Ok, so hopefully I have piqued someone's intrest out there about Holy Spirit. Since Richard and I both were ignorant in this area, it has been neat to experience things together and also separately and then share with each other. When I started my journey for more information concerning Him, I began in a book called Good Morning, Holy Spirit. I am the kind of person that needs lots of information about something so I was reading that book and finding all the Bible verses I could about Holy Spirit and also visiting with others about it. My thoughts were being rocked with the speaking of tongues. Again, I grew up where that was weird, not talked about and categorized under a church or person gone off the deep end. But now, I'm sitting in prayer rooms with others speaking tongues. I knew I wanted more and I wanted God to speak truth about tongues, so I consistently prayed...forever it seemed like, for Him to "let me speak tongues." In my head, things were still not fleshed out and I thought speaking in tongues meant you were baptized in the Holy Spirit...this is wrong! So, after months of seeking truth and prayer, you can imagine my dismay when Richard walks in and says nonchalantly, in Richard fashion, "I spoke in tongues today." WHAT!?!? He said he too had been praying and was out showing houses and had about an hour to kill, so in his truck he began asking for Holy Spirit to come. He said he was praying out loud and at some point his words changed from recognizable to unrecognizable. I was blown away....and even more determined!!
I asked several people to pray with me and over me, but still nothing, and finally one lady shared that tongues is only one gift of the Spirit and is a process. I am very analytical and I have no doubt I overthink everything, so once I heard that I stopped chasing "speaking in tongues" and started just pursing Holy Spirit. Since then, I have woke up consistently at 5:30am for my quiet time. I have never even had to set an alarm! And He doesn't wake me up at that time on Fridays...he lets me sleep in!! I have always had a quiet time, but to consistenly be pursed is cool. He wants to meet with me, and during those times I have learned so much!!
For my tongues didn't come immediately, but I did start having visions and dreams unlike anything I have ever experienced. As I was reading the Bible one morning, I saw two specific people, both were aquaintences, but what I saw was too out of the ordinary to be just me, so I went ahead and contacted them through Facebook messenger and shared the vision...come to find out that there was some horrible things going on that week with them and that was exactly what they needed to hear from the Lord. I was amazed!! Then, one night I had a dream about another aquaintence from church. This time I remember having such a vivid dream and being awakened at 2am with a specific prayer to pray. So I thought it was odd, but I prayed. I was again awakened at 4am to pray that same thing again, this time I was a little scared. Then my normal 5:30am wake up called rolled around and the same prayer was on my mind, so I immediately checked Facebook to see if this person had posted anything like my dream. The was nothing on Facebook so I messaged her and was floored when she messaged back. She lives in Nepal and shared that she was going through a tough home situation and at the exact times I was being woke up here to pray, it was daytime there and she could tell me exactly what my prayers were linked to!! Again, I was amazed and now wanted to be used more!! There is no way, me, in my own power could be doing this...Holy Spirit was working through me and it is so cool! At D-Now there was another church that joined us, during one of the worship times the leaders prayed over some of the youth. I felt led to one of the girls from the other church. I knew her name but that was all. So I went up to her and asked if I could pray over her. I put my hands on her shoulders and just silently waited. Then I saw a heart wrapped in bandages, so I geared my prayers toward that...come to find out she had lost her dad at 13 and was holding on to a ton of hurt. Again, there is no way I could have known that!!! Every time I experience His power I amazed!
One last story...so since I realized that speaking tongues is a process I try to "practice", if that's a thing, with Him in my alone time, in the car and running specifically. For me, it's getting in the habit of letting go, which is hard for me, but I will never forget one afternoon last summer when I was running. We lived in the old house and I ran the same path 2-3 times each day and had done that for as long as I had been with Richard, that was my route. I pass the same houses and fields and horses. The horses are always out, eating or standing next to the fence or walking to the water hole. But on this day, I was practicing my praying in tongues during my run and all of a sudden, from behind me, all 7-10 horses were all full speed running across the pasture. It was loud and scary and beautiful all at the same time and I came to a stop. I will never forget how clearly God told me there is power in being baptized in the Holy Spirit. I think that is what the enemy is trying to strip from us...the power.
I think back and wonder how much more I could have accomplished, in His name, if I had been taught this sooner, but God doesn't make mistakes so I will stand firm in the belief that He makes all things good and this is His perfect timing. And you better believe my children and the youth group will be educated in Holy Spirit so that the generations to come will walk in the Power He has given us!!
