December 2008

Yeah! It’s me again! And it hasn’t even been 3 months!!!

Ok…so I know that you are probably about to fall off your chair when you open your email and see that you are getting a newsletter again so quickly! :)

But it has been an incredibly awesome weekend, and a most amazing, God-filled day, and I couldn’t wait to share it! I knew that I needed to journal before I forgot, so I figured I would type it up in a newsletter and share it with you and get the benefit of journaling, and sharing the awesomeness that is God all at the same time!!! :)

But before I go off on that, I’ll catch you up on the few things that have occurred since the last newsletter! :)

We’ll be back in Georgia in 5 days…

This time next week, we will all be back in Georgia! Woohoo! :) I am incredibly excited to think about getting to see everybody again (it seems like it has been next to FOREVER!)…but at the same time, it is so hard to even think about being away from my babies for so long! I have gotten soooo used to having them around, that it is going to be super hard not being able to just walk down the hall and get a hug or a kiss or a smile! So, having said that, I ask for your prayers while we’re home that it will go smoothly! Davis has had many conversations with me about how sad it is going to be while we are apart for 17 days, and Samantha is just refusing to talk about it – she says that if she pretends it isn’t going to happen, then she doesn’t have to deal with it until it actually does. :) (That’s my girl! Lol)

It is so incredibly hard to even believe that we’ve been here 6 months (on Wednesday) already! But what’s more amazing than that is thinking through everything God has done in the 6 months we’ve been here! Come on now! Let’s give Him All the honor! And All the praise! For He is worthy! And He is good! :)

I just said to Ashley this afternoon: “If God has accomplished all that He has in my life in the past 6 months, what in the world does He have for the next 6 months?!?!?!” All I know is I want it! I crave it! I desire it! :) I want everything He has to give!!!

The Caroler’s

As you may, or may not know, Samantha was in the Christmas play at our church this past week! She was amazing! And God showed up BIG time!!! Preliminary figures has over 3,000 in attendance, with over 300 salvations!!!

It was written by two of the elders in our church, and it was POWERFUL!!! Samantha was “Candy,” the oldest daughter in a family that has a totally warped view based solely on the secular side of Christmas. It was just the right mix of fun and seriousness, with the true meaning presented clearly at the heart of it all!

She had 4 showings – 6:30 & 8:30 this past Tuesday and Thursday – I was able to go to three of the four showings! :)

Elevate…

Sharon and David will have their Final for their first semester of Elevate tomorrow night! Please lift them (and all the other “Elevators” – yes I have entirely too much fun calling them that! :) ) up in your prayers all day tomorrow, but especially tomorrow evening – 7p-11p EST! :)

Friday 12/12/08…

So…Friday, life finally caught up with me. My throat was killing me, and I had a horrible headache! I got off work at 12p, and I finally gave in to the pressure, and decided to take a nap around 1:30. The next time I saw a clock, it was a little before 6! The family was at The Feast, so I got up and decided to spend some time with Jesus! :) We had an amazing time!!!

Last week at the Christian bookstore, I got a study called “The King’s Daughter: Becoming the Woman God Created You to Be” by Diana Hagee. I had seen a blip about it somewhere, and so I searched it out when we went to the store the other day, and the more I read about it, the more excited I became!

I got it out Friday night, and went through the introduction! That alone started flipping me around! With every word I read, I became so energized and excited, as I realized that I was far from the only person to feel what I have been feeling!

I had an amazing time with Jesus, and went back to bed around 8:30…and the next time I saw the clock, it was 7:30 Saturday morning!!!

Saturday 12/13/08…

I woke up feeling AMAZING!!! So I immediately pulled out my Bible study, and set out on the first chapter! The more I read, the more humbled and broken I became. I realized that God truly does love me EXACTLY as I am! That He doesn’t expect perfection from me!!! If He did, He wouldn’t have sent His son to die for me, and if I think I have to be perfect on my own to please Him, I am totally demeaning everything Jesus did for me!!! I was totally in awe and humbled!!! There are a few passages that I would like to share that really touched me right where I am:

I began to type them, but decided I just couldn’t do it! I enjoy reading them aloud much too much, and enjoy watching the response on the face of the receiver much too much to just type it and send it through in a newsletter! I’m sorry! Please remind me, and I will be more than happy to share them while I am back in Georgia! :)

But anyway, I did the first chapter yesterday morning, and just had a most awesome time with Jesus!!! :)

Backstory…

As I have been discipled by Ashley, and we have begun getting close, she has been sharing a lot of her story with me. Ashley primary Spiritual Gift is Healing, and there is no question about it! She received her gift after she was baptized in the Spirit on her trip to Juarez on Spring Break of ’08. (I’ll be going this coming March – only three months away!!! I am soooo excited! But I have $460 to raise and a passport to get before then, so if you’ll please be praying for everything to come together, I would greatly appreciate that! J) She has told me the story in detail, and I have been incredibly amazed by it, and have been wanting my own story, but in the beginning, didn’t quite know what I was asking for.

