Life. It is not always pleasant. There are times of testing and trials, fear and worry, love and trust. Seasons come and seasons go but as I have said before, I am pressing in for something bigger.
I was so blessed in 2007 by being given the opportunity to go in to Teen Challenge (even though those were by far not my initial thoughts). It is a 12-14 month faith based drug and alcohol rehab but it's not your typical rehab. Instead, their focus is bringing the Light of Christ in to every situation and identifying roots and all that fun stuff. During the course of your stay, they begin digging at some core issues. Issues with authority (I did this one more than once), abuse, fear, anxiety, loss and grief, and many many others. It was a place to come and meet the King.
I entered the program on October 8, 2007. The following week, we had a guest speaker for something called Spiritual Emphasis Week. It is a week that all "normal" programing is cancelled and we sit in services in the morning and evening. That week was intense. I "fought" through the first half of the week. I sat in the very back and was straight up rebellious. I would sleep, and put my feet places where they were not supposed to be. I really didn't care nor did I have any desire to care what anyone thought. And then…
It was the 18th, the Thursday morning of that week. All I know was the man of God started prophecying and it was exactly my situation. I remember starting to cry but that's it until I woke up bawling on the floor in the front of the room. Every chair in that room (which seated over 500 people) had been moved to the back and I do not remember any of it. I didn't even know where I was when I woke up. That was the beginning. I had no idea what was happening to me but I knew I would never be the same. The 31st I accepted the call to live for Christ and allow Him to be my Lord and Savior.
For the rest of my time there in TC, I learned that it was the Holy Spirit that breathed life in to me. I knew it was the Holy Spirit that had comforted me when I looked at things that had held me captive since I was a young child. I knew that this life that He had given me was a gift. I just knew that freedom was coming and for the next several years I stepped in to a freedom that to this day I cannot explain.
Once I went on to the Ministry Institute, I learned how to "breathe life" over all those I came in to contact with. This has been my desire since I came to know the power that redeemed me and set me free. Now, every day when I wake up, it is my prayer for the Holy Spirit to come. And when He comes and rests in a place, life is given, life is breathed over the individuals.
So today I pray that the Spirit breathes life over you, that there is a refreshing that comes, a renewal, healing, and freedom and that you begin to understand that the power within us is that same power that raised Christ from the dead and we have the Spirit that breathes life over broken and death filled situations.
