1993 – WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK, NEW YORK CITY, WITH RAY COMFORT

Thirty years ago, during the summer of 1993, Ray Comfort came to our church in New York City. After doing a couple of teachings in the church he did some open air preaching in Washington Square Park. (See video below.) I was there with my husband and daughter. It was a blistering hot day! The video is on YouTube after all these years have gone by. I took a screenshot of my husband Billy standing in the crowd listening to the preaching. That’s him in the upper left corner. 🙂

My husband, Billy, in the upper left corner of the screenshot.

A DIVINE APPOINTMENT AT THE GROCERY STORE!

We went grocery shopping this morning, and Billy prayed for a divine appointment like he usually does before we go out. He was wearing his witnessing t-shirt that says this on the front…

and this on the back…

As we were leaving the grocery store two workers by customer service were staring at his shirt, and they said we’re trying to read your shirt. So he walked closer, straightened out his shirt so they could read what it said, and then he read it to them. And he turned around and let them read the back too.

Billy asked me to give them my little Bible booklets, but as I reached into my purse I saw that all I had left were the ones in Spanish. 🤦‍♀️ One of the ladies spoke Spanish so she took one of those. I asked if they wanted the English booklets, and they said yes, so I went to the car to get them.

When I returned I learned that one of the ladies, a young woman, was a Christian, so I asked about her testimony. She said her dad was a believer, and although she knew about salvation she wasn’t saved yet. She knew that if she walked with the Lord she would have to part with her current boyfriend and friends, and she didn’t want to do that. But then the Lord gave her three dreams. It was the last dream that caused her to surrender to the Lord.

In the third and last dream she and her worldly friends were in a vehicle, I think it was a bus. It was tipped over and her friends were falling out of the window into hell, and she was there with them hanging on ready to drop off too. That did it for her. She said she was so grateful to the Lord, because He could have just let her live her life unsaved and then end up in hell, but the Lord didn’t do that.

After she was saved she tried to get one of her unsaved friends to go to church with her, but her friend wasn’t interested. She said the Lord was telling her you can’t force people to be saved. She has parted ways with her old friends, now to walk with the Lord in newness of life! Praise God!

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

As for the other worker, an older woman, she got a Bible booklet in English and in Spanish. and maybe even overheard some of our conversation. I was able to give a brief version of my salvation testimony, how someone gently but boldly witnessed to me regarding Roman Catholicism. Maybe she’ll ask some questions. Praise God for another witnessing opportunity and answered prayer!

FOR THE LORD SHALL COMFORT ZION

Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

Recently I posted Isaiah 51:2 about Abraham being called alone because I can so relate to that. You can read that post… here. The next verse, Isaiah 51:3, speaks about the Lord comforting His people. I want to share just two of the things that really blessed and comforted me yesterday…

I wear a hat whenever I go out, a hat that proclaims Jesus. I pray almost every night that the Lord would use that hat to bless the saints and minister to the lost. Many times I get a joyful response from believers when they see the hat, and that is a wonderful blessing for both of us. It happened again yesterday, but for some reason yesterday was different. It made me tearful. A good kind of tearful, as in sensing the presence of the Lord. We were having lunch out when an older man passed our table. As he was leaving he turned around and gave me a thumbs up and a big smile. I responded likewise. I guess it struck me that no words were said, yet this stranger and I were both acknowledging our beloved Savior.

When we finished our meal we decided to go to a nearby lake just to sit a while and enjoy the view. When we sat down I noticed that there were several teens, boys and girls, hanging out at the pavilion next to us. I had seven little Bibles with me (they are really tracts in tiny booklet form) so I tried to count the teens. It seemed there were seven of them but I wasn’t sure. I was sorry I didn’t have more tracts with me, thinking next time I would be more prepared for any opportunity that the Lord presented. I hesitated quite a while about giving them tracts. I didn’t know if I had the courage to just walk into a crowd of teens. I waited and debated, should I do this, and then two of the girls walked away. I thought, there goes another opportunity lost because of my procrastination. But then they came back! I prayed and asked the Lord to help me, then walked over to the pavilion with my walker. I handed each one of them a little Bible. As I was handing them out I wasn’t sure I had enough, but there were exactly seven kids there, and I had exactly seven little Bibles! Each one accepted the little Bible, and they were all very polite. I’ve handed out many of those little Bibles over the years, but there was something special about yesterday. Again, it brought tears to my eyes, and I sensed the Lord’s presence again. The Lord knows how to comfort us, his “alone” children, as only he can!

I have a basket full of little Bibles in my home. I’ve been praying that the basket empties quickly and that I would have to refill it. Will you pray with me that the Lord would give us more opportunities to give out His Word, and to make His Gospel known. 🙏 🙌🏻 ❤️

LITTLE BIBLE TRACT

MY HAT

MY BASKET WITH SPANISH AND ENGLISH LITTLE BIBLE TRACTS