Last week, as we were “looking ahead” to this week’s lesson – we’re going through a discipleship packet put out by the church right now – and she told me it was all about the Holy Spirit, and the baptizing of the Spirit! I was about delirious with excitement! Then she told me that she had been praying about when she should pray over me to be baptized with the Spirit, and God had told her it would be very soon! :) She told me not to be disappointed if it didn’t happen this week when we went through this lesson, but to just begin preparing myself for it! :)

Needless to say, all week long I have been almost giddy waiting for today to come! And then after my amazing Bible study the last two days, I was almost overcome with excitement (far more than that of any Christmas morning, birthday, surprise, etc I have ever experienced!!!) !!!

Sunday…12/14/08…

Got to church this morning, and went to the 10:15 service (as always). It was during worship, and I was going all out, when I felt an arm come around me. I looked over, and it was Ashley! She leaned over and began to speak in my ear, telling me that God was telling her that I was to be expectant. To be expectant for far more than I had asked for or could even think of. That I just needed to be open and willing. He was coming! J I must say, that as she walked away and went back to her seat, I was a little worried! I had heard her story of her baptism by the Spirit, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted it to happen without her with me! I wanted my security blanket! But I trusted in what God was doing, so I just returned to my worship, opening myself up to Him completely, and just asking Him to come to me! I had an amazing time in worship, and the sermon was excellent! But I didn’t experience the baptism, so I headed off to my nursery post trusting that it would all come in His perfect timing!

Ashley had sent me a text that I got after I left the nursery saying that we were going to meet at her house (we normally meet at Starbucks). So I figured she knew more than I did about what was to come…

I arrived at her house, eager to get into discipleship! She took us to her room, and we began going through the lesson on the Holy Spirit! It was soooooooooo amazing and thought provoking!!! The scripture opened me up to soooo much that I had never thought of before!
Basically, what it boils down to is this: when you get saved, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and He comes into your body (God gave me a picture of my heart being in a Ziploc bag – once we’ve been sealed, we are forever God’s), but when we are baptized by the Holy Spirit, He comes on us (God gave me a picture of a shield/bubble covering around my entire body)! The sealing of the Holy Spirit brings intimacy and relationship with God, but the baptizing of the Holy Spirit bring power and purpose! And the scripture says that to be baptized by the Spirit, you just need someone who’s already been baptized by the Spirit to lay hands on you and petition for it on your behalf – and you have to be open to it, of course.

When we finished the lesson, the last question was: “Do you want to be prayed for to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit today?” My question was, “ What kind of question is that??? Of course I do!”

Ashley then instructed me that she would pray for the Spirit to come, and that my only job was to let Him do His thing! So naturally, I asked her if I could go to the bathroom first! :) (You always have to be prepared! :) ) We both went to go get prepared, and then came back to her bedroom.

(I will tell my spiritual side of things in the normal print, and then I will put what Ashley was seeing in the physical in parenthesis)

I was the first one back, and she had turned on worship music, so I just stood in the middle of the room and began to get with Jesus! I was in the moment, when she walked back in the room, and began to ask the Spirit to infiltrate the house, the room, and us. I just kept doing what I was doing, and then ever so softly, I felt arms slip around my body from behind and just hold me, softly rocking me. And then I felt Jesus lay down on top of me, his body inch for inch in contact with mine. I could even feel the scars on His hands as He pressed His hands into mine. (She said that my feet were firmly planted on the floor, and that my body was rotating in a perfect circle, she was watching me, waiting for the Spirit to come, and when she saw that, she knew that He was there and knew it was time to get her hands on me, and get ready for anything to happen. She said as she touched me, that I sunk to my knees and then just went flat on my stomach on the ground – arms straight up over my head, face firmly planted into the hardwood, legs straight out behind me)

She began praying over me, and the last thing I heard her pray was to God asking Him to give me my prayer language. As she said that, I felt my tongue disappear. I knew I had teeth and gums and such in my mouth, but I didn’t have a tongue in there. I kept trying to speak, but couldn’t say anything because I didn’t have a tongue. Then as suddenly as it disappeared, it reappeared and three words came to my mind in a pattern: 1,2,1,2,3 – instead of numbers, they were words of course. :) And she leaned over and spoke and said, “Vanessa, God is giving you your prayer language. He is speaking words into your mind right now. Just give in. Repeat them after Him, girl! You’ve got your prayer language!” I tried to obey and speak, but it seemed really hard, so I just went back into the presence of God.

