Gwilym Hesselman

Last year Gwilym was a student in my Life Group at the seminary. A young man in his twenties, he was in his 2^ndyear of studies for a degree in Bible and Theology. He told me a story about something that had happened to him and several of his friends who had been reaching out to their community by going from house to house preaching and ministering to the people. That particular area was extremely impoverished and he said many of the people live a hopeless existence and are addicted to alcohol.

He and his friends would meet and pray together every week and God had opened doors for them to minister in different homes. On this particular occasion, he and five of his friends were invited to a “very old” woman’s home to preach the Word. Her name was Aunty Monica and one of her friends was with her. I asked him how old he thought she was and he said she was very, very old—probably 60. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was 64 at the time. After he preached the Word, they sang a worship song and Aunty Monica stood up shaking and told Gwilym she had a lot of pain in her chest. She told him she had gone to the hospital that day and had gotten three packets of tablets and was intending to kill herself.

The next thing he knew, she took his hand and lifted up her breast and shoved his hand against her chest and told him to pray for her. After praying he looked up into her eyes and she had a startled look on her face and was crying. When he left, he promised to return the next day at 5:00 PM to check on her.

When he arrived he was surprised that she was sober and waiting in anticipation for him to come. He told me that the people in this community are so addicted to alcohol that they start drinking first thing in the morning and continue all day long. He assumed that when he arrived she would be drunk, but instead, she was waiting for him to come and minister the Word of God to her again. That was when Aunty Monica told him what had happened the evening before. She told him that when he prayed for her, she felt fire from his hand when he touched her and she knew she had been healed. She then said that when she looked into his eyes, she saw Jesus and that’s why she was startled.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul told the believers, “…my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:4, 5). We are called to a lost and hopeless world and we need the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit along with the preaching of the Word to penetrate the darkness that is impossible without it.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

 We heard an incredible testimony from one of the pastors at an AOG Church conference in the Western Cape.  The miracle took place in a Muslim region of Nigeria.  A young Muslim girl had attended a church service and was gloriously saved.  When she went home, her family was enraged that she would abandon their religion for a foreign God.  Instead of killing her, the parents disowned her, beat her and striped her of all of her clothes and cast her out into the street.  She walked naked through the streets trying to locate a friend’s house.  Eventually she asked the children in the town if they knew her friend and where she lived.  They told her where to go and she was able to find her friend’s house.  She knocked at the door and her friend was shocked to see her standing there naked and asked her what happened. After she related the story, the friend went out to find the children who had given the girl directions to her house.  She wanted to thank them for not making fun of her friend because she was naked.  The children asked, “What do you mean? She wasn’t naked.” They told her that her friend was wearing a beautiful white robe and they were marveling about how beautiful it was.

In Revelation 19:8 John wrote “And it was given to her [the Bride of Christ] to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”  This miracle should give us hope knowing that when we asked Jesus Christ to be our Savior, He not only saved us from eternal damnation, but He also clothed us with His righteousness so that in the spiritual realm, we are literally walking about in beautiful robes, bright and clean.

This story was told to Mark and me by Natasha and Adrian Paris, who are very special friends we have journeyed with for over eight years while living in Cape Town.  Adrian was the Dean of Men at Cape Theological Seminary (now Global School of Theology-Western Cape) when we arrived in 2006 and Natasha was a third year student in the four-year BA program at the time.  They courted off and on for two years and after Natasha graduated in November 2007, they got engaged.  They decided to be married on Valentines Day in 2009 and have been going strong ever since.  They told us the following amazing story when we returned from the States and I wanted to share it with you. This two-part story is told in Natasha’s own words:

Part 1: An Angel wearing Black Fluffy Slippers to the Rescue

It was a Sunday afternoon in June of 2012 when we decided to go home after church, which is something we never do!  Normally we go to our family’s house for lunch on Sunday afternoons but for some reason on this particular Sunday, we decided to go home first. On our way home we saw a car which had pulled over along the side of the road. As we drove by, I thought I saw a woman sitting there with her head tilted back.  I wasn’t sure so I asked Adi to turn around just to make sure everything was okay. When we pulled up to the car the lady, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, was gasping for air and we realized that she was having a panic attack. We quickly pulled over and jumped out of our car and ran toward her car. I was dressed in my dance costume because I had ministered in dance during the morning service at church. It was a white flowy chiffon dress and I had on my sister’s black fluffy slippers.  Quite a sight I must say! We asked her to unlock her car door and she complied, which was a miracle in itself due to all the robberies and car-jackings that take place in this area on a regular basis.  We then tried to calm her down so that she could get her breathing under control. Once she seemed to be breathing normally, we prayed with her.   Eventually she was completely calm and had stopped crying.

The next think I knew, I was getting into the driver’s seat so I could drive her home while Adi followed in our car. While on our way, she opened up and told me that she and her husband had just been in a terrible fight and that was what caused her panic attack. When we arrived at her home, Adi and I were a bit cautious because we did not know what to expect. An angry husband could be armed with a gun or be in a drunken or violent state and so we prayed for God’s protection as we entered the house.  When we walked through the door, we could see her husband seated in the lounge.  He looked very angry and didn’t even seem concerned when he saw two strangers entering the house with his wife, especially when one of them was dressed in a long white flowing chiffon dress with black fluffy slippers. We informed him about what had happened to her and he seemed genuinely thankful that we had assisted her.

We were just about to leave when Adi decided to take the liberty to ask if we could check out the view from their second floor.  Ironically, they lived in our neighborhood and not very far from our house.  It was only later that we realized that this was the very house we used to pass on our way home and always wondered what the ocean view was like from their second floor, as we were hoping to add a second floor to our house some day. We were amazed at his willingness to accommodate our request.

