Touched by the Holy Spirit!

So yesterday was Sunday, and Sunday morning I went to church. We had an amazing speaker from Uganda who shared with us that we need to stop complaining when we have so much. He also shared that we need to stop all the negativity in the church, we need to speak positive life into everyone around us and into our own life. That basically summed up his sermon, although not quite as well as he said it. But it was still good. Then afterwards, we had a time of prayer for healing from negatives spoken into our life and breaking of bondages in our lives. I went up for the healing of the negative words spoken into my life. Even though I had forgiven all who had hurt me the wounds were so deep that I couldn't shake off the thoughts that came to attack me. No matter how much I forgave and asked God to cleanse my life and heal my wounds the devil kept coming back with the same exact things - "You're a tub of lard! Your name should have been Eliana-bellybana!! You're fat, you're ugly; no man is ever going to want you!" Most of the time I wouldn't believe them but there were the select few times that they would creep into my heart in such a way that I wasn't prepared for it. But no more!

So what happened next was totally unexpected. A dear friend of mine, Nicole, had just been blessed in front of the church with a calling on her life. I went up to give her a hug - next thing I know is she's praying for me, for all the wounds to be healed, for me to see myself as a Princess, and for my husband to come quickly and pursue me and fight for me; I was moved to tears. When I left Nicole I went over to where my dad was standing and I saw Jenny there and I wanted to give her a hug because I felt like she needed someone to bless her and I wanted to do that (Jenny and I both work with the kids - I in the nursery and her with the older children). Next thing I know, she's sobbing and I'm sobbing. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look up to find Joe - then he prays for me! He was speaking life into me about how my deep wounds are being completely healed as he was speaking and that God was going to give me a "ministry" of speaking life into people to the point where I can't stop myself (my hearts cry!!). I started sobbing and I went home a happy girl :)

But it didn't stop there....

That evening I also went to church. We had a guy named Terry who is a Minnesota missionary in Haiti. He brought back with him JP, a child sacrifice, who had been dead but God used Terry to bring him back to life - JP was amazing; amazing dancing and amazing seeing him walk around with part of his skull caved in. WOW! Terry told us a couple amazing stories and how God doesn't want us to carry our bondages anymore, but give them up to him. So he called the church forward - at this point I was totally excited, especially after the stories he told. So the music starts playing and we lift up our hands to God and are just standing there worshiping God. Then Terry starts walking among the rows - bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam...!! People just start falling like a nuclear bomb had exploded! But it wasn't a bomb, it was the anointing of the Holy Spirit exploding across the sanctuary!!!! I got even more excited. Then Terry came down my row...people start falling just as fast (more like flying!)...next thing I know I fly through the air, extremely fast, and land on the ground - but it felt more like a cloud :) I'm on the floor just shaking and sobbing because it's just such an awesome feeling to feel "smothered" in the presence of the Holy Spirit. This is what is called being slain in the Holy Spirit - an AMAZING experience!! After a little bit I sit up and see that still more people are falling and a bunch of people are flying all over the place trying to catch all the falling people. My friend Sarah sits up next to me and we start talking. Then we notice this group of little girls behind us just worshiping God. We ask them if they want prayer and they just look at us and laugh and say no. I tell them it's nothing to be afraid of....Here comes Terry!...plop, plop, plop, plop...Sarah and I spend the next 10 minutes praying for the girls and one girl (I think) got filled with the Holy Spirit and starts talking in tongues!

Now I know some people may read this and think this is crazy, maybe even witchcraft - but it's NOT! This is what it's like to be touched by the Holy Spirit, to feel Love course through your veins, your skin, and every cell that makes up your human body - and it plunges deeply into your soul to consume every little bit of you with the true, righteous, and pure Love that is God. It's being "burned" by the fire that makes ALL things pure and new again. It's standing under a sky of God's grace and being soaked to the core with mercy drops from Heaven. It's being lifted up into God's arms and taken through a beautiful dance in the most beautiful dress ever! It is experiencing who God is! That's what it's liked to be touched by the Holy Spirit and I wanted to share it :) Blessings!!!