When I did, we were on a beach, and I was laying face down in the sand. I could feel the heat warming my entire body (Ashley had her hand on my back, and she said that I was scalding hot to the touch). Then my eyes began to get really bright, over and over and over. They’d dim and brighten. Just one time after another. And then He leaned over my shoulder and I could feel His breath on my neck, cheek and ear as He said, “Friday.” Every time my eyes brightened. – for the past 3 or 4 months, I have had this reoccurring thought that God is going to heal my eyes, and restore my vision…for those of you that don’t know, I’ve worn glasses since first grade, and my vision is quite horrid…and I had shared the thought with Ashley. (She was praying for my eyes to have complete healing. Praying that there would be progressive healing on everything that needed healing on the backside, and then in His perfect timing, for Him to restore my sight to 20/20!) I had told her when I told her about my thoughts, that I couldn’t have progressive healing of my actual vision, because I would never be able to afford all the lenses to get me from where I am, back to “perfect vision!” …yes, I suppose I should just be grateful he’s healing, and not ask for more…but my God says, “Ask and ye shall receive!!!” :D So I did!

Then He started moving our hands into the sand, and began to dig into the sand, and then I felt something with the tips of my fingers, and we dug until it was out. My right hand pulled out a block with the word “Tongues” on it, and my left hand pulled out a block with the word “Faith” on it. He closed my fists around the blocks (Ashley said that my hands and arms began to shake, and then I began rubbing the floor and digging with my fingernails – she had no idea what I was doing, but it all connected once we compared everything at the end).

He got up and went around to my head, and lifted me up out of the sand. In His hand, He had a beautiful white gown. He said, “This is the gown of Faith – will you receive it? I said, “Yes! I will receive it!” And He put it over my head! Then He was holding two white opera gloves and said, “These are the gloves of Wisdom – will you receive them?” And I said, “Yes! I will receive them!” And He put them on my hands/arms. Then He had a tiara in his hands and said, “This is the crown of peace – will you receive it?” And I said, “Yes! I will receive it!” And He put it on my head.

Then He took my hand, and we began to walk beside the ocean in the sand. He would squeeze my hand and look over at me every few seconds and say, “I love you! I love you little girl!”
I felt so full! So loved and cared for! So covered! So protected!

Slowly, I became very aware of my surroundings, and began to realize that I was face-planted in the hardwood floor, and that I was a bit in pain. But I couldn’t move an inch of my body. I was talking in my head (cause I couldn’t make my mouth say anything) to different areas of my body, commanding it to move, but it didn’t help anything! My body felt so incredibly heavy, and I felt totally trapped in my body.

Ever so slowly, different parts of me began to wake up. As they did, I would slowly lift them off the ground and wiggle them. First it was my toes, then my feet, ankles, fingers, wrists, knees, then my whole leg, then my forearms, then my chest, then my head, but I couldn’t get my lower back to lift up. (Ashley had laid a hand on me sometime during her prayer, while she was reading Psalm 139 – which if you don’t know has become one of my key scripture passages since Texas – over me, and she placed her hand right on my middle back and asked the Spirit to come and radiate from my center! So she said that she was sure that the reason it was the last to move, was because that’s where the Spirit had “set up camp!” :) ).

Finally I got my entire body to moving, and I slowly rose up to an Indian-style sitting position, having to hold my head up on my hands. - And even right now as I lie here and type this, I feel so incredibly tired! I feel totally worn out! – all in all, I was “out” a little under an hour. Then it took me a good 15 minutes before my mouth started working and we began to be able to talk about everything that happened! The entire time I was sitting up in awed silence, Ashley just kept laying her hand on me, and praying, thanking the Spirit for His manifestation, and for meeting us! And then praying for my strength to return. And sure enough, it finally did. It was the most awesome experience I have ever had! God is sooooooooo incredibly good! He is so much more than we can even begin to imagine! And I just got to taste a crumb of what He is!!! And it was gooooooood! :)

Can’t wait to see what is to come…

So! I’m ready! :)

There are a couple of conversations God has told me I am to have when I get back to Georgia, and I am preparing for those now! And after today, I am resting quietly in His arms, knowing that He is the know-all, end-all, and all I have to do during the conversations is let Him have my mouth! J He will be in control, and when He has that control, only good can come of the situation. And as Ashley said, even if I am rejected by the people, God is enough, that He will fill me! I will not feel the sting of rejection, because He has already taken that from me!

Hallelujah!

One more thing…

We went evangelizing two weeks ago at LifeGroup, and I walked up to people and shared with them that Jesus loved them and had a purpose for their lives, and then invited them to the Christmas program at church – if you know me at all, you know that I would never, ever, ever go up to a stranger and just start talking to them! I do good to talk to people once I know them well, and I sure don’t talk to groups of strangers! But by the grace of God, I was able to take that step and walk out in the boldness that can only come from the Spirit! I even power-walked with a man out to his car, because we had gotten a word of knowledge for him, and he definitely needed it – even though he didn’t think he did! J (little does he know, he’s getting way more petitioning on his part since he brushed me off than he would have if he had just stopped and listened to me for 60 seconds! I am trusting God to continue breaking him down!)

The End…for now!

Thanks for reading! :) I’ll see you all soon!

I love you!!!