Day 275

Day 275 of The Red Shoe Project will be remembered as the day I received...

The Holy Ghost Hug!

HUG = the act of holding someone tightly in one's  arms typically to express affection.

That's the dictionary definition.

A "HOLY GHOST" HUG is a hug in which 

the Holy Spirit supernaturally pours out 

the Love of the Father upon the recipient 

through the mere embrace of a Believer.

Talk about being a vessel that God can flow through!

Early this morning, I popped on my sparkly RED ballet flats, and headed out the door to The Bonfire Bible Study.  A few of us arrived early to set up and pray.  At the end of our little prayer meeting, we took a few moments to pray for one another.  I don't remember all the details, but at one point  someone said  "Now pray for Gail!"  

 Kam,  the "Prayer Warrior"  of the group, embraced me in her arms and began praying in the Spirit.  I just melted!  

It was as if Jesus was 

holding me Himself.  

I'm telling you, I'm not usually a melter!  I don't get all mushy at the drop of a prayer.  But when God decides to clothe Himself in someone, and that someone hugs me... WOE!  

It was so funny, because it was just her and me -- and I was melted.   I could feel God just pouring His love into me.   Just then,  Ziva came over, having heard Kam speaking in tongues,  and announced, "I have the interpretation of that tongue.  -   I do!"  she insisted.  I opened my eyes and looked into her eyes as she told me what God had to say.

BAM!

She hit the nail on the head!

I know she didn't know anything about what she was saying, yet, she was precisely on target!  Well --  I should say, God was precisely on target.  He spoke through her,  directly to me, about  the concerns of my heart.  There's no way she could have known that!  God and I were the only ones privy to those whispered, late night, conversations. 

Before I knew it, prayer time was over, and everyone went in different directions to greet the people as they began arriving.   There I was... standing in the middle of the room --  all by myself --  kind of like a melted ice cream cone.  I was a little out of it, and somewhat wobbly on my feet.  I could feel myself swaying back and forth.  So I took a moment, sat down and pulled myself together.   

WOW!  God had just poured out His Love on me!  God had just spoken directly to me!  I do believe...

I just had a GOD encounter!

Today, I did the teaching at the Bonfire.  We are continuing our Bible study in 

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 on Spiritual Gifts.  Their purpose is to  build up the Body of Christ.  

In that GOD encounter, just moments before, I witnessed three of the Spiritual Gifts listed:  Word of Knowledge, Tongues and Interpretation.  

Now you won't find the "Holy Ghost Hug"  listed there... but there's no doubt in my mind that it's a divine gift, in a category, all its own!   Thank you Jesus!  What a morning!

In RED shoes,

Gail

Day 274

Day 274 of  The Red Shoe Project has arrived.  I am in my Ruby Reds and waiting patiently upon the Lord.  Last night my dear friend wished me well as she dropped me at my door.  Her final words were...  "This is between You and the Lord, Gail!  I'm staying out of the way!"  As much as I hated to hear those words, she's right.  It's between Me and God now.  There was a little part of me that didn't want to get out of the car.  I wanted to stay right there where I was comfortable, safe, and with friends.  But if I did that, well... I'd never know...

I'd never know for sure 

if all this was legit.  

My friend sticking around would just delay the inevitable.  I had to go on from here alone.  It's time to...

JUMP!

My son had just turned 18 and was about to graduate high school.  I wanted to do something amazing with him  --  Something we'd  both look back on and say,  "WOW!  We did that together!"   I'd put forth  a variety of options, 
but Joe wasn't interested in any of them.  Then, I threw it out there...

"What about skydiving?"  He jumped on that one like there was no tomorrow.  He didn't think I'd go through with it, but I was motivated.

"For You, Son... I'll do it!"  

We agreed to wait a couple months until school was officially out.  That was great because it took me that long to totally psych myself up for it.   I wouldn't allow myself to be nervous or to think negatively at all.  I was going to do it, no matter what!

Early that morning, we sat at a picnic table with a pen and release forms in hand.  It was ridiculous.  To sum it all up, it basically  said...  "Even if everything goes totally wrong, and we're the cause of it,  you won't hold us liable."  LOL!  I remember looking at my son, and saying, "Let's say a little prayer."   We agreed together and I said a prayer that went something like this:  "Lord... We know that this is totally crazy, but we ask you to have your hand on us anyway.  Divinely protect us, we pray, and help us to have a good time!"   It really was crazy, but we put our lives in God's hands and signed the release. 

