In the early days of stopping for the one, I had to learn very quickly how to leave it to God. The outcome, the reaction, the salvations, I could not control the outcome, just merely obey, and leave the rest to Him because, God is Good!
. I was the last client in the hairdressers late on a Thursday night, when I was told by the owner that she could not smell smells.
As she spoke, I felt God ask me to pray for her.
I offered, saying I believed she should be able to smell all the lovely smells there were to be smelt.
She agreed, but quickly added that she did not believe in any of this sort of thing.
It was winter time, and dark outside. With maybe 10 hairdressers standing around us in a semicircle, I stood, framed perfectly by their brightly lit, street window. Passersby, seeing there was something going on, slowed down to look at the show.
It was quite the spectacle.
This was very early in my time of praying for healing. It was also early in my stepping out and praying for someone who did not believe it would work. It was intimidating. I felt intimidated by her, by her attitude, and by the line of hairdressers watching what was going on.
I nervously placed my hand on her and prayed for healing. I prayed she would smell the fragrances of heaven and that she was to be totally well.
I felt nothing.
No anointing.
Nothing.
I asked her if she felt anything.
She felt nothing at all as well.
I was so embarrassed, mortified. But I kept it light, thanked her for allowing me to pray, and said my goodbyes.
I cried as soon as I got home. Standing in the kitchen, I said to my husband,
‘It’s too hard. I want to give up. Stopping for the one on the streets is hard. I can’t do it ay more. I’ve had enough.’
Andrew listened and responded gently.
‘I think this is a step for her in her walk towards God. It would be a shame to stop.’
His words encouraged me somewhat, but I still felt lousy and angry at God for ‘making a fool of me.’
I felt completely responsible that she felt nothing, that nothing had happened. I also felt an idiot, knowing that I had to go back there for haircuts in the future.
Regardless, I shrugged it off and kept stepping out to pray for people. I also kept going to the same hairdresser for my haircuts, but it felt like a walk of shame every time I went there. Honestly, I hoped I would never see her again.
It was about 6 months later that the girl I had prayed for saw me.
‘I have been wanting to see you for ages,’ she said.
‘For the last 6 months, I have been smelling things I have never smelt before. I keep saying to people, “Can you smell that? I can smell that. I could not smell that before!” ‘
This came as a complete shock to me. I was feeling delighted, but also very convicted. I had nearly given it all up that dark winter’s night, and in this very moment, I was so glad I hadn’t.
Here was the encouragement 6 MONTHS after the event. Had I stopped because of discouragement, so many people would never have had an encounter with God.
It was an early lesson that I HAD to learn if I was to survive and continue the journey. It’s an essential one to catch. If we stop and step out for the one, we are not responsible for the outcome. We must leave it to God.
Whether they or I FEEL the anointing; whether we can discern the tangible presence of God is irrelevant.
To feel the anointing, while nice and reassuring, it is unnecessary.
God moves as he chooses, He reveals Himself as He chooses.
We are called to stop for the one and He does the rest.
This girl has since gone on a journey.
Further conversations and encounters occurred after this time. In one conversation, she said,
‘Every time I get around you, I want to cry.’
I responded by explaining that she was feeling God and His love for her. It was certainly not me, because at the time she mentioned, I was feeling stressed, tired and overwhelmed by life.
Her response was a flood of tears.
God impacted this girl repeatedly. Each time that I saw her over the years, she encountered God in some shape or form. It showed me then, and it continues to witness to me to this day, that God will be God. If we will just be real, do life, and obey, He will impact the world through us. It’s simple, it’s pure, and it’s easy. We leave it to God because…
God is Good!
© Beth Kennedy 2022
Reblogged this on God is Good and commented:
While this was not the first time I had stopped and prayed for someone, it was a critical point of the journey … I was so ready to give up!
It took 6 months to find out what had truly happened and thank goodness I had kept on going, and trusting God.
This girl has since gone on a journey…
She is the owner of the hairdresser I used to go to, and the last time I saw her was last November when she said to me … “every time I get around you I want to cry” to which I responded that she was feeling God and His love for her … because I can tell you the last time I saw her I was stressed, tired and overwhelmed by life myself so it sure wasn’t me … or anything contrived by me …
I replied that she felt Him every time because she was special and very very loved by Him to which the tears poured down her face … God would touch her over and over and over again each time I saw her over the years which so clearly shows that if we will just “be real” and “do life” they will see the light through and in us purely because … God is Good!
God is so good! He does what is needed when we are obedient to do as he asks. Thanks for sharing and reflagging. It is good to read your post! Blessings!
Hi Pure Glory – thank you for commenting. Could I ask a very big favour … a number of years ago, before I got sick, I felt that God asked me to write a book which included my stories as examples … at that time I had to say “no” to all work too so my income stopped … as someone that has “walked” with me with many stories ,… would you give me feed back on what you particularly liked as stories of testimonies? …. many blessings God is Good!
I’m excited, encouraged and just amazed by your stories! God is SO good and faithful. You stepping out in faith and obedience is all God requires from us and he’ll take care of the rest. As a Canadian living in Melbourne purely because God said so a year ago, your stories just fill my soul and remind me how amazing he is.
Thank you!!!!
Hi there! Thank you so much for your comment! You sure do know about stepping out in faith travelling around the globe in obedience. Perhaps you will share a little more of your story? Blessings, God is Good!
I’m not sure how I missed this comment so long ago! 🙂 Thanks for responding!
My story in a nutshell (also on my blog) is that in March 2014, God laid on my heart the country of Australia. There wasn’t anything solid that he was calling me here for (employment etc. ) but I sold everything, packed my bags and arrived here September 2014. He confirmed that this was the right step SO many times over in the most ridiculous ways! So I’ve spent the last 15 months trying to figure out what he has for me here and it has been the most trying but exciting time of my life.
Your blog is refreshing and uplifiting! I love reading your stories 🙂