hanging out at my uncle’s and surfing pretty much most of the spots the island has to offer.

The thought of the shark attack Bethany Hamilton experienced couldn’t help but stay in the back of my mind while surfing the very same spot on Kauai’s North Shore on a recent trip. It was a windy day so I was out there all by myself, which always adds to that eerie feeling. It was enough trying to avoid the long hold downs by some macking sets, but while I was paddling up a big wave face I was bumped hard by something large from behind. I nearly jumped out of my skin and didn’t really want to turn around and face what it was. Once outside I turned back and was relieved to see only a huge sea turtle—I could wipe the sweat off my brow, even while wet in the ocean, after that one. That definitely got my blood pumping.

Her story, as heavy as it may be, and its connection with surfing, has opened up numerous opportunities for Bethany to share her faith and be a bridge to others about Christ’s love.

God has also used surfing in our lives not only as a sport to stay healthy but to speak into our own lives as well as using it as a bridge to reach out to others:

After getting out of the surf on Kauai one day we went to grab some hamburgers. We happened to start talking to the girl taking orders at the burger stand and one thing led to another and we ended up sharing Christ with her. She told us that others had been talking to her a lot about “this kind of stuff.” Well, God had us there to explain a little more about what others had been trying to share with her. After talking a while and explaining the gospel to her, we asked if she would like to pray with us to receive Christ as her savior. Well she agreed it was time for a change in her life and we prayed right at the burger stand and a new believer was born again into God’s kingdom—Hallelujah!!

It turned out that one of those who had been sharing with her before us was headed off to Surfing The Nations that day—the same place we had just come from ministering a couple days before—wow, God really has a way of making things intersect!

The film Soul Surfer can be used as a tool for outreach. Hamilton, with God’s grace, has come back from one of the most traumatic and intense accidents a person could suffer. Recovering from injuries, accidents, serious illness, traumatic events, and the like can be a daunting task, pushing you beyond any resolve you may have on your own. Through my share of a long string of injuries, I have learned that drawing deep into God is the only way to move forward. Even though we may not understand all the why’s at that particular moment of some personal tragedy, it is still possible to let God minister to us and work in and through us. God worked in Bethany’s life through all the difficulty of recovery and readjustment, and can do the same for anyone who will open the door to His grace.

Last time I was on Kauai I was getting out from surfing some double to triple overhead surf at Hanalei Bay. I happened to walk right into Bethany Hamilton while heading to the car, meeting her briefly and talking with her a bit. It hit me while driving away that the challenge of surfing those large waves that day was enough in itself, and yet she was out there, going for it and charging those big waves, with only one arm. That’s something truly impressive.

Ministering with Surfing The Nations in Oahu

Pray for Egypt

The protests in Egypt are something that the Christian community should be keeping in prayer.

We were in Egypt some years back and experienced some different aspects to the place. Though it is not an open society, we did find the people easy to talk to and even found occasion to share the Gospel at times—though you gotta be careful. We also noticed how nominal it was—nobody even flinched when the call to prayers would come through the day much less go and pray; they’d just go on with their things completely ignoring it. We also saw firsthand the grinding and abject poverty. I was prepared for that sort of thing in other places like India, but in Egypt it caught me off guard in a land that once ruled the world as one of the great empires of ancient civilization— here was another example of a formerly great empire in the Middle East that had turned completely backwards. The contrast after traveling in affluent Israel, it’s next-door neighbor, couldn’t be more stark.

An example of how dire the social situation is came on a visit to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Egypt created a special division of police called the “Tourist Police” specifically to protect tourists from being harassed by those seeking money, handouts, and bribes, all day long, everywhere they go. Quite literally, one can find himself being followed all day by those seeking handouts if the tourist police don’t intervene. A law exists that tourists cannot be followed more than 100 meters by those wanting handouts, a law that is of course routinely ignored.

While at the museum, I was taking interest in an exhibit of a king who is mentioned in the Bible for battling with Israel: Shishak. A tourist police officer close by noticed my interest and asked, “You want picture?” “Sure, why not,” I replied. He suddenly cleared the room and made everyone leave and then locked the door. “Take picture,” he demanded. I was going, “What?? Man I guess I better take a picture the way this crazy nut is acting.” So I took a couple and he said, “No, no, take more, take more.” I took some more while he stood blocking the door from me leaving or anyone coming in, and then he demanded I take even more. I finally said, “You know, I think I have enough now.” I had every angle of Shishak you could want! While he continued blocking the door he said, “Now bahkeesh!” I was going, “What’s bahkeesh?” “A tip, you pay, you pay for pictures!” he demanded. I pulled out some bills and of course no matter what I offered it wasn’t enough. “How am I going to get away from this crazy nut? He is the police after all.” I finally had to show him that my wallet had no more bills in it and hey, my camera is full now too by the way—I got a mass of pictures of mostly Shishak from my visit to the famed Egyptian museum with all its different antiquities. I don’t mind giving some money to those in need but that was just weird. “Wait a minute,” I thought “that was the tourist police, they’re supposed to prevent this sort of harassment.”

