By Dr. Jacquelyn Simmons
Scripture: When Jesus came unto the Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shalt be loosed on earth (Matthew 16:13-19).
God appointed several ladies to travel with me on my assigned Christian journeys during that time frame. After Sunday church services and on Tuesdays and Saturdays, Mrs. Aliene Walker-Lewis, Ms. Rita Wade, my Aunt Mrs. Arthulia Holland, Mrs. Rosie Turner, Mrs. Julia Evans-Griffin, before being confined to a nursing home and I traveled to all hospitals in this area praying for patients in emergencies and regular hospital waiting rooms, all church members in their homes and others we knew were ill, etc. We also gave communion on Sundays (our church had blessed it for many years) until the hospitals’ authority detected our presence and forbade us to continue our God-assigned spiritual journeys under the premise of our disturbing the peace. We traveled to those places not only in all Sundays but Tuesdays and Saturdays, also.
God blessed our vehicle to the extent that we always had gas, never had a flat or needed car repairs. Our blessed Christians journeys were miraculous.
My cousin, Gwendolyn Powell, now deceased, was inspired by God to precede us and record copies of Sunday’s church services (before cell phones were invented) to members who had been unable to attend services. She also ministered t hospital’s patient by providing and filling out prayer slips available to anyone who came or were employed there or confined as a patient. Afterward she would gather them and transport them to the church healing services where we prayed over them, unread, and discarded them with the other request already there. But ONE TEAR-EYED DAY…