Of course, it was just as stunning a view as we had envisioned and as we were about to exit the room, the husband opened up and started telling us about their marital relationship and all the struggles they were having. I then took the initiative to be the mediator between them and did a crash-course on “Truth in Love”, which is a conflict resolution method we learned in our theological training at the Global School of Theology. Both the husband and wife began applying what I told them to do by taking turns listening to each other and trying to understand the other’s point of view. Following this simple little exercise, they apologized to each other, cried together, hugged each other, and then we prayed for them. We told them we would pop in again sometime and then said our good-byes. On our way out the door, the husband couldn’t stop thanking us and told us that if we had not come when we did, he would have been gone because he had decided to leave his wife that day.

A few weeks later we returned to check on them and were so surprised to hear that ever since our providential encounter, they had been doing incredibly well. They told us that they hadn’t felt this way toward each other since the early days of their courtship and that even the chemistry in their relationship was rekindled.  That evening we talked to them about the importance of nurturing their relationship and not allowing the busyness of life to take over and neglect their marriage. They appeared to be soaking in everything that we said and were very excited! We tried to see them again after this but for some reason they were always too busy and we never could agree on a mutual time.

When I think back on that Sunday afternoon, I marvel at how God had providentially arranged everything—from our sudden and unusual change of routine after church, to the impulsive decision to stop and help a stranger along the side of the road, who just happened to live a few streets away from us, whose house we passed on numerous occasions wishing we could check out their ocean view, and the way in which the Lord led us to minister to a couple in crisis whom we had never met. What a blessing to see a miracle of restoration take place in a marriage relationship right before our eyes.

The Holy Spirit truly works in mysterious ways and I chuckle sometimes when I think back on what I must have looked like to that woman when I came to her rescue dressed like an angel wearing black fluffy slippers.

Amy and Jennifer and I believe an angel came to our rescue. It happened in June of 1986 when we were living in Kenya during our first term. Our house was located on a mission compound in an area called Garden Estate, which was located out in a rural area about 10 miles from the Bible School. It was a Saturday evening and we had just completed a full day of our joint garage sale at Jerry and Joy Spain’s home on the campus. Mark wanted to stay longer because the men had an American football game on video that someone brought from the States and they were all excited about having a night enjoying the game and eating popcorn and cheering their favorite teams on to victory. The greatest thrill was watching a game when they didn’t know the scores. This was one of those times.

Driving home from a Sunday service in our KUF 020

We decided I would take Amy and Jennifer home and leave Mark to enjoy a rare night out with the guys. We had made about 2000 shillings (less than $200) from our sales and put it in a brown paper bag and drove off in our VERY used “Speed the Light” Peugeot (which we lovingly referred to as KUF020). Unfortunately, it was notorious for stalling whenever it rained particularly hard. For some reason, it just didn’t like getting wet underneath. By the time we left, it was nearly dusk and there was no rain in sight. However, about five minutes into our journey it started to sprinkle and before long, it was raining so hard I could hardly see the road in front of me. By now we were in an area we called “Goatville” because during the day the road was always filled with goats being herded to market. It was also a haven for thieves. By the time we reached the round-about that would have taken us onto the divided highway toward our home, the car stalled and we rolled to a complete stop right in the middle of the street. By now it was pitch black dark outside and there were no street lights and it was still pouring rain. There was not a soul in sight and we were the only car on the road. I knew there was a petrol station just past the round-about to the right but it was still too far away and there was no way I could leave the girls to get help. An ominous feeling swept over me because this particular road was a notorious hangout for gangs of thieves who were always looking for any opportunity to snatch-and-grab, even in broad daylight. Here we were with all this money from the garage sale and cell phones hadn’t even been invented yet. A thought flashed through my mind about something that had happened a few months earlier on this same stretch of road. We were creeping along slowly because of a traffic jam and a thief nearly snatched my purse right off of my lap. Fortunately the straps ripped off during our tug-of-war and the thief just stood there with a stunned look on his face holding the straps and cursing up a storm in Swahili.

I didn’t want to frighten the girls or let them know how serious the situation was so I told them we needed to pray and assured them God was going to take care of us. The three of us started praying for God to send angels to protect us and also send someone to help us. When I looked up, I saw a young man walking along holding a small paper bag and completely drenched. I said a prayer under my breath and hoped he wasn’t a thief and then rolled down my window and called to him. He walked over to the car and I told him we needed help. He said he would try to push us to the petrol station, which seemed utterly impossible under the circumstances. The next thing I knew we were moving along and eventually ended up rolling into the station, which at this time of the night was closed. However, when I looked back, there were two men pushing the car, not one. This total stranger who appeared out of nowhere, came up to my window and before I could say anything he proceeded to tell me what to do. He instructed me to take my foot off the clutch and put the car in 2nd gear and turn the key. Immediately when I did this the car jerked and then miraculously started. I was so amazed because in all of our previous experiences with this car, that never happened before. When I looked up to thank him, he was gone. He disappeared just as quickly and quietly as he appeared. The other young man told us when he started to push the car, this guy just showed up and helped him and he had no idea where he came from. It was still raining so I asked our Good Samaritan where he was going. Since he was headed in the same direction, I offered to drive him to our turn off. We dropped him off and thanked him profusely then drove the rest of the way down the country road to our house thanking God and praising Him for taking care of us.

The girls and I were so sure that the second man was an angel because of how mysteriously he appeared and then disappeared and how he just happened to know exactly how to start the car. We experienced first-hand what Hebrews 1:14 says: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.” We also believe Psalm 34:7 which says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.” The girls and I will always believe this was an incredible miracle of God’s protection and one the three of us will never forget.