May 2013
1 post
Ice Cream
We were at the beach on bank holiday Monday. We had enough money for the car park and our bank cards, but there aren’t many ATMs at the seaside, the shops were far away and we wanted ice creams for 3 hungry teenagers! We had (and we counted twice) £2.98, enough for 2 ice creams.
We searched down the seats of the car and the glove box etc for that loose change. No money. One of the teenagers...
April 2013
3 posts
Goosebumpy
One of the mums at Bubbles had been ill with a bleed on the brain, and we’d prayed for her in our Bubbles prayer time. So when she came early one week, we let her come in and sit down while we were setting up. I sat and chatted to her and asked how she was. She told me she was pregnant with her third child, but things weren’t going well. She was being sick constantly to the point of...
Two Scans
One of the teachers at school where I work had asked myself and another Christian to pray for her unborn baby. It was early on in the pregnancy and she’d had a scan showing that part of the digestive system was developing outside the body and so the baby would need early surgery and have to spend the early weeks of life in hospital. This was a huge shock, and had taken the family a while to...
Copacabana
This is a testimony about “God-incidences”…
A few weeks ago I met a guy (“A”) and his friend at Copacabana, a salsa club. After dancing with his friend we came back to the table and A said, “I’ve just scared your friend away.” It turns out they had been talking about God and she’d just gone to the bathroom as I came (she’s a Christian; he’s got some strange...
March 2013
5 posts
Library
One of my friends at work was telling me this week how she loves testimonies but they never have them at her church - so I told her about our little blog!
Anyway, this little story is more of a ‘Did you know…?’ or ‘Take every opportunity.’…
I use our library quite a lot and a few years ago found out that if they haven’t got a book you want, they have a budget for buying new books...
Graduate Scheme
I’m in my final year at university and am doing the customary job search in preparation for next year, and I decided to apply for BBC and ITV’s graduate schemes. I applied for the BBC and made it through the first stage which I was delighted at. The second stage was a verbal reasoning test which I thought wouldn’t be too much of a challenge, but after doing the test online it...
Management Course
I just want to tell you about a miracle that happened yesterday. My husband’s last job ended on 28th Feb, his next starts this coming Monday. He is on job seekers allowance of £76 a week for this 2 weeks. I got a phone call yesterday at work asking me if I could deliver a project management course today at Salford Uni to Masters students - I’d been recommended by a work colleague. I did, it...
Carpet Man
The men came to measure up for our new carpet the other week. As he came into the lounge to write-up he spotted a Christian book I’d been reading. “I’m just about to get that from Amazon!”, he said, and explained that he had seen the author on YouTube and thought he was excellent. I said the book was very good and when I next go in to pay I’ll be asking him if he’s read it yet and what he thinks!...
Dodgy Knee
Good news - it seems like God has healed my dodgy knee, which has been playing up from time to time for a few years. It has been painful for a few weeks recently but during worship last week I felt something like liquid being poured into it and now the pain has pretty much gone. I was talking to one of the worship team afterwards who said that Bill Johnson had mentioned at the Harrogate conference...
February 2013
4 posts
Gospel Choir
A few of us from church are part of a university gospel choir. Despite its heritage, it isn’t really a place where Jesus is the focus anymore so we decided to get together regularly and pray. We tried to start last year, but it fizzled out, but over the last few weeks have been able to gather before we go to choir to pray. Shortly after this a friend of ours came up to us and said that she had...
Instruments
Near the end of Friday evening Street Outreach, our team noticed a group of guys blocking the road with their cars, in a heated argument and gearing up for a serious fight. We stopped at a safe distance and prayed for God to intervene, to bring peace and reconciliation, within seconds the situation turned around completely, they were shaking hands and getting back in their cars, total peace.
So...
Colleague
Part 1 - A new member of staff started work last September. She’s a lovely lady and I had a few chats to her and made her feel welcome. A few weeks later she said this to me: “Sometimes I question whether I actually fit in with all the others, and it bothers me more at some times than at others.” She then went on to say that I had encouraged her to be herself and be different because she sees me...
