We had another great day here in Hamtramck. So often today we could see how God was creating divine appointments with people in need of the gospel for us. He had clearly gone before us and prepared hearts for the words and message we would share. We came across many people today door to door, on the streets, in businesses and at the parks who were so open to the good news we were sharing.
I am amazed and grateful for the kindness and hospitality shown by the people we meet. At so many of the houses we go to they offer us drinks, snacks or invite us in and will talk with us and listen to us for a long time. It was personally convicting for me and some of our team because we don’t often treat strangers at our door as well as they treat us.
There are people we come in contact with who are resistant to us or to the word of God. We had a woman refuse prayer today and send us away, there are some who want to argue and tell us we are wrong. Those interactions can be difficult to take, however like the parable of the sower we know that some seeds will fall on hard soil. We continue to sow seeds in search of the hearts that are like the good soil.
So often today when praying for people and sharing the good news with them they would say things like, this is really beautiful what you are doing. Or we need more people out doing things like this. So many are so appreciative of the prayer and the love that we share with them. Our waiter at dinner last night was a great example, we invited him to pray with us before we ate and asked how we could pray for him. He was prayed for by name and when we were leaving he thanked us repeatedly for praying for him and seemed so touched by that simple act. I thank God for interactions like this because it reminds me about how what we are doing here can easily be brought back and done in Grand Rapids. Praying for people here and showing them God’s love has opened up so many people to hearing the Gospel. That is something I need to continue to do when I get back.
We are all very tired after the day, it hit us when we sat down for dinner how tired and spiritually drained we were. But during our time of debrief and talking through the day John counted up and told us that around 50 people had heard the gospel in these first two days. That was amazing to hear! We have several people who invited us back, or that we want to connect with again this week. People who were interested, who had questions and wanted to talk more when they had time. We are continuing to lift them and those future conversations to God in prayer.
Grace and Peace,
Emily England & The Team