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The Holy Spirit Always Follows Up
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Pocket Full of Quarters Trek 2013
The Holy Spirit Always Follows Us
By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13
When people call on the name of Jesus, the Holy Spirit always follows up. He connects the dots. He chains things together in ways we cannot imagine. He goes before us and prepares the way. He works when we don’t see Him or know it. He works backwards by forgiving past sins and redeeming the lost and forward by preparing the way and adding to the work we do on earth. He never stops and certainly never ceases to amaze me.
When I woke this morning, I realized I was 6 hours from Amarillo, Texas and The Big Texan. I had only planned to drive 4 hours but I couldn’t stop. I visited The Big Texan on my first missionary journey in 2002. No – I have never taken the “Eat all 72 ounces and all the sides in the right amount of time and you get the steak free” challenge. My 10-ounce steak lasts 3 meals.
The Big Texan is a party. The shooting gallery and games blink and sing. People take pictures by the stuffed grizzly bear and in the giant rocking chair. Musicians travel from table to table and take requests. The wait staffs dresses in full cowboy garb and are a hoot. People cheer and watch the ticking clock as brave souls sit at the head table turning green at the gills trying for a free steak. Limousines sporting steer horns pick us up at campgrounds and customers sit at long wooden tables eating together.
As I drove, I remembered the past Divine Encounters from there. A couple who had given up on God because their only child had died, prayed and invited Jesus back into their lives. Wait staff, limousine drivers, and customers met Jesus there. I’ve taken at least 3 others from this ministry over the years and we’ve encouraged and prayed for countless people. I saw faces in my mind and prayed for them, knowing that the Holy Spirit was still following up with them.
When the driver picked me up tonight, I recognized him immediately as someone who had prayed to receive Jesus in 2012.
“You’re the quarters lady,” he said excitedly.
“Good memory,” I said. “We prayed together last year.”
“I still have your card and quarter. I was just looking at it this week.”
“How are you? Did you start going to your mother’s church like we talked about?” Thank you Holy Spirit for supplying that detail.
“I did in the beginning,” he said. “My brother got married and he and his new wife even started going there.” Thank you Holy Spirit for adding to the work. “They still go. I work most Sundays so I’m not going as much. I looked at your card this week and thought that I needed to do something about that and now you’re here.”
“I think you do need to do something,” I teased. “God worked pretty hard to put me in your limousine. I know there are many drivers and yet here you are. I almost stopped and camped about two hours back. God must want you in church. What about your daughter? Don’t I remember that you’re divorced and worried about your relationship with her?” You have no idea what a miracle it was that I was putting the right story with the right person.
“Things are better. She has moved here and just had a baby.” Thank you Holy Spirit for answering that prayer.
“It sounds like God is doing good things. I’m looking for a church for tomorrow morning. What church does your mom go to?” He gave me the name and his mother’s name. Maybe I’ll actually meet her and his brother and sister-in-law. He also committed to go to church on Wednesday nights even if he couldn’t go on Sundays.
Later, it was rewarding when the musicians remembered me from last year. I asked for my favorite hymn, In a Garden.
“Yep,” one of the singers said. “We like it when people ask for these kinds of songs. You were sitting at that table right over there last year.” He was right.
“I seem to remember that all of you already love Jesus,” I said. I found that out when I was there in 2002.
“For a long time now,” he said, nodding as they started to play and sing.
The Holy Spirit miraculously follows up when anyone calls on the name of Jesus. At Pocket Full of Change Ministries, we try to follow up and usually succeed but the Holy Spirit always follows up.
Once, after praying to receive Jesus, a woman had to bolt to catch an airplane without me giving her any information or telling her what to do next. I found out later that God sat her next to a preacher on the plane who explained to her what she did, what she needed to do next, and gave her a Bible. I could tell many stories like that.
It is a special gift to me when the Holy Spirit miraculously puts me in the right place at the right time to follow up with someone I led to Jesus in the past. Sometimes I meet people hundreds of miles from where I met them originally and there is always a reason. It has happened many times over the years and you would think I would be used to it by now but it is like a sunset – thrilling every time.
It was a good night. I gave the gospel to 4 people – none of them met Jesus yet but God’s word will not return void and the Holy Spirit will follow up and use it to work its way into their lives. I rescued a lost child in the name of Jesus. I prayed for a husband and new father who waits tables there and goes to school full time. I’m about to go to bed but the Holy Spirit will be busy following up.
If you want to know how you can have the Holy Spirit in your life, Email me, Cheryle and I’ll introduce you to Jesus and let the Holy Spirit follow up with you too.
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