Pockets
Around seven years ago I had an X ray on a kidney stone that had moved to my bladder. During the X ray one of the people looking at the results said, “oh dear”, which I can’t say I was overly chuffed about! It turned out that the inside wall of my bladder had burst through the outside in nine places. If you picture a silhouette of Mickey Mouse’s head, but add an extra ear three times...
January 2013
4 posts
Guitar
The family of a little boy I’ve been working with are atheists, but are happy for him and his brother to be at our CofE school. The boys haven’t really joined in prayers and similar activities, but are very polite and say how they believe in science etc. However, since I have been working with the younger one, I have found out that his mum is happy for him to go to the local lively church youth...
Jobs and Better Jobs!
Here is a testimony from chats at the school gates!
I have been getting to know one of the mums at my childrens’ school. We recently sat next to each other at the Harvest service in the church attached to the school and had an amazing conversation about church and faith. I shared an encouragement I felt Jesus was showing me and she really opened up to me about her life, work and hopes for the...
Salvation on the Streets
We had a blessed time out on the streets on Friday and wanted to let you know. I went out with K and my husband, I. K was already very encouraged as she had brought someone to the Lord on her way to the Beacon. We saw about 8-9 men whilst out of which all but 1 accepted prayer. K was bold in asking if they would like to pray the prayer of salvation. Three men prayed the salvation prayer, one did...
Sheets
My Grandad was taken ill over Christmas, he was having some serious problems with his bowel and was admitted to hospital. He wasn’t feeling particularly hopeful, but despite this, along with his usually nominal faith, he asked me to pray with him. So I did.
A little while later I got a call from my Grandad saying that he’d had a very strange experience. He said that he had seen fine white sheets...
December 2012
1 post
Home
I’ve been coming to Vinelife for about five weeks now and God has really moved in my life. When I came to church I had a problem with alcohol and went for prayer; now I’m 24 days without a drop of alcohol. I could not do this on my own, thank you Jesus! I love Vinelife, I pray it will become my home with a real family.
November 2012
4 posts
God is healing people!
We’ve started to see a real breakthrough in healing in our church over the last week. On Sunday during worship, Phil shared a word of knowledge about people who were suffering from long-term injuries sustained in accidents. One lady had had pain in her shoulder for nearly twenty years, but then a group of ladies prayed for her and all the pain completely disappeared! The next day in the Vinelife...
Sister
A couple of weeks ago, at lifegroup we prayed for my sister and my parents who do not yet know Christ. The following Sunday I skyped my sister who lives in Canada, and it turns out she has been going to a church for the past three weeks and seems to be enjoying it. YES God. God is so good!!!
Sciatica
For the past couple of weeks I have had worsening sciatica type pain in my right hip. I have had it on and off in the past following an injury but the pain had never been as bad or as constant as it was last week. Painkillers were not working and I was unable to sleep, sit or stand without pain. Last Sunday during worship I was in a lot of pain and trying to shift my position to lessen the pain as...
Trick or Treat
Last night, while much of the world was celebrating Halloween, we decided to do a Breakout to come in the opposite spirit - a few of us went and gave out encouraging words to people on the streets. At first the response was a bit dull because it was raining and people weren’t really up for stopping and having a chat about what we were doing. I really wanted to knock on people’s doors...
October 2012
3 posts
Back & Stomach Pain
A few weeks ago, within an hour of being at work, I’d heard of three colleagues who were ill. I’d prayed with two of then before but I really wasn’t sure what to do this time. I didn’t end up praying with any of them and was musing about it later.
The following day I went to feedback to one friend about some work and she was in a room by herself. She was suffering from...
Deposit
Last week I rang my ex-landlady to ask for my £200 deposit. She said that she wasn’t going to give it back because I’d left the property after a few weeks and not stayed for the whole year (even though the contract was on a monthly basis). She claimed that was how much she’d spent to find a new tenant. To be honest I wasn’t too bothered about it even though I knew I was being ripped off because I...
Spanish Surprise
A few months ago at Lifegroup we were giving out encouraging words and scriptures to people. My friend approached a few Spanish people and as they didn’t understand I was asked to translate. We had a really good chat, I explained what we were doing and why, and what the message they had picked meant. A good 5 months later I got on the bus and noticed that the girl beside me was reading a Spanish...
