I was still pretty new to the Lord. I had heard Him for the first time just 2 or 3 years before this, and it took a years to finish reading my Bible like He first told me, and then figure out that He really was with me all the time to be able to seek Him and listen to what He said. Still He is not call the Teacher for nothing. I had learned a lot from listening to Him already, and perhaps there is not a better way to learn a lot more from Him than doing a Christian bookstore.
Not only are you going to have Bibles and Christian books all over the place, but you are going to meet a lot of different Christians and quickly. Indeed, He had me going around town to talk to pastors and such about the store. And He would talk to me about all of it. And to go with all that, He would do things, incredible things, everyday at the store.
Now it was a really slow store; even more that I thought is could be. One of the pastors at my church, who did hear from the Lord really well, had told me that the Lord told Him that it was more of a ministry than a store. And indeed that was the case. I was just opening the store for the first couple of times when I found out that a homeless lady would spend the might in the corner of the shopping center next to the store.
Another pastor from my church showed up, talked to her, and got her turning to the Lord. She would often come into my store, and we got her praying and seeking the Lord more and more. Then the Lord told me that He was going to get her off the streets in a month, and He did. One day she meet on old friend of hers from high school who asked her to come and stay at her place. But before that happened, she had brought her son by the store. He wasn't able to get his mom off the street because he was poor himself. But he did accept the Lord into his life, and we talked at times.
It was such a slow store, but God does a lot with very little, and it is mostly affecting people's lives for good, and I was sitting in the middle of it; even as a fairly new Christian myself. And one of the things I found out is that people need a place to go and talk when God starts doing something in their lives, and most churches a closed during the week when things come up in their lives. At times I almost felt like a bar tender listening to people, but I had a better group of cliental, though you might not think so. But they were very special people.
There was the 'traveling prophet', as a few people around town called him. He was poor because he hardly ever worked. Instead he made his life about just listening to the Lord and going where he was told, and that meant he couldn't have a normal job. And while He was not very well educated, he did seek and hear from the Lord remarkedly well, and the Lord backed him up with power.
I remember one time, close to closing, when he and another lady, who I occasionally had work for me if I needed to go somewhere, were in the store talking. Then a lady that worked in advertising at a local Christian radio station in the area came into the store. The traveling prophet and the lady who sometimes helped me started just praying over the lady from the radio station.
"Oh", I told myself. If they do that this lady from the station is going to get wiped out, because I knew the power of the Spirit that both he and the lady who helped me walked in the Lord with. And sure enough, the radio lady was down and out in the spirit. I knew the station and I didn't thing that lady was fully aware of what a was about to happen to her. She woke up on the floor right as it was time to close so I was thinking, 'Perfect, I can not close the store and go home.' But that was not to be, because they prayed for her again and again she was out in the Spirit.
I knew it was going to happen. I had just wanted to go home and I should have been rejoicing that the Lord was doing a work in that lady. So, I also figured that I would be taught a lesson of patience by him. Thirty minutes later she woke up again, and again they prayed for her, and again she was out cold. Ok, I am just going to sit there and watch what He does. It was after all pretty interesting. She got up one last time about 15 minutes later, and was just blown away by what had happened to her. I don't know, but I was guessing that was the first time that had happened to her. Yet whether it was or not, that lady went away with the biggest smile on her face you could ever see. Mine was not so big, but that's ok. It was interesting working in that store.
Not only are you going to have Bibles and Christian books all over the place, but you are going to meet a lot of different Christians and quickly. Indeed, He had me going around town to talk to pastors and such about the store. And He would talk to me about all of it. And to go with all that, He would do things, incredible things, everyday at the store.
Now it was a really slow store; even more that I thought is could be. One of the pastors at my church, who did hear from the Lord really well, had told me that the Lord told Him that it was more of a ministry than a store. And indeed that was the case. I was just opening the store for the first couple of times when I found out that a homeless lady would spend the might in the corner of the shopping center next to the store.
Another pastor from my church showed up, talked to her, and got her turning to the Lord. She would often come into my store, and we got her praying and seeking the Lord more and more. Then the Lord told me that He was going to get her off the streets in a month, and He did. One day she meet on old friend of hers from high school who asked her to come and stay at her place. But before that happened, she had brought her son by the store. He wasn't able to get his mom off the street because he was poor himself. But he did accept the Lord into his life, and we talked at times.
It was such a slow store, but God does a lot with very little, and it is mostly affecting people's lives for good, and I was sitting in the middle of it; even as a fairly new Christian myself. And one of the things I found out is that people need a place to go and talk when God starts doing something in their lives, and most churches a closed during the week when things come up in their lives. At times I almost felt like a bar tender listening to people, but I had a better group of cliental, though you might not think so. But they were very special people.
There was the 'traveling prophet', as a few people around town called him. He was poor because he hardly ever worked. Instead he made his life about just listening to the Lord and going where he was told, and that meant he couldn't have a normal job. And while He was not very well educated, he did seek and hear from the Lord remarkedly well, and the Lord backed him up with power.
I remember one time, close to closing, when he and another lady, who I occasionally had work for me if I needed to go somewhere, were in the store talking. Then a lady that worked in advertising at a local Christian radio station in the area came into the store. The traveling prophet and the lady who sometimes helped me started just praying over the lady from the radio station.
"Oh", I told myself. If they do that this lady from the station is going to get wiped out, because I knew the power of the Spirit that both he and the lady who helped me walked in the Lord with. And sure enough, the radio lady was down and out in the spirit. I knew the station and I didn't thing that lady was fully aware of what a was about to happen to her. She woke up on the floor right as it was time to close so I was thinking, 'Perfect, I can not close the store and go home.' But that was not to be, because they prayed for her again and again she was out in the Spirit.
I knew it was going to happen. I had just wanted to go home and I should have been rejoicing that the Lord was doing a work in that lady. So, I also figured that I would be taught a lesson of patience by him. Thirty minutes later she woke up again, and again they prayed for her, and again she was out cold. Ok, I am just going to sit there and watch what He does. It was after all pretty interesting. She got up one last time about 15 minutes later, and was just blown away by what had happened to her. I don't know, but I was guessing that was the first time that had happened to her. Yet whether it was or not, that lady went away with the biggest smile on her face you could ever see. Mine was not so big, but that's ok. It was interesting working in that store.