It was Friday morning. I had finished my quiet time with a prayer that the Lord would use me for his glory.
Then I checked my emails. I was due to lead a training session and wanted to check final details. As my computer booted up, I was shocked to see reports of the tsunami in Japan and the devastation it was causing.
My mind went immediately to a Japanese lady I had met at our church in Guildford on some Tuesday evenings while her son was at our evangelistic children’s club. She was studying at the university, while her husband remained in Japan.
While I was looking at the headlines I felt a growing compulsion that God wanted me to visit this lady and check that her family was OK.
Holy Spirit prompting
I have felt such prompts before and have regretted not trusting the Lord and following his lead. So, this time I nervously decided to find this lady. I drove to the church to try and find some contact details, which after some help were found.
She lived in a gated apartment block in the town centre. As I went I prayed that God would give me his compassion and insight and that I would be bold to witness if the opportunity arose. The security guard at the apartments kindly let me in and took me to the right block. I felt God was literally opening the door for me!
However, when I knocked on the door there was no reply. No one was home. I had no pen to leave a note, so I left feeling confused and really rather silly. My ‘imagination’ had obviously got the better of me. I prayed again for the lady and walked back through town.
Stuck in a charity shop
As I passed along the high street I saw the Oxfam shop, and decided to pop in to see if there was a confidence-boosting outfit for me to wear for the presentation I was to do the following morning.
There was a suitable dress and as I now had some time on my hands I decided to try it on. The dress was fine, but to my frustration the zip stuck and I couldn’t get out of it. It was lunchtime by this point and there was only one male shop attendant, so I spent 10-15 minutes in the cubicle struggling to get out of the dress I no longer wished to buy!
God’s timing
By now I was fed up. I had wasted a morning following a hunch, but was doubting whether God had led me anywhere, least of all to that dress! But, as I stepped out of the shop, standing right in front of me was my Japanese friend!
God’s timing was perfect! I said hello and explained that I had visited her, but she had been out. She invited me home for a cup of tea and, as we walked, I explained my concern for her.
She was visibly moved and as we eventually sat together to drink tea she asked me: ‘What made you come to see me today?’
A big breath
In one way the answer was obvious, I was concerned for her and her family. But I realised the question was deeper. I took a big breath and said, ‘I felt that God sent me here today to speak to you’. Her face lit up and she smiled. ‘Ah, God’, she said. ‘I have many things to ask about him, but I was not sure if it was okay to ask English people these questions.’
We went on to discuss the gospel. She took a Mark’s Gospel and the booklet Ultimate Questions (a Japanese edition that had apparently been sitting in the vestry at church for a few years).
She has now returned to Japan and we keep in touch by email. I continue to pray for this lady. God obviously planned for her to hear the gospel that day and I trust that a seed was sown that will one day, somewhere, be harvested.
