My crazy encounter with Jesus and a lady named Cindy

This story begins a few weeks ago. Every tuesday night for the past two and a half years or so, people from the campus gather to pray for the community and then wander the streets to speak the gospel and simply share the love of Jesus. Now, growing up I've always had a negative view on things like this which truly is based out of my own insecurity and doubts that God would really speak through me. There is no denying you can run into awkward situations when talking with people you've never met! When I first heard about this a few weeks ago, I thought the idea was great but doubted that I'd ever really be a part and voiced my opinion to those around me. Over the past few weeks however, I've been praying and praying that God will reveal Himself to me. "Show me something that I can't deny! I want to see something amazing!" I kept asking God. After all, it says in the scriptures that when we seek Him wholeheartedly we WILL find Him. It's just a matter of when.

SO, about an hour before the meeting last night I already knew I didn't want to go and even had a discussion at dinner about how I had somewhat of a negative viewpoint of what we were doing. Nevertheless, I go to the meeting with an open mind and see if there is anything I can learn from the experience. During the introduction, God began to stir something in my heart. Why was I doubting Him? Why did I have such negative feelings towards people sharing the gospel to strangers? Isn't that EXACTLY what Jesus and his disciples did? By the end of the short 20 minute meeting, we were ready to head out to the community and I felt something different inside of me. I prayed earnestly and wholeheartedly, "God use me tonight! Reveal yourself in ways I have yet to see! I want to see YOU move Father. Reveal your love and your faithfulness to us Father!" I teamed up with my friends Emily and Kelsey and we hit the streets. We started to pray asking God to direct us if there was anyone in particular he wanted us to talk to. My friend Emily felt that God told her to speak to a John in a white shirt at K-Mart. Alright! That's a start so we began heading to K-Mart. However, for some reason I felt we should stop by the frozen yogurt place first and see if there was anyone there. We ended up meeting the owner of the store who just happened to be named John. He began telling us how he was having trouble paying the expensive electric bill for his shop. I asked if I could pray for him so I did and just prayed that God would show him His love in a monetary way and just thanked God for John (John ended up being a believer as well so he prayed for us). After about 10 minutes we left feeling encouraged. Little did we know, this is when the craziness began.

As we were walking down the street, my heart and mind felt very unsettled as did Kelsey's and Emily's. I suggested we stop and just sit in silence for 7 minutes (I don't know why 7) to see if God speaks to us. After only about 30 seconds of silence (God is a lot faster than I thought!) I heard God speak to me "Do exactly as I say. Go to Wal-Mart, go to the girls section, you'll meet a lady named Cindy." A little surprised and confused, I mentioned it to the girls and 30 seconds later we began to march off towards Wal-Mart which is actually about a 25 minute walk. At this point I'm marching down the street like a man on a mission absolutely convinced I'm going to meet this woman. Get ready Cindy because we're coming after you! :) On our way we talked about how if we didn't actually meet her to not be discouraged. I agreed and asked God, "what if she's not there?" God spoke right back and said, "When you get there, wait 25 minutes." At this point I'm already very freaked out so I'll go with anything. "sure thing God," I say. Also, on the way my friend Emily asks me, "Did you get anything about a floral dress or a flower shirt?" "No!" I say back to her completely blowing her off haha. I was focused and determined. I apologized to her later though! We were about 5 minutes from the Wal-Mart and I looked down at my hand and remembered a ring I was wearing that had crosses all around it. Kelsey actually gave it to me earlier in the day because she got it from someone else who didn’t want it anymore. God spoke to me again. "When you meet her, give her this ring" "Wal Mart, girls section, Cindy, floral dress, ring. Check."

We arrive at Wal-Mart and I make a bee line for the girls section and begin asking every woman/girl I see if her name is Cindy. All we got were blank stares and 'No's.' God kept telling me to keep praying and be patient so that's what I did. I looked at my clock as soon as I arrived. 7:14pm. For 24 minutes we asked every woman we saw and I prayed. Hard. "Bring this woman here God! I want to see you move! Bring this woman to me!" At the 24th minute, 7:38pm God said "At the 25th minute, walk directly to aisle 8 or 9." I've come this far so I'll do anything at this point. As soon as the clock strikes 7:39 I take off for aisle 8 or 9 leaving Emily and Kelsey behind in complete bewilderment, them having no idea what I'm doing. I get to the aisles and begin asking every woman I see if she is the Cindy I'm searching for. Again, all I get is "No, sorry." At this point I get discouraged but Emily comes walking and points out a woman in the aisle next to me in a FLORAL DRESS and says "Ask her!" So I grabbed a pack of gum to go stand in line behind her and say, "Excuse me ma'am, I don't mean to be intrusive but is your name Cindy?" She turns and stares at me for a second and says, "Yes." My jaw literally drops. I asked her I think 3 times what her name was because I was so shocked. I turned to Emily with a shocked face and said, "I FOUND HER!!" I began to explain that God had taken me along a crazy path and gave me her name and asked if I could just pray for her. She agrees so we walk outside and I laid my hand on her shoulder and began to pray and thank God for how amazing He is and thank Him for Cindy. After praying for a few minutes, I pause and ask Cindy if this is making sense at all and if there is anything she needs prayer for. "Well actually," she says, "I found out a few weeks ago I have a cyst on my breast." There it is. "My mom had breast cancer!" I told her. She gave me a hug and I asked if I could pray for her again. I began to pray that God would wrap His arms around her and that He would give wisdom and direction to the doctors. I prayed for her for a few minutes and unfortunately her husband was getting impatient. She thanked me for my time and I went back inside absolutely shocked at what just happened. I looked down at my hand and saw the ring on my hand. I instantly turned around and booked it to the parking lot scanning the cars to see if I could find her. Thankfully, she was in the first parking spot. I started waving my hands and after they rolled down the window, I handed her the ring and said "I don't know why but God told me to give you this ring." She thanked me for it and we parted ways.

Looking back on it I believe God told me to give her the ring as a reminder of that night. There is no way she or I can deny what had happened was anything but our Lord and Savior! I was and still am completely blown away at the craziness that happened! Wal-Mart, Cindy, Floral Dress, 25 mins in the girls section, aisle 9, BAM. Our paths crossed at the EXACT right moment. Now I didn't lead her to Christ and I'm not sure if she was healed but I KNOW that if not last night then God is beginning to grab a hold of that woman's heart and I am so thankful, humbled, and honored that God used me just as I had asked Him to do!

I hope this can be a testament to God’s goodness and faithfulness that He does, in fact, work in mysterious ways and that when we truly seek after Him wholeheartedly and ask with an earnest heart, God responds! Have faith in our God and open yourself up to new ways of teaching and NEVER be timid about sharing the amazing things God has done in your life. That is the reason we are on this earth. To know God, enjoy Him, and make Him known!

God bless!