Knowing is sweet freedom (Part 2)

I left off with me feeling completely weird about that whole introduction! However on the following morning, again at 5AM, Jonathon hollered at me from across the gym! Again, I was thinking, who is this guy?, and WHY is he waving at me?, he is married for crying out loud!!! He seemed to have come out of nowhere--meaning I had NEVER seen him there before and I knew ALL the faces there--not to mention the fact that he continued to be focused on ME!!! WHY?!

I proceeded to do my routine about 45 min. went by and Jonathon approached me. He asked if I knew what my name meant? I told him yes, it means God's princess in Hebrew, he told me that in fact it did, but he expounded on it's definition. Then he told me that God had told him to talk to me(I later found out that he was TERRIFIED to talk to me! because he did not know me AT ALL). Next he told me that he was married to a wife that he loved very much and had two wonderful children with her!(SEE, God knew!!!) What he told me next was that God wanted him to tell me that He(meaning Jesus) knew that I was having, and I quote, "man problems"!!! At this point the Holy Spirit was dealing with and speaking to my heart, because after all it was God using Jonathon, a willing and obedient vessel, to let me know that HE knew me, HE knew where I was at 5AM everyday, HE knew ALL the trouble in my life! What happened next is kind of a blur! I was stunned, shocked, amazed, astounded, but most of all I was FREE!!!! Because I knew, that I knew, that I knew, that I had just had an encounter with the ONE AND ONLY LIVING GOD, JESUS CHRIST!!!! It was glorious! Jonathon told me over the next 45min that he was a youth pastor, that they would be having service that night and that he would really really like me to meet his wife, Raydean. After we finished talking I went into the showers closed the curtain and lifted my hands towards heaven and just began to weep and say thank you(you must remember that I had never even opened a Bible to this point, never believed an any kind of doctrine, but that there was no doctrine!).

Then I knew that I had to have more, right?!! Who wouldn't want more of that!!! So, I went to church and I started to read a Bible that I bought. My curiosity was peaked about the Holy Spirit! Who is this Holy Spirit?! I must know. I asked a friend from church if she could give me some scripture about the Holy Spirit. She gave me a HUGE list! I noticed right away that a good portion of those scriptures were in Acts. I came to the conclusion that I should probably just read the whole book of Acts and so I did. About half way through Acts I told the Lord one night, in my room on my knees, that I wanted the Holy Spirit to baptize me, or whatever it was that I said. I didn't really know christianese at that point, so all my praying was just "talk" to God in my understanding. About 1-2weeks later I went forward for prayer at youth service one night and Raydean started praying Psalm 91: "let Sarah dwell in your secret place Lord, let her abide in your shadow Father, Cover her with your feathers, under your wing she will trust..."--but THEN she started FERVENTLY praying that the Holy Spirit would come down now on me, and she proceeded to pray in that manner. It wasn't very long into it and the Holy Spirit fell on me like I had never dreamed could EVER happen to anyone! It was the most amazing experience that I had ever had outside of salvation. God's peace, love, power, might, fear, glory, and anything else that He has, touched my physical body and I almost went down, but my mind was worried that I might knock my head! So, I tried to collect myself and some people ushered me to a seat not far from where I was being prayed for. Literally, people sitting in the front row directly behind me, ALL felt the power of God as he baptized me with HIS FIRE and Holy Spirit! It was amazing... Words cannot do it justice. I was not the same after that experience, I could read my Bible and actually understand it! I had a boldness that wasn't there before, lots of things were different--it was like the scales had been lifted from my eyes!

Now! I was a new creature! A new creature in CHRIST JESUS!!!!! Praise be to GOD!!! Thank you Jesus for your obedience and choosing me! Because Many are called but few are chosen! Thank you, Jesus, for the grace that is sufficient everyday and the mercy that endures forever!!!!!!! And just knowing THAT is sweet freedom!