Do you ever asker God for an opportunity to serve Him? An opportunity to tell others about Jesus? Since lockdown ended, I have prayed more passionately and intentionally than ever before. And I have discovered a new sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. I find opportunities to share about Jesus arising much more often.

Here is one example.

One evening I was in our kitchen at home and I felt like I needed to go to a local supermarket. So I jumped into the car and went.

Once I arrived, I knew I was in the right place. So I began looking for the opportunity.

Maybe I would pray with someone or share a story, or a simple act of kindness. I didn’t know.

Soon, right in front of me I saw a woman opening a ream of paper and taking out several sheets.

I went over to her and asked if she would allow me to buy her the ream of paper.

“Why?” she asked.

I told her that I wanted to, and I didn’t want her to get into trouble.

She told me to bleep bleep bleep off. I wasn’t offended.

During my conversation with her I was a aware of a member of staff watching our interaction from a little way off.

Once the young women left with her sheets of paper under her jacket, the staff member came over and told me off. She told me the woman didn’t deserve my kindness, and I shouldn’t be getting involved because the she wasn’t worth it.

The staff member was very animated when she was talking to me. It looked like she was deeply troubled. But the more she talked, the more I became aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

I gently told her my intentions were that the other woman would come to know there is a God who loves her. That He has an alternative plan for her life and that God is the God of the second chances. I wanted her to know God wants to transform her life.

The staff member wasn’t impressed by my words. She started to tell me all the things wrong with people.

“That’s why we need a saviour”, I said. And I was able to share a brief Gospel message with her right there.

Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and I shared it with her.

I said that I don’t know what the situation or circumstance is that has wounded her so deeply, but I was going to my car where I would pray for her

I told her God is going to do something so amazing in her situation that she will want to find out more about this Jesus.

I said goodnight, and left.

In my car, I did exactly as I told her and began praying for this lady.

The next morning I was meeting a friend in the same store to have coffee, when I saw the staff member from the night before coming into the cafe with a friend looking for someone.

She came over to me and said, “I told my friend you would be here. I just knew in my heart.”

As you can imagine, she got my attention.

“What can I do for you”, I said.

“Did you pray for me like you said you would last night”, she asked.

I told her I did as I said I would.

She looked at her friend with a big smile. As she was smiling she looked so different from the previous night.

I asked her to tell me the story, and she told me that after her shift last night she drove home. As she pulled into her driveway a car pulled up behind her.

It was her 2 sons.

After a massive family fallout, she had not seen them for 3 years.

She invited the two sons into her home where they told her how they had accidentally bumped into each other in a town where neither of them lived, and as they chatted they felt compelled to come and see their mum.

“Wonderful”, I said.

She told me her heart was healed.

She told me how they spoke and, amazingly, they hugged. “We don’t hug in our family”, she said.

Her sons apologised. “We don’t apologise in our family”, she said, “we wept, and we certainly don’t weep in our family. It was amazing!”

“I told my sons that you prayed for me and you didn’t know how hurt and broken I was. Look at me now!”

When she got to work this morning, she told her friend who stood with her now.

I looked at her friend and asked “what’s your part in the story?”

She got a bit weepy and said “I used to be a christian but…”

At that point I stopped her and said “just because you’re not living like a child of God doesn’t mean He’s stopped being your father.”

She said that because of her friend’s story she has rededicated her life back to Christ.

I looked at the original lady and said “are you going to invite Jesus into your life?”

Her response was amazing. She said, “yes” and went on to say that she and her friend were going to pray.

Amazing. Thank you Jesus.

This lady saw God touch her life, which opened her heart to receiving Him as her saviour. And God used her story to reconnect her friend to God.

I want to encourage you to be faithful in sharing the love of our God. He has the power to use your faithful sharing to transform lives.