For about four years I traveled with a Prophetic Team, ministering all over Scandinavia and beyond.

We saw many poorer congregations as well as many much more prosperous Churches.  We were often handsomely looked after by those who could not only afford it, but who regarded it their great privilege and pleasure to do so.

We preferred to avoid hotels wherever possible, and stayed in some wonderfully warm and welcoming homes.  The lovely folk we stayed with were blessed, as we were by staying with them.

We also visited a few less affluent Churches and amongst them, the Gypsy Churches were probably among those least able to provide very much.

Yet they did provide for us — oftentimes at great personal sacrifice and expense.  I think we probably received the greatest blessings from two such groups.  Let me briefly tell you about them.

On one of our early trips to Brussels we were invited to eat and speak at an evening meeting.  It was in an older tenement building, in a flat high above ground level, and there were about 15-20 people crowded in there.

We soon realised that our hostess was one of a group of ladies who had served us in a Church across the city earlier that day.

We saw a wonderful spread laid out before us, and when the Pastor blessed it for us, we noticed a tear run down his cheeks.

Asked why, he told us that the hostess was not well off and worked three jobs just to support herself and her children.

The Pastor was aware that she had been on a 40-day fast, and was ending it that night.  He realised that she had to do so, in order to lay on this meal.

Speaking to her, he discovered that for 40 days she had saved every penny that she didn’t spend feeding herself, in order to pay for this meal for us.

There were many tears around that table that night, as folk realised the cost of our blessing.

The other occasion was when we went to Slovakia to minister to the Gypsies in a town about 50 miles from the capital, Bratislava.

For a start, they insisted in putting us into a local hotel, which was a blessing in itself as none of them were in any way considered rich.

After Church in a tiny ramshackle building, we were taken to the local Gypsy township — an area considered dangerous by other local people.

We held a Service in a community building and the worship was wonderful, intense and LOUD!

My, how those people could dance before The LORD.  To say that the people were poor, would be an understatement, as many were among the poorest I have ever seen.

Yet we were so blessed by them AND they insisted we accept the offering as thanks, for even considering visiting them.

Yet, still my heart wasn’t completely broken.

On the way out, through the snow and ice, we spotted a wee structure.  It was only half built with bare concrete blocks.

A corrugated tin ‘roof’ had been laid on top and canvas tarpaulins covered the gaps, which were many and big.

We thought it was a log store.  Actually, it was home to two of the poorest families.  Even the memories of it break my heart again.

Yet the people in both of these stories were blessed, and they blessed us in a way I cannot begin to describe.

I remind myself of these whenever I feel ‘over-looked’ and not very blessed.  It makes me count my own blessings from a different perspective.

Try it yourself.

I’m sure you have similar memories to measure your blessings against.

~ Chris G. Bennett

Chris Bennett came to salvation in 1962 but didn’t begin ministry until 2007 — a late-comer! Now mandated by The LORD to prophesy and open old wells of revival in the U.K., but especially in Wales. He has also operated Healing Rooms, and worked with deliverance teams, all with his wife, Linda. Happily now doing whatever The LORD asks of them! Founder, with wife Linda, of their ministry The Upper Room Encounter.

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