Two Christmas Encounters ~ by Julie Earl

There is no shortage of people out shopping the week before Christmas. I was just at Walmart and here are two encounters I had:

#1: I was looking at wrapping paper, and there was a gentleman in the same row looking for bows. Since there are still six days until Christmas, I said to the man, “Good for you for finishing up your shopping well before Christmas Eve!”

He laughed and asked me, “Do you still have a lot of shopping to do?”

“No, I don’t, but I bet my husband does,” I said with a chuckle. I said a prayer for him as I continued to decide which wrapping paper to buy. I had a sense that he was very powerful in spirit, so a minute later I said to him, “I was just praying that God would bless you. I don’t know if you are a Christian, but I sensed that you are very powerful in your spirit.”

“Why, yes, I am a Christian,” he said.

“I thought so. I feel like the Lord wants to encourage you that you are not only very special to Him, but that you have more influence than you realize.” I shared several other impressions, and then asked where he went to church. He told me he loved God and was very much in a relationship with Him, but he didn’t go to church.

“The bottom line in life is our relationship with God,” I said, “But I feel like God is going to lead you to a good church, and you are going to be a blessing and help others grow in their walk with God.”

We chatted for several more minutes about church and a few other things. He said he had just been talking with his daughter in the car about some of these same things I had shared, so he was very touched and thanked me a number of times for reaching out to him.

#2: After we said our goodbyes, I finished up my Christmas shopping and started to head out. Two teenage gals were standing at the Redbox by the doors looking for a movie. As I passed them, I paused and said, “Excuse me for interrupting, but as I was passing you I felt the Lord’s love for both of you. God has exciting things in store for you guys, and I see Him drawing you closer and closer to His heart. You are going to come to know His love, and are going to have tremendous impact as you express His love wherever you go. Do you guys know much about Jesus.”

“Yes, we do.” One of them said, “But we aren’t saved or anything.”

The other gal chimed in, “My parents are Christians.”

“Ah, so they’ve been praying for you?” I chuckled.

“Yes, they have,” she chuckled back.

“God loves  you both passionately, and you are going to discover how amazing it is to walk through life with Him. I could spend hours telling you all the ways He has directed me, given me wisdom in my decisions, and given me joy in the midst of hard times. It is awesome to walk through life with Jesus!”

We chatted a few more moments, and they were very receptive and had smiles on their faces as we said goodbye.

Both of those impressions were really faint (as usual), but as I jumped in and took the risk of being wrong, God was given the chance to be right – and He was!

December 19, 2015

Julie Earl is the president and CEO of Crazy About You Ministries ~ CAYM (pronounced came). She is a graduate of Christ for the Nations Institute and the author of No More No: Say Yes to God and Let Him Speak, Work and Love Through You. Julie is an ordinary woman with an extraordinary God living inside her. Julie lives in McKinney, Texas and is a Bible teacher, speaker and lover of Jesus!

Invite Julie to speak at your church, Bible study, retreat or conference at CrazyAboutYou.org.