I remember many years ago, at a time when I had let my faith slip in a very big way, that I attended a course about Christianity at a local church. To be honest I hadn’t actually chosen to attend this course because I wanted to return to God but more because I was lonely. I was living in London, after having just moved there from a much smaller town. A lot of my old friends had recently left London and truth be told I only had one real friend in London at the time. So my reason for looking to the church was simply to make new friends. Nevertheless I enjoyed the course and after a few weeks of attending it, I had gotten to know my discussion group reasonably well.
At the same time the one true friend who I had in London was out of work and suffering financially. So much so, that he had set a date, at which point, if he had not found a new job, he would be returning to his home country. I desperately wanted him to stay, so despite my reservations I asked my Christian discussion group to pray that he would find a job before things became impossible for him. They prayed and I hoped. For a few days nothing seemed to happen, and then one night I had this strange feeling, almost as if God was speaking to me.
The message to me was clear, that God wanted to grant the prayer that my Christian group had made, but that before he did, he wanted to hear me pray once again. I hadn’t prayed to God in many, many years, so this was a big thing for me to do. Nevertheless, I desperately wanted my friend to stay in the UK, so I said the briefest of prayers to God and then went to bed. The following morning, I received a text from my friend. At the last hour, just as he was giving up all hope, he had received a call from a job where he had had an interview a month ago. They apologised for the delay in getting back to him but said that they had a job for him starting immediately. I was so happy for him and so grateful to God for providing him with this job at just the right time. Seven years on, and my friend remains in London and I feel so blessed that God made it possible for him to stay.
