Day 217 of
The Red Shoe Project has come to an end. As I reach down to remove the
RED shoes from me feet, I can not believe the adventure I've had today. My pal Bonnie pulled up in front of my house around 5:45 p.m. and beeped. Out I ran, totally equipped with a smile, Bible, joyful spirit, and wearing my
RED shoes. What was it, that God had in store for us?
Bonnie was invited to a special event in which she could bring along a guest. Some Christian friends of hers opened their home to ministers,
Bob and Yvonne Gerhart of
Watchmen for the Nations. That sounded great. I'm always up for a good word, good worship, good prayer and good fellowship!
"Let's Go!" I exclaimed.
We were told to arrive early for a good seat, and a good seat we got... right next to the speaker. We were the first guests to arrive. As I sat there quietly, sipping on a glass of ice water, a funny feeling came over me.
"What was going on here? I was expecting some little home Bible study, but the hosts were bringing out chairs, chairs and more chairs. They must have set up for thirty people. I looked at Bonnie and smiled a little apprehensively.
"Was God setting me up? What was He about to do in this place?" I had a feeling He was up to a lot more than I had anticipated. I looked at Bonnie.
"We're on an adventure!"
she declared
with a smile.
I love a good surprise! But if the cat gets out of the bag prematurely, all can be ruined. I remember the day I turned forty. My oldest daughter and I were heading out to do some errands which included a little shopping. Unbeknownst to her, as I sat in the car waiting for her to join me, I put down the sun visor and a piece of paper fell onto my lap. When I glanced at it, I noticed that it was an invitation to a surprise party being held at my house later that very afternoon...
MY surprise party! I returned it quickly to its place above the viser, and acted as if I'd never seen it. My daughter soon appreared, jumped in the car and off we drove. Apparently, she was in charge of getting me out of the house and keeping me busy for a few hours.
As the time drew closer and closer to 4 p.m., (the time of the party), I found myself stalling to go home. I started offering bizarre suggestions to my daughter.
"Let's not go home, now! Let's go to a movie! Or what about just you and me going for a special dinner?" Yes, I
was tormenting her, in a fun sort of way, because I was privy to information I shouldn't have been aware of. After watching her squirm a bit, I backed off and headed home. As I walked in the door, I put on my best surprised look, and had a wonderful time.
SURPRISE!
Maybe that's why God never lets me in on anything before hand! Seriously... He tells me nothing in advance! That's okay, I'm getting used to the adventure of it all. It leaves little to no time to get scared. LOL.
Yvonne Gerhart is totally deaf. As a young woman, a car slammed into the side of her car at 85 miles per hours which, amongst other things, left her unable to hear. As the years went by, Yvonne married, was widowed, and married again. One day, her second husband, Bob, began to notice that she knew things about people that she had no way of knowing. People were amazed at her accuracy. How was it possible? Yvonne was in fact deaf, but she had no problem hearing God's voice and God began speaking to others through her.
As time drew closer and closer for the evening's ministry to begin, I felt the Spirit of God churning within me. Because I was sitting so close to the front, I happened to over hear Yvonne asking the host for the evening if the group could start off by singing the old chorus...
"Come Holy Spirit We Need You." I knew that chorus well. Apparently no one else did, so I was nominated to lead it.
I'm definitely not what you'd call a singer, but in the old days of pastoring a pioneer work, I was trained to do pretty much everything and anything needed in a church service. With that said, I lifted up my voice and lead the group. As nervous as I was, I sang it through, acapella, trying to stay in key.
Simultaneously, to my surprise, God began pouring His Spirit in me. It was like a heavenly drink of water. When the chorus ended, the host asked me to sing it through again. I obeyed, and lo and behold, God filled me up even more. Once again, I was signaled to continue, so I did. I admit I was a little nervous at my inadequate voice. The words were clear, but I noticed my voice trembling. At least this time, the others were singing along with me.
Fill - Fill- Fill.
In my humility, God continued to pour into me. Finally, the man instructed...
"One more time, please!" As we all sang together, the atmosphere was saturated with God's Spirit... and so was I! Boy, was I glad to be sitting, for I was near filled to capacity and close to drunk in His Spirit. It was fortunate that I wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon. LOL.
Yvonne and her husband proceeded to share scriptures and stories. Then, one by one, Yvonne called people to come up before her, where she would speak to them prophetically. People were so incredibly moved both by her accuracy of how she divinely knew what was on their minds and the good word given to them from God through her. The whole time I listened carefully. Meanwhile, there was this other part of me that was compelled in my Spirit to intercede for the ministry taking place in front of me.
You don't understand. It's not like I had nothing to do, so I thought I would pray quietly for everyone. The Spirit of God
in me, just decided to pray to the Father, on the behalf of those in attendance, and used me, as a vessel, to do so. I'm sure that no one around me took notice. If they looked at me, they would just think that my eyes were closed and that I was preparing my own heart to be ministered to. Perhaps they caught a glimpse of a tear running down my cheek or my lips silently quivering. Most likely they saw nothing.
Outwardly nothing.
Inwardly... God was
moving mountains
through prayer!
She hadn't even gotten to me yet. It wasn't yet my turn. But already, I was experiencing God in great measure! I wish I had the words to accurately describe what the presence of God is like. Sorry, I'm doing my best. When your time comes... you'll say,
"Yup... now I know what Gail was talking about!"
It was only a matter of time and she pointed to me. I stood up and positioned myself in front of her. She held my hands and immediately tears rolled down my cheeks. It wasn't so much that I couldn't wait to hear what she would say... It was more the awesome presence of God in that place! The peace of God surrounded me as her unpretentious, yet bold voice spoke to me.
She said she saw a turtle. She noted how a turtle moves oh, so slowly, and stated that's what I've been thinking about...
"Why, oh why is my life moving so slowly?"
Wait a minute... not two days ago, I wrote in my blog, (Day 215),
"How could something possibly happen that quickly... especially when everything else in my life is happening so slowly?"
Yvonne continued with her word from God stating that I was on the right path, and that due to the slowness of my life, I was now able to see and experience things that otherwise I would have missed. Important things!
I knew that... boy did I know that! But hearing her say it was such a confirmation that I was truly hearing from God. Sometimes, God has you on a path that can seem a bit peculiar. As you pray, you sense that He's telling you you're right in the center of His will... but even still, it's peculiar all the same, and you wonder,
"Could this really be God's will?
or is it just me? Am I crazy?"
A confirmation like this one is a way of God saying...
"Yes, Gail... I want you to know,
without a doubt, it is My will!
It's okay... Stay the course!"
There was more... but too much to say right now. Someone recorded the whole thing and is going to send me the transcript. Maybe later I'll say more, but for now, I'm reminded of an old saying...
"God works in mysterious ways,
His wonders to perform."
Truly tonight was
an adventure in RED shoes,
Gail