September 2012
7 posts
Pressed Down, Shaken Together
Here’s a piece of good news. Last year, one of my work colleagues fell on hard times: her husband had his own business and they had to declare bankrupt through no fault of his own. It was around Christmas time, and I put her name down for a hamper; a small one. When I came to collect, Stuart had ‘mistakenly’ awarded them the full hamper. My friend was very grateful and it was...
Breakout
On our last Breakout Sunday I was giving out the encouraging words that we’d all written and two young guys picked one up. Straight way I noticed that one of them had “wisdom” tattooed to the side of his hand by his pinkie, and on his other hand had “honour”. After a few minutes he came back and asked me if I could sign the piece of paper because it was really relevant and he wanted to put it in...
Smooth
I slept on my right arm on Friday and hurt it. It has been painful since, which makes everything hard because I need my right arm a lot. My friend prayed for me today after church, and as she said “smooth” (she said more than that as well!) I could see the muscles cells in my arm straightening out and the pain went. My arm doesn’t hurt any more. Praise God!
Redundancy
Around Christmas time last year I started thinking of looking for a new job. My boss was difficult, it was very stressful with long hours and a 30 mile commute each way… but isn’t amazing how long we will stay in a miserable situation because of the comfort of what we know? In my hesitancy God decided to step in, and in May I was made redundant.
I think I can honestly say that my over-riding...
My God is Amazing!
My brother and his partner invited me to tea recently and when I arrived the house was packed. I was a little disappointed at first as I thought we were going to have a catch up. God had other plans!
My niece was in the garden with her partner who is a Sikh. I noticed he had a big scarf wrapped around his neck and didn’t look his normal self. He told me he had shingles and was in a lot of...
Walk-in Centre
We’ve been encouraged in the last few weeks to take risks in our faith, and a couple of Sundays ago Phil was telling the story of someone talking another person in an airport queue and just asking God how to start a conversation.
The next day I was waiting at our local doctor’s walk-in centre, and out of all the spare seats a lady came and sat down by me, asking if I minded. Of course...
Progress
For the last couple of months I’ve had three problems crop up with my physical health - two out of the blue and one that’s been going on for a while, but not as badly. Whilst I’ve been giving them to the Lord, praying and doing what the doctor said, I began to realise that I felt quite limited by each of them in different ways. So after a suggestion from my husband I asked a few...
August 2012
3 posts
There Are Always Opportunities
God has given me such a hunger for opportunities to step out and demonstrate His love through the supernatural and I am constantly asking Him for circumstances to practice!
On Saturday morning I went to go and collect my Tesco shopping, and I was asking God if He had any way He wanted me to encourage the lady I usually see. When I got there I was straining my spiritual ears and eyes to perceive...
Arthritis
Many of you will know Stephen Pygott, who has been part of our church family for a number of years. Stephen has had a long history of health problems, most notably suffering from severe arthritis. Praise God, he has been healed from this illness! Below is the testimony that Stephen handed to us last weekend:
“I have been healed with prayer from Alan Turton (my best friend), from Vinelife...
Breakdown Evangelism
I had a problem with my car on the way to Church on Sunday. As I entered the car park my car horn started going off on its own and I couldn’t stop it! I ended up calling out Green Flag, which happened to be the 2nd time that week, so as you can imagine I was very annoyed. I reacted in my natural self, being frustrated at my circumstance, I was wondering why God was seemingly giving me a hard time,...
July 2012
2 posts
A God-Adventure
The Sunday before last my son and daughter-in-law were flying from Manchester airport and stayed overnight with us.Their flight was taking off at 9.50 so they left early to get checked in and boarded. At 8.30 I realised my daughter-in-law’s phone was on the landing with the charger, from charging overnight. I was still unshowered, in my pyjamas!
I showered hastily and dressed, all the while...
Wi-Fi
We often struggle with remembering our long and complicated wi-fi password at home, so my son offered to change it out for a shorter and more memorable one. Unfortunately the whole thing went down and refused to work. Both my son and then my daughter tried for ages to fix it, but to no avail. I walked past at one point and they asked me if I thought we should lay hands on the router and pray! I...
