We’d had a night when we had already offered healing prayer twice – once to a man who’d lost his epilepsy medicationhe said he felt dizzy as we prayed which we trust was the Lord beginning the healing process, and the second time to a prostitute who’d asked us for gloves for her and her friend as it was a very cold night.

As we were getting the gloves out of the bag, she told us that she was still feeling pain from having accidentally sliced the top of her thumb off a few months earlier, so we offered  healing prayer and she accepted. As we prayed she started to cry and asked if we could also pray for her friend there, as she had recently lost her father. That was OK with her friend and she too began to cry as we prayed. I like to think that it was the love of God touching them that caused the tears.

Later on, we were talking to two street sleepers sat on the ground – well actually one street sleeper, as the other was holding his jaw and clearly in quite some pain with toothache, which his friend had told us about. The Prayer Pastors were phoned and on the case and I bent down and asked him if he’d like some healing prayer but he was in too much pain to respond properly.

So I thought “Well I’ll pray for you anyway” and walked a few paces away and quietly did so. We had given them some gloves and water too, so we said our goodbyes and began to walk away. Within a few paces I was being called back to the guy who’d had the toothache – “Did you just pray for me”? he asked. “Yes” I said, to which he responded, “Well the pain’s gone and that’s really freaked me out”!

I was delighted to be able to tell him that that was only a tiny part of how much God loved him and it was a real encouragement for us and the Prayer Pastors as we continued our patrols.