With minimal training, I tried to take it all in.  To be honest, I just wanted to stay focused and positive long enough to make sure I jumped.  I'll never forget the plane ride.  All of a sudden everyone got pretty quiet.  There was a nervousness in the air.  I wanted to yell out  "Yahoo!!!!! Let's do this!"  but it didn't seem quite appropriate.  That's okay... I did it in my own mind.

You know... you can drive miles and miles to show up to jump;  you can sign a release form and turn it in;   you can put on a jump suit and listen to the instruction;  you can even go up in the plane...  But you're not skydiving until you jump.

120 mph free fall.  WOW!  If I hadn't watched the video afterwards and seen my son jump out and go straight down, I wouldn't have believed it!  Because it doesn't seem that way when you're doing it.  There's not a sense of "falling."

I think I might have been the last one to go.  It was my turn --  I was up.  

One...  Two... Three...

I did it!

After 1 minute of free fall the big parachute opened up and we floated down to the earth!  WOW!  That was GREAT!!!

I had all intentions of going back and skydiving again soon,  but the weather wasn't conducive and then my dad died, and then it was something else.   It's been a few years since that all took place.  But now... here I am, reminiscing about skydiving.  Who would ever think that "Living by Faith" and  "Following the call of God on my life"  would be so much like skydiving?  

When all that went down, I was in a challenging place in life.  I so desperately felt like I had to "get out of the box" with God.  I remember floating down from the clouds and thinking... "Life looks so much different from your perspective, God.  Way up here, my problems seem oh so small!"

All worked out just fine then, and all will work out just fine now!

"Yahoo!   Let's do this!"

In RED shoes, 

Gail

Day 273

Today is Day 273 of  The Red Shoe Project.  I have spent the entire day in RED shoes, waiting.  Have you ever noticed that time goes so much slower when you are counting the minutes.... even seconds?

Tick, tick, tick...

For some reason, when you're watching the clock that closely, TIME drrraaaaaaaaaggggggggggggs!

On an up note... the scripture text used in today's sermon at church was 

Psalm 102:13b

"For it is time to show favor to her;

the appointed time has come."

I love a good suspense movie!  There's nothing better than thinking you know exactly what's going on, and then at the last minute,  it turns out it to be something entirely different.  Of course that's all based on the premise that everything works out for the best!

But movies and life are two different things.  I don't enjoy sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see how God's going to bring it all together -- at least not in my own life.  I'm much better at cheering others on -- encouraging people to grab ahold of their faith and ride it to the end!    

But the true power of an encourager 

comes from having a testimony of their own! 

One where you can personally say... "I know this because I've been through it myself!"  You can speak that with confidence because you've lived it!  

Suspense = a state of anxious uncertainty of 

what may happen.

I took a minute and watched the ending of the Apollo 13 movie.  You know the clip where they are all waiting to see if the crew is going to make it or not.  The time is ticking... Tick, tick, tick.  Not only that -- it goes beyond the time it's supposed to take...  Tick, tick, tick.  Thirty seconds over time.  Sixty seconds over time.  Tick, tick, tick.    Really?  I've seen this move umpteen times and it still nearly gives me a heart attack.  Jeepers... I even know the ending!

I suppose the suspense is what makes it such an exciting story.  I've heard the saying, "No trial,  No testimony."  That means there has to be some suspense built in. 

 Not fake suspense -- Real suspense!    

If there's not a difficulty, there's no need for a true victory.  I figure, I must have one great testimony coming my way!  I just hope I'm alive to tell it!  LOL.

In RED shoes, 

Gail

Day 272

Day 272 of  The Red Shoe Project finds me in my RED shoes, meditating on the idea that I am about to witness one of...

"God's Finest Hours"  

So often I look at life from the "Natural" perspective.  Hey... I'm human!  It's only normal that I would see things that way.  But I have a "Divine Partner", who lives in me, -- The Holy Ghost -- and with that in mind,  I'm realizing that I need to witness things spiritually as well -- especially in my current situation.

A Natural outlook limits God! 

A Spiritual outlook pulls down all the boundaries and allows God to be God!  

A Natural outlook can be negative and defeating.  

A Spiritual outlook is positive and victorious!

A Natural outlook requires NO FAITH.

A Spiritual outlook stretches my faith.  

Though in the Natural, things may seem hopeless and impossible, 

In the Spiritual realm,  anything can happen.

"With man, this is impossible,

But with God all things are possible!"

Matthew 19:26

Putting on my spiritual glasses,

and keeping watch in RED shoes,

Gail