Part II: I Went to CHURCH!

Part II: I Went to CHURCH!

(Please Make Sure You Read Part I First)

I sat in the tattoo parlor in a state of frenzy, mainly because I rushed to get my granddaughter, Victoria, to her appointment.  I wasn’t supposed to be there. I had other plans for my day, but God orchestrated an entirely different one. Melinda’s car broke down, and Ethan had to work. I was the only one who could give her a ride.

As I looked at the various designs on the wall, I wondered what I could do to waste time. This appointment could take time. Victoria had a back piece done by someone less than professional, and Bethany made an appointment with her friend who said he could fix it. So the waiting game began. At times, I wondered what the tattoo artist had playing in the background. It sounded like a protest rally. I finally asked him.

“It’s not coming from here. It’s the crazies next door. Their holding church.” A thin wall separated the church from the tattoo parlor. Now in some people’s book, it could be considered light and darkness coexisting together.

“Really,” I said. “Well, I think I will go to church.”

A mere three feet separated the two worlds from each other. I gently grabbed the handle to the church door, but it seemed locked. I tried again. A young woman opened the door, and I slipped into a chair in the back of the narrow room. Only a dozen or so people were sitting in chairs, but at times they sounded like a 100 or more with their shouts of “Amen” and clapping of hands.

A black woman in a white prayer shawl stood in front of the congregation exhorting the congregation as she wiped the sweat from her brow with a handkerchief. Her words pierced my heart. A few times, I shouted “Amen” along with the rest of the congregation. I later learned when I walked through the door they had already been in church for three hours. THREE HOURS!

Her husband, the pastor, sat at the front in one of the side chairs adorned with white cloth and a purple sash. When he stood in front of the people, his voice was gentle and yet commanding. He began to minister to the people in the chairs. It brought tears to my eyes watching him share the love of Christ. At one point before he closed, he looked at me with his piercing dark eyes.

“What is your name?”

“Kathy.”

He started calling me “Raindrop.” He said I would be like raindrops on a dry and thirsty ground. He said my gray hairs, no silver, would reveal the depth of wisdom I would impart to those around me. This was just the beginning of his prophecy. I honestly do not remember everything he said, which is why I am thankful they are giving me a CD, but I do know that his words sunk deep into my spirit. After a few minutes, he asked me to come forward. His wife anointed my forehead with oil creating the sign of the cross. I looked into this preacher’s eyes as he continued his prophetic word for me. I barely blinked as my eyes looked deep into his. The eyes of Jesus stared back into mine through this man.

Before I go on, I have to preface it by sharing what happened earlier in the day as I was doing my errands after church. I asked God to reveal his purpose for my life. I asked him to show me the direction he wanted me to go in, to direct my footsteps. Then I asked him to do whatever it took and take me to wherever he wanted me to be in his appointed time to show me clearly his direction for my life. Sometimes God tarries and sometimes He moves quickly.

The preacher then said, “You haven’t been doing God’s work lately, have you?” Next, he asked me why? I told him I was busy teaching. He told me God is getting ready to use me and that I would be teaching others about Him. I would be ministering. I would be setting the captive free.

He said I had been captive for a long time, but God was giving me eagle’s wings. I would soar through the heavens and throughout the earth sharing the message of God. What I loved most is when he said he was getting into our family business. He was about to do a work in my family. PRAISE GOD!!!!

He asked if anyone else had a word, and this woman came up to me and put her hand on my heart and said, “God is about to flip your heart. He is going to change it. Rearrange it. Make it into what He wants it to be” When she said those words, I thought of how broken my heart was five years ago. He was healing my heart. On Sunday, Pastor Tallo said, “The comfort we experience can be poured into the body, mind, and spirit of others. We become broken enough to be trusted with His power.” I believe it is exactly what God’s plan was for me, and the evidence of it started that Sunday afternoon.

I have to share an earlier occurrence again before I can explain what happened after my experience at this church next to the tattoo parlor. Our church secretary handed Jerry and I an envelope containing an anonymous gift card of $100 to Wegmans. We just looked at each other. Jerry said, “We don’t need this.” I agreed.  Wegmans was one of my stops as I did my errands after church, and I just felt God saying don’t use the card. 

I walked out of the little church and continued talking with a young woman who shared her heart with me. As she spoke, I heard God saying to give her the gift card. I took it out of my purse and told her that God wanted to bless her for her faithfulness. I wish you could have seen the look on her face. I was blessed. What was meant to be a blessing for us was a blessing for someone who was truly in need.

After our conversation, I went to the laundromat with them because they had some items to wash before they could go home. I watched them witnessing to everyone in the laundromat. I ended up striking up a conversation with a 24-year-old girl. She told me her life story, all of which broke my heart. I shared some of my story with her too. Eventually, she said she believed I was an angel sent by God to talk to her. I told her I wasn’t an angel, but God loved her and wanted her to know it. She asked if I would be her mentor. Ah, the beginning of the prophetic word coming to pass.

