Our lives are one with Him

 Today I'm bringing you my good friend Colleen.
      With Colleen you will find nothing but the honest truth.....Her  whole life has been one amazing testimony to the Goodness of God when we turn our lives over to Him, and ask Him to reveal Himself to us. She is truly a living example of the transforming power of the Holy Spirits power in her life. I have asked her to share one small story of which there are Many...
About how she walks in communion (relationship) with our Savior while at her place of work.
Walking in communion is so Key to hearing the Heart of the Lord, if your Heart is not connecting in relationship with The Heart of the Lord, then it becomes difficult to hear His desire for others.....
      One of the ways that God speaks to us is through a word of knowledge, meaning, we know something about others that only God could know...thoughts start coming into your head that almost seem like they are yours but they are not coming from the same stream of thoughts that yours are coming from, kind of like if you are reading along in a book and all of the sudden THE WRITING IS BOLD....

COLLEENS TESTIMONY (STORY)

I was working in the ER one night around 2 am . An ambulance brought this man in who was very disheveled. He had a beard that hadn't seen a razor in months, the man was found in a ditch on a very cold December night. As a nurse I was completely in the flesh and the daily activities as usual. After we cut off the mans filthy urine soaked clothes and sent him to xray, he came back to the room and started to awaken. I went to the desk and was charting and I hear the people around me snickering and laughing.As I looked up I saw this man standing in the hallway looking very confused and not covering his behind. The sight was humorous and all too common to the staff and I thought nothing of laughin right along with them...



But something happened, this man opened his mouth to speak. " Ohh that's right, laugh at me!!!" When he said these words it was not what I heard at all. In my heart I heard a scream coming from him that said "if someone doesn't, love me tonight, I don't have a tomorrow".


I felt the Holy Spirit so strong telling me to go help this man, once and for all.


I walked him to the bathroom and waited then took him back to the room and as soon as he sat down, I felt God speaking to him.


I started to wash his hands and his face and as I did I asked" why are you taking this beating?" to which I got no reply just an odd look.
I said again " why are you putting up with this? " Then I just followed God's lead and started to tell him who he was....That he was a child of the most high king and he did not need to grovel. That God loved him so very much and he was right here with open arms waiting for him to come home.


This 78 year old man then began to tell me what had happened. He was in a church 35 years ago and was starting to hear from God all the time. He was walking with God and loving life, prospering in everything he did. But you see, the church he went to didn't believe in the prophetic, couldn't understand the call on his life or the mantle that he walked in, so they asked him to leave. The broken man in front of me was chosen vessel of God that was discarded and rejected by an unbelieving church and here he was with thirty years of pain and rejection holding him captive to the bottle and despair. My heart broke in two for this man. I asked him to forgive us for our judgements against him. As I cleaned this mans hands I held them and asked him if he would give God another chance in his life.This man cried and received Jesus again at this time...as we both cried. (meaning he turned back to trusting in Jesus) I dressed him in pjs, slipper and a bathrobe got him a taxi voucher. After I put him in the cab he smiled and waved and I knew that God had scheduled this divine appointment for his son that HE missed so very much. I felt in my heart that we really need to get serious about those around us who have fallen away, that it is time to truly do the stuff of the Kingdom and love  each other into the fullness that God has provided. This man blessed me in so many ways that night, by receiving God back into His life. God showed me that his love for this man was never brushed aside or turned off, but all he needed was a yielded vessel to break into this man's day and tell him what his Daddy was saying... I am so honored to be a child of this intense, amazing GOD!




     Isn't that an amazing story of Gods redemptive heart!! That's the heart of our Father and He is longing to reveal Himself to us through  the love He sent to the world in Jesus!!


Matthew 11:27-29 (NASB) Jesus talking..........
27 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
   28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.


     Unfortunately we live in a broken world, and when someone appears different or has a different calling/gifting than we do, then Misunderstandings can cause division that hurt others deeply...though we may not understand someone else, our highest goal should be to love...


