Dave Cockrill, Queen Street Church, Worthing, West Sussex

This year was my first time at New Wine. My wife and I attended the London & South East week. I found the morning and evening worship pretty daunting. Since November 2009 I have gone back to my old job of painting and decorating. Due to the nature of the work and using my right hand to grip a brush for long periods of time it has been very sore and aching. I was unable to close my hand without pain and could not get it into a fist.

During the week I was thinking about going forward for healing but could not bring myself to do so. On the Thursday evening my wife and I tried to see some comedy entertainment in one of the venues but it was too full so we ended up in another venue having a coffee. An elderly couple asked if they could join us. We had a nice chat and I explained my dilemma about being too shy to go for healing. They said they were not healers but would be happy to pray for me. They both laid hands on my wrist (so did my wife) and they said a lovely prayer. I had my eyes closed and was praying too but was aware that nothing seemed to happen. My hand did not get warm. I didn’t feel the holy spirit. It was just a nice moment. Two of our fellow campers came and joined us and we all chatted and I soon forgot about the healing. Silently thinking to myself that nothing would change. The following morning I awoke early as usual and went about my morning duties. As I was doing the washing up from our first cup of tea I thought I’d flex my hand. It was something I often did to help the aching. To my amazement I could close my hand into a fist without pain. It was slightly sore but much less so than previously. My hand has been better for many weeks now. It still aches but that is the nature of my work. Praise be to God. He has been very kind to me in the past year that I have become a Christian and I love him very much.