Friday 31st May 2024

Answered prayers

Family members and staff share stories of God’s provision in answer to prayer

Sonia, a senior carer at Milward House, Tunbridge Wells

“When I first came to England to help my brother’s business, I was really struggling to work out how I fitted in and what what my role should be. On top of this, I was getting used to England – its culture and its food, everything.

“My brother’s business wasn’t picking up as well as it should so I said I needed to earn money. I was praying through in my daily devotions that God would guide me and I was led to share with my church’s secretary hoping for some guidance on my search for a local job.

“She sent me an email about two care homes. I saw Milward House and sent my CV to them. The next day I was given an interview date. I came and discovered it was a Christian home and it felt like home. So everything fell into place and here I am eight years later!”

Pilgrims Friend Middlefields House Shirley

Shirley, 90, family member at Middlefields House, Chippenham

“I grew up in the Berwyn Mountains in the north of Wales. I always believed in God but there’s one moment from my teenage years that really stands out.

"I’d lost a cardigan which was a tragedy in our family as we were very hard up, and added to that it was a birthday present. I’d been out one glorious sunny day and taken it off somewhere. The next day was foul and I realised I’d lost this cardigan. I couldn’t confess to my parents that I’d been so careless. So my friend and I went all over the mountains looking among the ferns and the low stone walls. I thought ‘well we’re getting nowhere here’ because we couldn’t remember exactly the path to take so we sat down on a wall and I prayed, ‘Oh Father, please God be interested in my cardigan.’ With that we got up and there was the cardigan just by our feet. A sheep had been sleeping on it all night and moved off. It had obviously been keeping its friend’s furry jacket warm.

"From then on it was just a question of getting to know God more and more.”

Evelyn, 100, family member at Milward House, Tunbridge Wells

“In Bolivia, in the northern tropical part of the Amazon, we had a leper shelter. I came to relieve the regular nurse who went home on furlough from this very remote outpost, where the only contact with the outside world was with a missionary and his four seater plane. (He had a crash so I had no contact and didn’t get my Christmas mail until February.)

"The health worker came to me for help for a child who had taken his mother’s leprosy medication and was having a seizure. I only had homoeopathic medicines. I prayed to the Lord to show me which medicine to give him and told the health worker to return if there was no improvement. He never returned and so I praised the Lord for guiding me.”

PumDim, Registered Care Manager at Framland, Wantage

“A couple of years ago my son suddenly became very unwell. He was catatonic for two or three days, unable to eat or drink anything or even respond to his name. It came completely out of the blue and of course we were extremely worried. I spent two weeks in the hospital with him. He was given a CT scan and an MRI scan but they didn’t reveal anything.

“Our family prayed, our church prayed and our colleagues at Pilgrims’ Friend Society prayed. I remember specifically some people from church praying that he would be blessed with the power of the name of Jesus.

“My son wasn’t able to go to school for three months but slowly his condition improved. He started eating again and eventually he was able to return to school. In May 2023 he was able to come off the medication entirely. Now he’s 15 and able to be part of normal life again – he walks to school by himself, goes to Sunday School and has joined a gym. I believe this healing has come from God.”

Prayer Week 2024

This year our annual Prayer Week will take place from Sunday 29th September to Sunday 6th October. We’ll be marking International Day of Older People on 1st October and Silver Sunday on 6th October, as well as sharing more ideas for prayer and thanksgiving relating to the specific work of Pilgrims’ Friend Society. A paper copy of the resource will be available at the beginning of September (magazine subscribers will get a copy with the Autumn edition) and copies will be available to order or download via the website.