Tuesday, February 23, 2016

West Of Weird?

I was listening to a woman speak in Bible study last Thursday morning when she began to quote a verse to go along with her thoughts.....it was Isaiah 60:1

 "Arise and shine, for your light has come.  
The glory of the Lord is upon you."

This was the 7th time I had gotten that verse in just a few days.  God is definitely making a point and I definitely need to pay attention.  The extra blessing came from the fact that just the night, before during the time of prayer in our Wednesday worship at church, this same woman had prophesied over Joel and I when we went up for prayer.  

Let me first begin by saying that as soon as the lead pastor asked T. and her husband to come up and pray for others I felt in my spirit that Joel and I were to go to them to ask for prayers on what we had been seeing and hearing from God..  We were not disappointed.  When she spoke words of knowledge over us, it confirmed what we had heard in our hearts.  We came away saying "wow".  Thank you Jesus!   God often repeats what He wants us to hear through scriptures, books, people, and our own intuition.  It is important to keep our ears open. our eyes focused and our hearts ready. II believe T. sharing the verse God has given me so often, is a confirmation from Him concerning what we heard from her.  We are so humbled and grateful by His goodness.

Our journey with prophecy and speaking in tongues has been a short but amazing one.  Just four years ago God started opening our hearts and minds to the "something more" He has for us.  First came physical healing, then a new prayer language, followed by Holy Spirit encounters.  Prophecy has slowly come to us both as a gift and a gift to give others.

Today I read a post on Facebook that shared what a professor at a seminary had to say about speaking in tongues,  stating that these gifts were for those times, not now.  They were no longer relevant for us today.  I feel sad for those who don't believe the gifts of the Spirit are Biblical for today.  As I have said before, it has taken us to an amazing place that we cannot go back from. It brings us so much joy and has deepened our relationship with Holy.   The thing is, we are not unique because we have experienced healing, the prophetic,  or because we speak in tongues.  We are still Joel and Renee! Yes, for some who knew us before and are not comfortable with the changes, we are just, as a few have said, "west of weird".  But this life is for everyone who desires it.

This same woman shared some of her life experiences at the Bible Study.  She comes from a family where healing and deliverance was common.  While speaking she said, "It may sound weird, but............."  My reply to her was, "Oh we LIKE weird!"  Weird is good as long as God is in the middle of it, and being west of weird works for me as long as I know it is from God.   Certainly it is not weird to us, but, well, a place we belong.  A part of me feels like I have come home to the familiar the past couple of years.  And I know that in our search for roots, which I wrote about earlier,  I cannot let go of this place I live, with the prophetic, speaking in tongues, and Holy Spirit encounters, and our deep desire to share what we have learned with others.

So, if you consider us your west of weird friends, we ask you to consider the "something more" God has for each of you, for each of us.  Maybe you have already "been there, done that".  Maybe you are further along the path than we are.  It is a good place to be.  We are still pretty new on this journey, and look forward to what else God has ahead for us, even if some think of us as west of weird.  We like this kind of weird!

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