King James Version
10 But the God of all grace,
who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while,
make you perfect,
stablish,
strengthen,
settle you.
I once loved stuff.
Antiques.
Beautiful objects.
Collectibles.
I was once in business.
Selling these stuff.
Keeping a lot for myself, too.
I once kept moving house.
Moving from the small city, to the big city.
From the big city, to a tiny home in the province.
From the province, back to the big city.
All the while, keeping my favorite antiques.
Things that pleased me, but not the LORD.
He let me do that, for a while.
But one day, on a high unit above the street, God did something.
Of course, then, I thought it wasn't God who did that.
That day, sitting with my back to the window, I got a wallop.
Yup, my long Indian material, fashioned as a curtain, suddenly hit me right smack on the left side of my back.
As if an invisible hand wielded it.
The shock to my system, caused me pain.
For a WHOLE month.
How could that have happened?
How could a wind have appeared from nowhere?
How could a wind appear in an airless air well?
You see, my rented cubicle (more that, than an apartment), faced an air well.
It rose a third of the way up, for it was a 20 or 27-storey building.
That curtain whipped against that side of my back, and I was in pain for a month.
There was no wind that day.
Or ever.
As far back as I can remember.
I blamed it on the enemy.
A dear friend took pity on me one day.
She was an energy healer.
She's seen me through my many adventures, and misadventures.
One morning, she decided to help me, as I worked in the open air, selling my usual antiques.
"Looking" with her heart, she murmured something about my not having "love" in my heart -- thus, the pain in that area.
Her hand felt warm on my back, as she stood behind me, while I continued to sell at my table at the organic market.
It must have taken a lot from her, judging by the beads of perspiration she had on her upper lip.
All I know is that for the FIRST time in a MONTH, I was FREE of pain.
Oh, to be FREE of pain!
What I was not to know -- just yet -- is that GOD was alerting me to something.
Surely, many things.
Now that I've been His for the past 28 months, as born again, as student of SPIRIT, as workman, I've come to know why the wind walloped my back that day.
To wake me up to the fact that:
1. I was ensconced in the material world.
2. I was not living up to His will.
3. I needed to wake up to His truth.
4. I needed to wake up from my wickedness.
5. I did not have love in my heart.
6. I needed to plain WAKE up.
It took another three years (slow learner that I am), to REALLY WAKE UP.
By that time, I had nothing.
I still wanted to remain in the big city, giving it another shot.
Thing is, GOD had shot down all my puny plans.
He had a plan for me.
So, He sent me dreams.
I even dreamt my late father was in a red top-down Cadillac, intent on picking me up from my last abode, with the objective of bringing me back home.
Where was home?
My earth home was the small city I grew up in.
I resisted the dream with all my might.
As if that had any effect upon GOD.
Within that same year, in 2001, I found myself back home.
What does one do, when one has nothing left?
You go back home.
Back to your folks.
Humbling, but it had to be done.
That's GOD's way.
No amount of resistance, can stop the LORD.
Jeremiah 29:11-12
King James Version
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
saith the Lord,
thoughts of peace,
and not of evil,
to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon me,
and ye shall go and pray unto me,
and I will hearken unto you.
SPIRIT gave me that necessary wallop.
Without which, I'd have thought I was invincible.
There was a time, everything I touched, seemed to turn to "gold".
I'm able to sell easily.
I'm able to make money easily.
Until God took away all that.
And directed me to His purpose.
To come home, be with family, and work for Him.
I can't complain I haven't tasted earthly comforts, even as heavenly things needed to be attended to.
When He made me born again, JESUS began instructing me, through the HOLY SPIRIT.
I began to see THEIR connection.
I began to really see things.
I began to understand all the dreams, images, and prompts, from decades past, through SCRIPTURE.
Everything was now based on the WORD of GOD.
And I understood WHO the wind was.
The ONE that walloped my back.
Waking me up.
To the truth of GOD.
To the truth of my being.
To the work that needed to be done.
To the teachings of JESUS.
To the power of the HOLY SPIRIT.
It's all GOD.
Nahum 1:3
King James Version
3 The Lord is slow to anger,
and great in power,
and will not at all acquit the wicked:
the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
John 3:8
King James Version
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh,
and whither it goeth:
so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Oh, how I LOVE the LORD!
More stories here.
Related material:
SCRIPTURE explains PROPHETIC dream
Image: Clipart Library
.jfif)
.jpg)
.jpg)
