This morning, I was approached by a man outside of a McDonald’s who said he had seen me in the store, and was prompted by the Holy Spirit to give me a message. The message was “You are going to be fine.” For someone still recovering from the effects of chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer, there is really only one place your mind goes when given a message like that. Every day is spent contemplating a random symptom, and whether it could be a harbinger of bad things to come. You walk a spectrum between being deliriously grateful for life, to being imprisoned by the negative impulses of your mind. It can be a heavy walk.
I pray for the intercession of the Holy Spirit in my life, and for God’s thoughts and leadings to be made clear to me. And I do mean CLEAR, as the depths of my density where God’s voice is concerned often surprises even me–in some cases it requires the proverbial lightning bolt. But ironically enough, even when a lightning bolt comes, I have a tendency to immediately respond with skepticism: Is that for real? Is the messenger a kook of some kind? How does he know the message is truly for me?
So, this morning, I found myself surprised to accept this message on its face value, and have my eyes fill with tears. I had noticed the man in the store, studying something. He was using a highlighter, which I often do, and I noticed. It turns out, he was studying the Bible, and when he hesitated to respond to his prompting, he read a passage that said he was to be obedient to the commands of the Lord. Oddly enough, as Eva reminded me later, we had read a similar passage just hours before: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of Truth” (John 14:15-17.)
I am sure that we risk shutting down the divine communication pipeline when we pray for the Spirit to make his truth known in our lives, and then meet that revelation with disbelief. So today, I believe.
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