My heart is now on fire again. I have experienced his presence, and I want MORE, MORE, MORE!!!! In fact, Melinda and I are going tonight for their Wednesday night teaching. Who knows? There may be a Part III to this story. Yes, I went to CHURCH!!!

Part I: I Went to CHURCH!

Part I: I Went to CHURCH!

            I had one of the most incredible experiences in my walk with Jesus this weekend, but I cannot share the awesomeness of His power without sharing the dark side of my reality. I am going to be brutally honest, which may shock some of you and others not so much.

            I have resided in the dark night of the soul for the past five years. The night my son found out the truth about his biological father, I lost faith. I trusted God. I made promises to God that I would never tell him the truth if he would only protect my son from the harsh realities of his father’s world. The rubber band snapped in my brain the horrifying night of his revelation, and I lost ground. I walked backward, back to Egypt.

            Many of us know the idiom: Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.” In my case, it didn’t cultivate positive results. My seeds of doubt grew into a forest of mistrust and skepticism. Bottom line. I was angry with God. In fact, I said I broke up with God. Even in my lucid moments, I would try to pull myself up out of the miry clay only to be sucked back in because I was doing it by own strength. Unfortunately, when we do things by our own strength, we are a danger to ourselves and others. I didn’t care about myself, but I did care about being a stumbling block to others. Jesus says, “Woe to the man through whom the stumbling block comes” (Matthew 18:7). It scared me.

            On July 11^th, I couldn’t take it anymore. The depression seeped into every pore. The anxiety riddled my brain with doubts about my salvation, so I cried out to God. I felt like Jonah in the belly of the whale.

            “I called out of my distress to the Lord

             And He answered me.

             I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;

             You heard my voice” (Jonah 2:2).

           

            I knew my heart needed to be right. I am thankful that God is “gracious and full of compassion and slow to anger and great in mercy” (Psalm 145:8) because I am a slow learner. I know where sin leads, especially blatant sin. However, there is a deceiving sin as well. We convince ourselves we are okay, but in reality, we are sorely deceived by the enemy of our soul. I determined in my heart to stop letting myself be deceived, to stop being angry with God, and to stop trying to do things on my own strength. I needed to repent and turn, turn and live.

            When we repent, we begin to hear the still small voice of God. Francis Roberts said, “Be obedient to the still small voice. Thine own imaginings may speak more loudly, but wait upon me always.” So true. I was living in a world of my own vain imaginings. I was listening to the deceiving words of those around me, wolves in sheep’s clothing. I had to stop and listen only to the voice of God. I recognized more and more as time went on if my actions did not line up with the truth of God’s word, then I was a sinner falling short of the Glory of God.

            The day after I cried out to God, I wanted Him to speak to my heart. I picked up my phone, and I saw the Daughters of the King app I had put on my phone months before. When I read the words, I nearly fell off the couch and on to my knees. I know this is long, but I hope you will be blessed how God orchestrates everything in our lives so that we may know his heart for us.

           

            I, the Lord, will set things in order for you! I will set you free. I will set your feet on a             firm foundation. I will set you on fire for My glory. Don’t you see? There’s nothing too hard for me. What I set, none can move. What I set in place and establish by My name, no one can undo. When you turn your heart toward Me, I turn to you. I will establish you in my love and remove all your shame. I will set you free and give you a new name. Sin will not dominate you anymore. Fear won’t run your life anymore. Let me set things in order for you. Set your heart on me, and I will bless you. Set your mind on me, and I will show you great and mighty things you’ve never known. Will you let me set you free? Will you let me set you on fire? You are not too hard for me. Your problem is not too challenging for me. It’s a light thing for me to deliver you and plant you in my perfect will. I will bring you out and bring you in. I will set you free to be all I made you to be. This is my will for you. Don’t you see? This is why my child, it’s not too hard for me. Like a caterpillar is destined to be a butterfly, nothing can change your destiny in me. You will be transformed. You will be changed. You will be born anew and you will walk in all that I prepared for you. I will set things in order for you. I will set you free. I will set you on a firm foundation. I will set you on fire for me.

            I am not going to say everything has been perfect since that day I gave it all to God. However, I do know His strength is made perfect in my weakness. I have seen I how far I have come in the past month even though the devil keeps nipping at my heels. I have made strategic moves based on the prompting of the Holy Spirit to break off ties with people who hinder my walk with God. I want to surround myself with people who will encourage me in my faith and not deceive me into believing God has a plan different from what is lined up in His Word.

            Make sure you read Part II. You will see how God orchestrated an unbelievable experience for me. You will also understand why I entitled the series: I Went to CHURCH!