FOREWORD

There is nothing more impressive than a changed life! And it was through a totally changed life that I first met Mike.

"You’re different," I said to a friend a few years ago. "What’s happened to you?"

"I met a blind man in Wales," she replied, and then mystified me further by adding, "I’ve been going every week to see him at the Well." The mental picture of a man with a white stick sitting by a village pump was obviously not what she wanted to convey. I had never seen her eyes looking bright and ‘alive’ before; she had been crippled by emotional pain ever since we met.

"This man, Mike Endicott, he’s been praying for me," she explained. "God works through him so powerfully. He’s helped me face things in my past which have been destroying all my relationships ever since." I could certainly see she was different. It is always a mystery, why some people stay emotionally disabled by life’s traumas while others grow even stronger through them. I wanted to know more about this blind man and his remarkable ministry.

My next encounter with Mike was through a tape my friend lent me. I listened to it on the M25 and was so fascinated I forgot the traffic jam completely! Mike had been talking at a conference, and I guess what he said contained the seeds of this book. He shared the pain he had felt as blindness gradually encroached on his active life; his struggle with understanding why a loving God could allow this to happen to him; and then how he had begun to realise God wanted to transform his pain into healing grace for others. Suddenly, I realised the ‘Well’ was indeed a wayside water supply, but of the spiritual kind! Mike told us on the tape how he, and a group of friends, had prayed their vision into reality; and out of a derelict chapel in South Wales they had created a healing centre where many could come, drink and be refreshed.

There was something compelling about the voice on the tape. An unusual combination of power and gentleness; humility and boldness; calm acceptance and pig-headed determination.

It was not difficult for my friend to persuade me to go with her to the Well! Since God healed me so remarkably after eight years in a wheelchair, I have visited some magnificent healing centres all round the country. Beauty and comfort combine to prepare us to receive God’s touch but, to me, the Well still looked like a dilapidated old chapel from the outside. Inside, it was hardly luxurious, but the moment I crossed the threshold I knew Jesus was there.

It was a training day, and the large room was filled with people who had once come to the Well broken, hopeless and wounded by life, but they had met Jesus, been changed by him, and now they wanted to learn how they too could be used by him as instruments of peace and healing.

A tall, handsome man came striding towards me through the crowd, beside a beautiful black guide dog and I knew I had, at last, met the Reverend Michael Endicott in person.

Since then, I have heard him speak at many conferences, watched him ministering to streams of people long into the night, and been greatly helped and blessed through attending various of his ‘schools of ministry’ - but he still remains one of the most humble men I know.

Mike not only believes Jesus can mend broken hearts and broken bodies, he also believes Jesus can use the broken to rescue the broken. His desire to teach and empower ordinary lay people to become the hands of Jesus is one of the most exciting parts of Mike’s vision.

I do not want to spoil the book for you by telling you too much. As you read it, you will meet Mike yourself, visit the Well and the people who work there. This is not just a personal story of suffering overcome, nor is it an account of the birth of a new Christian organisation - it is very much more than that. I believe it will be of deep interest to anyone who is grappling with suffering and all the question marks that surround it. I strongly recommend that you read it, because I know you will enjoy it enormously. I believe this book will help us all to capture just a tiny part of this blind man’s vision of Jesus himself.

Jennifer Rees Larcombe

You can order a copy of this book here, and a sample extract here.