June 2012
5 posts
Ferocious Love
On Monday I parked my car somewhere you could only leave it an hour and then paid no attention to moving it in time. I even remembered I needed to move it, and then didn’t hurry to do so because I wanted to finish my cup of tea, and I told myself it would be ok. When I got back to my car, there was the well-deserved penalty notice - £25, or £50 if I didn’t pay up promptly.
I was very...
Phonejacker
I was walking down the street, on my phone picking up voicemails. I then heard God (not on the phone!) tell me that someone is going to try and steal my phone today. Was that just one of those little niggly feelings you get? Just a few minutes later I was stood with a couple of other people waiting to cross the road and a guy on his bike cycled past and tried to snatch for my phone as he went!...
WatchGood news never gets old. Here’s a video collection of testimonies from Reach last year for you to enjoy and get excited about once again.
You can see more Vinelife videos right here
You just never know...
I was down in Oxford last weekend but a couple of my mates from halls had said they’d come to Reach on Sunday evening. So, despite wanting to stay until Monday/Tuesday, I made the journey back on Sunday afternoon. I had another mate called Tim with me in Oxford who goes to Sheffield Uni. Tim was also going to stay until Tuesday but came back on Sunday because he needed a lift back up with...
Keep Your Eyes Open
God does things not quite as we expect - let’s keep our eyes open! Here’s my little story…
I noticed a cleaning company’s van parked on our estate last week, called ‘Revival’! Obviously that prompted me to pray, and in particular that God would revive latent faith in people where perhaps they were brought up in Sunday School but hadn’t been since (for...
May 2012
2 posts
At The Zoo
I recently volunteered to help out on my daughter’s school trip to the zoo. On the coach journey I sat with another mum from school and we got chatting. Almost straight away she mentioned how she had been struggling with a sore throat. I immediately felt the urgent prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for her! I plucked up the courage to ask and she said yes! So I prayed and asked her how it felt....
For I know the plans...
In March I was unfortunately made redundant, and since have been searching for new job with no avail. After numerous first interviews but no job, I sat crying out to God and asking what he wanted me to do. That evening, my foster daughter emailed to ask if she could come and stay for a while. I knew I could do that and accepted instantly. For the entire two months afterwards, I was paid for my...
April 2012
2 posts
Soul Survivor
I have a short testimony on how good God is and how he provides just what we need exactly when we need it! When I was back home for the Easter holidays (I’m a student here in Manchester), the youth group at my church back there were sorting out bookings for their trip to Soul Survivor. For the past three or four years I have gone, and God has really blessed me, but I’ve always gone for myself....
999
Whilst walking to church on Sunday, I passed a man on the street who was obviously in some pain. So I decided to stop and ask if he was OK. His response was “no”, so I asked how I could help. ”You can call an ambulance” . So that’s what I decided to do. I’d left my mobile in my coat in the car, so I went back to my car got the phone and called 999. After...
March 2012
8 posts
Light in Dark Places
I am currently in the process of finishing my final year of placement in a specialist support and counseling agency for young people who are self-harming, having suicidal thoughts or have been referred to us after an actual suicide attempt. It is pretty heavy-going to say the least! I recently went through a period of two weeks of feeling the weight of the task at hand, listening to young person...
Bubbles
I went to Bubbles last Monday to do a parenting Q&A session. It’s the first time I’ve been able to go, because I used to work on Mondays. I arrived as the team were finishing setting up, made a brew and then we prayed together. In the middle of praying, I suddenly could smell oil of roses - so strongly that I thought one of the team were wearing a rose based perfume. I asked, and...
Post-Graduation Fears
With only two weeks left of my degree, thoughts have turned to the rest of my life (eek!) with me feeling I really didn’t want to start a full time career just yet. So after discussions with the church, I decided I’d very much like to do an internship with them. However, I was out on a limb as to how to pay the rent and decided I would need to get a part time job. I was thinking that...
BDP
Over Christmas I was really unwell and was taken to hospital where I met with a mental health nurse. Before he came to talk to me, we prayed in the examination room - which seemed to prompt the most amazing time. The nurse continued to say the word ‘prophesy’ throughout our chat and was helpful, encouraging and understanding. I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BDP)...