The reality that most in Egypt live on less than two dollars a day gives some explanation about the desperation and the systemic corruption on every level there.

Christians should be praying that one of the main centers of the Early Church—Alexandria was amongst five key cities of the Early Church—could have the Gospel spreading through it once again. The Coptic Church still exists but is marginalized and persecuted within Egyptian society. The current situation could turn a number of ways, some bad, some good. If the wrong people take over it could be very bad. There are other possibilities though: It is important for us to pray that the door opens for a more open society that allows the Good News of Christ to spread within it freely once again. God knows they need it!

Obey ye the promptings of the Holy Spirit! ------- Making the Zwingli Video

Our recent video on the Swiss Reformation will give you a good overview of the Reformation and its spread into Switzerland as well as Ulrich Zwingli, Heinrich Bullinger, William Farrel and the Anabaptist movement. Seminaries charge you a good $1000 per class to learn this stuff, then just barely touch on the subjects, with the proviso that you need to do the hard work yourself to really learn something (why am I paying all this money then? was my question to those professors.) Well, we've done the hard work for you, on many essential historical and theological topics that are insightful and essential to understanding the development of the Christian Faith. Many more of our programs on Historical Christian figures as well as missions, miracles, divine appointments and a whole lot more are available for free by clicking here.

This video actually came to be through a divine appointment: We were in Biarritz, France, after ministering in Spain, when I was taking a walk up the beach along the Anglet shore. As I was checking out the surf, I noticed a guy sitting with his board up the beach and using his board to block the onshore winds while resting behind a little sand bluff. The Holy Spirit prompted me to go talk to him, so I took a step of faith and went over.

He turned out to be an Aussie living in Switzerland taking a surf holiday in France, quite the interesting combination, and a Christian on top of it all, something rarely encountered in this area of France—well, you could say that for any area of France, just even more so for the South Coastal regions.

It was not much of a day for surf due to the onshore wind conditions, so we spent some time talking and hanging out and eventually exchanged information.

Later on, I contacted him on the way to Switzerland and, after talking for a bit, he ended up having us stay for a bit in his flat. It seemed so strange to think we were staying for free here in the expensive city of Zurich, Switzerland, all through a divine appointment while checking out the surf in France. Even more interesting is that we ended up ministering later on in Switzerland as well.

While in the city, we noticed what striking scenery it had. And, also remembering all of its rich Reformation history, we grabbed the camera and threw together some videos, doing our best to avoid what we could of the seeming constant construction noise everywhere, prosperity is all a good and fine thing, but it gets a little annoying while filming.

Well, we did our thing there in Zurich for a bit and then figured it was time to pack up and head out to some ministry we had planned elsewhere. We went out the night before to book some train tickets when something went horribly wrong with our calculations and we were now almost completely out of cash, not a hard thing to do in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I was pretty frustrated and concerned the whole way back to our friend's flat, and spent most of the night not sleeping but mulling over how did we come up so short.

Coming up short of cash happens easily while traveling in Europe, especially in Switzerland--travel books tell tales of American tourists jumping back on the train shortly after they got off and scrambling out of the place as quick as possible when they see the prices.

We had never said a word to our Aussie/Swiss host about our financial situation but when we were headed out the door the next morning he casually handed us an envelope without saying a word to either of us. I opened it up a little later down the road and was surprised to find not a card or letter but a good amount of Swiss francs, which met our needs and then some for that time, this from a guy we just met on the beach in France.

I then remembered that, in the middle of that last night, I had been semi-praying while half asleep in a state of semi-comatose-sleep-waking frustation: “Oh Lord, how much money and gold is stored in these vaults underneath this city…Please Lord, break open a vault and bring us some supply right away.” It was a half-conscious prayer that was born of desperation and frustration, but God knows what we need even before we ask, even if not making some "positive confession" of faith.

Well, Swiss Francs and coins have a very unique look to them and when I thought about it and the generous amount he had given us, it did look like someone had broken open a vault to give us some immediate supply.

We got to stay in Zurich for free in what is well-known as a prohibitively-expensive city, filmed some important videos of the Reformation, and got our financial needs met supernaturally, all through one step of obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit when on the beach in France.

When thinking how God supplied our financial needs it also struck me that God sure has a way of answering what was a strange prayer in a most surprising way! Even though he knows our needs before we ask (Matt. 6:8.) He often waits and brings us to that point of having us cry out to Him in prayer first so He can demonstrate that He is responding to our prayers.

Glory!!!!