A witness...

And a believer of miracles, that is me!

Many of you wouldn't believe nor understand the absolute intensity of what I'm about to unjustly summarize of my Sunday morning experience at church, yet I feel the need to some how try and capture in words the phenomenon that unfolded in my life today for I will never be the same again and I think I need to share how and why before you all write me off as a confirmed LOONY.

Today marked the 6th day of a 10 day fast I have been disciplining myself to partake in. If any one of you know me in the least you know my compulsive sugar addiction and my utter downfall to the junk food giants that rule my life(not to mention my retched loathing of healthy food...namely...vegetables). Yet on my spiritual journey to prepare for Africa I felt this was desperately needed and found myself anxiously embarking upon my very first ~ 10 day fast ~ specifically the "Daniel Fast" to seek out the almighty Holy Spirit. To my ultimate surprise I have refused every ounce of temptation and sugar that has tried to be the demise of my quest for God's touch on my life. I realized quickly that not even what I believed to be my "greatest weakness" was any match for my hunger for Jesus Christ. I've been intensely increasing my prayer life during these 6 days spending every second I can possibly find with our Lord and I was starting to think I might be feeling a deeper connection ~ or maybe I was just so delirious from this disgusting vegetable regimen that I was dreaming all this up? What do sugar withdrawals do to your mind anyway? Who knows, but I was feeling the inclings of "something" occurring inside of me and I wasn't sure if it was physical or spiritual.

Last night as I was engulfed in my latest read "Face to Face with God" (you just wait for the review on this book!) an excitement came over me about attending church in the morning. I was eager as a school kid to get to church and find out what amazing, rejuvenating words God had for my ears to behold! And as ALWAYS Pastor Bob's sermon was yet again created 'just for me'. I seriously sometimes feel like it's just the two of us having a personal conversation, his words speak so clearly to wherever I am presently at in my life's journey I don't know if I should burst out in cheer or blush!! If something is confusing to me ~ he provides clarity; if something is heavy on my heart ~ he eases and releases my fears; if something is exciting me in the form of a sign from God ~ he reaffirms that exact sign so even a blind-bat like myself can see it flashing in my face! I just love how every week I find so much fruit in his heavenly words. So it was no surprise, as I've come to expect these occurances at church, this week was another divinely appointed message that pertained perfectly to my needs! What surprised me most was how emotional I was during service, the songs happen to be all those that jerk at my tears! Especially at holy communion I found myself over-taken by strong emotions as if this was my very first communion with our Lord. Shortly after communion Pastor was preparing to announce our weekly calendar, prayer intentions, celebrations of birthday & anniversaries and such and he said these mysterious words, "if anyone is seeking a closer connection to the Holy Spirit, I have a great little booklet up here as a wonderful tool, come to me after service for more information" and there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that was a message directly for me to JUMP ALL OVER! I approached Pastor Bob immediately after mass with a sense of relief because after all, I was flying blind on this 10-day fast not truly knowing what to do, how to do it or when I would know if the Spirit responded to my pleading prayers. I asked Pastor about the Holy Spirit booklet and confessed my 10-day fast to him. He was excited for me and he told me just as he went to bed last night it popped into his head clear as day that he MUST mention the booklet of the Holy Spirit at church this morning. He said to me he used to mention it weekly during the closing of mass but he hasn't remembered to include it for a while now, UNTIL TODAY. Then as we were talking about my fasting and my intentions he said "something has just come to me, I'd like to anoint you and invite the Holy Spirit to come upon you if you wouldn't mind." GULP! Of course I wouldn't mind, but did I have any idea TRULY what those powerful words meant? I do not think my humanly body could have been prepared for what my answer of "YES" would result in.

So for those of you who will understand I summarize the following monumental moments. The next 5 minutes of my life were so intense I can not describe the experience in simple enough terms to understand and only few will know how absolutely life altering this next sentence is. For a moment the world stopped spinning and in this brief pause in life a miracle unfolded that included me; an anointing; the Holy Spirit; uncontrollable weeping from the depths of my soul; trembling sensations that nearly caused me to collapse; the expansion of my heart to a point of physical pain; sudden and immense peace and an internal joy that no smile could do justice to. I am a witness and a believer ~ God's touch is a miraculous event that WILL CHANGE YOU if you simply extend the invitation.

And if you thought I was a Jesus-nut before....YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!