The Free Prayer Booth - The Testimony of Tiffany

A friend at church today reminded me I owed you all this story.

I don't recall if it was Saturday or Sunday I was sitting at the Free Prayer booth at last weekend's Dogwood Festival. It was while my friends Ron & Bonnie were there so you might have to ask them which day it was if that's important. It was a blur to me.

They are talking off to the side and I noticed this young lady walk by the booth and as soon as she did she quickly plopped down in one of the white plastic food court chairs. She didn't look like she was feeling too well. I wondered if the Lord wanted me to pray with her. I leaned over to my friends to excuse myself from the booth and they took it as an opportunity to lay hands on me and pray fervently for me. I was caught a bit off guard but their encouraging prayers seem to lend me an extra measure of the Lord's grace.

I stepped away from the small prayer circle and made the short distance to the seated young woman. I think I said something like, "Ma'am are you feeling all right?" I think some of my first aid training was doing some of the talking. She told me she was pregnant and was feeling faint and dizzy and thought she'd better sit down. It looked like she didn't have a lot of color in her face. I told her I was from the nearby booth and we were praying for people and asked if she would mind if I prayed for her. She readily agreed and told me her name was Tiffany.

From there I think I went straight into prayer. I thanked the Lord for the life that she carried inside her and then went for the two main points that seemed to be burning on my heart. I asked the Lord to impart to Tiffany in that moment divine "strength and endurance" and I closed in Jesus' name.

I'm going to have to slow this part of the playback down a bit because everything seemed to happen so quickly and all at once. I think I said something like, "I hope you get to feeling better soon." and I think she gave me a sincere "Thank you." I turned and walked the few steps to the booth and sat back down. As soon as I did and looked over to where Tiffany was sitting all I saw was an empty chair. As my eyes scanned the crowded scene I could just make out Tiffany as she was walking briskly away and in an instant was out of sight.

Thoughts shot off in my head like rapid fire. How had Tiffany gotten up so quickly? How is it that she seemed to cover 2 to 3 times the distance I did in the same amount of time? Where did she go?

I was amazed and then also sweetly convicted. I heard a question in my heart, "What did you expect?" Not that. "Why not? Isn't that what you prayed for?" Well... yeah, but... "But what?" I was just left shaking my head, for so many reasons.

And then I recalled the days of Jesus' first disciples. "Get up and walk." I didn't even think to ask Tiffany if she was feeling better. I think I could have said, "Get up and walk" and would have been biblically justified in doing so even though our culture has done to good of a job to strangle that kind of faith.

I didn't feel condemnation but just the loving hand of the training Father. If I had to do it again I would like to think I would do it differently. The good thing is I most likely will have another opportunity, though next time her name might not be Tiffany.

Maybe there were two miracles that day. Tiffany seemed to receive a divine physical touch in an instant and a young man seemed to receive a new measure of faith in the very next instant.

- Wade Baker