       One of the things I love about Coleen is she is who she is, there are no masks. She is fully trusting in her saviors love to carry her, and the goodness of God she carries in her heart is contagious to be around...
She knows a wonderful  secret...Taking that goodness to others is thrilling!!! And energizing!!!   As you come to understand the amazing love God has for you and start communing with Him ( spending time in relationship)  than you also will find yourself Giving away the love you receive...As You become a yielded vessel! 




     As part of being in relationship with God there will be times when He asks you to share your testimony one way or another and this will look differently for each of us. With Colleen, He asked her to write a book, now that's no small task and one that needed confirmation. I had the privilege of being witness to two of those confirmations. One was confirmed publicly at a Christian Conference we both attended. I think that was the final push she needed, shortly after that the book was written ... And I am going to take this opportunity to say... This book is amazing! Starting with her real and raw testimony,  and then showing the intervention of God. It is a quick read and I would highly suggest it for teenagers and young adults.
Or,  for someone you may know that is struggling with an addiction  of any kind...

This is the link where you can get the book .....the title is called...


An Act of Grace...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608366928/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_niYUob0AVMYF6
www.amazon.com
Colleen Sturgis

PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT...

 KEEPING IT REAL

            BECAUSE HE IS REALLY AWESOME!

     So I have  quick little testimony to share, and I think it will be an encouragement to some of you. I know it was for me, and this I know....We all need to be encouraged as we continue  to walk to wherever it may be that the Lord has called each of  us to invest ourselves,as we learn to Commune With Him.  
     That being said, one of the things I feel I have been given a measure of grace (strength) for, is intercession, (prayer) ......  one of the dimensions of my prayer life is called praying in tongues. (another language that Is given to you by Holy Spirit...Acts2:32-33& 38-39) this is an area that I have tried to be consistent with, as I continue my relationship with God.  Some seasons I pray pretty regularly, and some seasons I am on and off, but I decided a long time ago, I would rather rely on God praying through me than what I might pray.... Though I must admit that sometimes, I wrestle with thoughts as to whether I am just making the prayer language up in my head...sooooo...
        Some times, during a prayer group that I am part of on Wednesday mornings, as we are praying and worshiping, there will be a time of praying or singing in tongues. On this particular morning there was a time of singing in the spirit (tongues) and we happened to have a young lady with us from Spain, who is living at my friend Moniques home for a temporary season, (The prayer group is at Moniques) after every one had gone home, she told Monique that I was singing in Spanish during prayer! Guess what? I only know 3 words in Spanish: thank you, your welcome, and bathroom...and those were not the words I was singing! She gave Monique some of the words that I was singing...glory ...honor...savior ...king...  Yup!  Even though at times, I wondered if I was just loony, I kept on pressing in with the gift I was given ........


 Paul  wrote about this gift more than once ...here are a few places he mentions tongues....
Acts 19:5-6      New International Version (NIV)
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 


1 Corinthians 12:4-11       New International Version (NIV)
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.
 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.


1 Corinthians 12:27-28     New International Version (NIV)
 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.


So my encouragement to you dear one, is to continue in the gift that God has given you.....because though we don't always know the fruit, when we walk by faith (trusting God) wonderful things really Do happen! Praying in tongues is also a wonderful way to strengthen your spirit, so I would  like to encourage those of you who have this gift to exercise it,if you only pray occasionally try doubling what you usually do, find times during your day: ... In the shower, doing dishes driving to work...........you will notice a difference !




HE IS IN CONTROL......A little side note,I just remembered.......A friend of mine was bringing her husband to a charismatic service years ago and was a little concerned that he would be troubled by what went on there,as he had already expressed his concerns about people praying in tongues. Well sure enough they sat rite behind someone who was singing in tongues very loudly the whole time worship was going on, when she asked him later if this bothered him, he did not know what she was talking about because all he heard was this same lady singing and sweetly praising God in English! So whether God changes our hearing or our speech ultimately He is in control......             


ONE LAST THING TO THINK ABOUT.....What if the man above has the gift of interpretation of tongues, and to prevent him from using it the enemy(demonic spirits) made him uncomfortable around the very gift that he may need to partner with ???? Something to ponder.......