The Lady at the French Bakery

There was this one time that I was at a French bakery in downtown Ottawa enjoying a cup of coffee, and a chocolate almond croissant, when I heard God say pull your Bible out to read it. I don’t generally like to read my bible in public, but the Lord prompted me to do so. I couldn’t shake the thought, so I obeyed and did as he was nudging me to do. After five minutes a dear woman walked up to me as I was reading and asked me if I was a “Brother.” I had no idea what she meant by this statement. My mind wandered to what the term might mean. I thought that perhaps she was asking me if I was a monk, but no, apparently she thought that because I was reading a bible that I must be an elder in the Jehovah’s Witness church. “No,” I said, “I am not a brother, but I am an Evangelical Minister.” It sounded so brass coming out of my mouth. I cringed and she jumped back. I looked at her for a moment and realised that God wanted me to speak to her, and so I let my defences come down and asked her if she would like to sit. She said that she would like to but only had about five minutes. I said, “It is amazing what God can do in five minutes.” I started by saying that I believed she was a good person and that God loved her very much. This opened a safe door for her to speak with me. She began to tell me that she had been in the Jehovah’s Witness church for about fifteen years and that before this she had been a member of a number of mainline denominational churches, but that she had grown up particularly in the Anglican Church. After a few moments of conversation, I felt prompted to prophesy. I said to her, “I believe that you have been struggling with depression and anxiety.” She was very surprised and said that just the day before she had been diagnosed with an Anxiety Disorder. I told her that I believed that God wanted her to know that he was going to bring healing to her spirit. Such peace moved into her spirit after hearing this that her face began to glow with the Holy Spirit. She looked at me in wonder and I could feel the Spirit so strongly. We talked for a number of more minutes and I prophesied some other things over her life. I told her that I believed that she knew the Lord and that she was safe in his hands. I said that I felt that God had gifted her with a spirit of helps. She wasn’t so impressed with this statement because in our conversation she had mentioned that she had a sick friend that she was about to cook soup for. She felt that I had said this because of that. And there is something to be learned by this reaction of hers. As I prophesized over her the words about depression, anxiety and being set free by God astounded her and so likely they came from God, but when I started on the other stuff it might have come from my own spirit. She recognized this and so received what was from the Lord and the stuff that was from me she rejected. I don’t remember if I prayed with this woman or not. I do remember leaving a woman who looked much different than when I first encountered her. Her disposition had changed. She was touched by God. My spirit was uplifted and I rejoiced in knowing that my obedience resulted in a woman being touched by the Lord. This is an excerpt from Darren’s book Fire Script, published by Good News Fellowship Ministries, Macon GA. To read your own e-copy, please contact us at information@darrencanning.com. Many of Darren’s books are also available on Amazon. Bless you!