(June 26 - June 30)
[2]
Personal testimony: one young teen walked by, and I
saw as clearly as a blazing sun that she didn't
really know God's love for her. I sought her out
during prayer time and asked her. "Well, I know that
He loves me." Do you really know it? Feel it inside?
I mean, know it? The most wistful, heart-breaking
shake of her head. Yes, she goes to Restoration, and
knows some people there. Just started back after an
absence, tho. I started praying, hard. Knew she needed
both a touch directly from God, and some real, hardcore,
lovin' from physical people. It was also quickly obvious
I wasn't who she needed praying. It took a while, but I
finally found someone who could get one of her counselors,
who seemed to really take an interest. I later talked to
her pastor (Mark, as above), who knew at once who she was,
and said I was exactly right, and he would make sure it
was followed up. The Lord showed me the same problem
with one of our harder cases (but a tender guy for all
that). We talked, and sho nuff, he'd never known or
felt God's love at all. He'd prayed enough. "It
just don't work for me." I prayed, and again it was
obvious that wasn't my main part. I knew God had
something for Manuel last night. I kept encouraging
him not to give up (I also knew he needed to seek God,
not just be prayed for). He said there was no point,
but then went up. He finally got prayed for by one of
the leaders (I think) briefly, and nothing happened.
So I got some of our kids (the Lord kept bringing us
back to that) to pray for him. They prayed for a
while, and you could see the struggle going on in
Manuel on his face. I started waving others over, and
some guy I didn't see any other time during the conference
came over and started praying, and something suddenly
happened to Manuel.
They all prayed a while, and this guy talked to him
quietly, and told him stuff about his dad that had bugged
Manuel for a long time, that nobody knew (gee, where have
I heard this before), and prayed some more, and then
disappeared back into the crowd. And Manuel was more
moved than any of the leaders had ever seen him.
Similar things happened to several other kids in the
group. One kid who went to camp hating his mom humbly
told me today that the Lord has showed him just how
mean he had been to his mom (he has, too) and that
he needs to change how he acts towards her.
Last updated: 04 February 2002
Copyright 1995 Miles O'Neal, Austin, TX. All rights reserved.
Miles O'Neal
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