“You’re set apart”, “God has His hand on you for a specific purpose”, “God has a calling on your life” being called “The Church Girl” or “The Jesus Freak” While these things sounded good to my ears I eventually grew tired of hearing it and it started sounding clich. I felt as though the more I was trying to pursue relationship with Him the lonelier the road became and I began to dislike this set apart life I wanted to belong I wanted to fit in I wanted to feel accepted and wanted by others I wanted my voids to be filled so bad that I allowed myself to slowly start to drift. My relationship with God was becoming a ship wreck I began going to church just to say I went, my prayer life was hanging on a thread, I became dependent on people and things as the source of my fulfillment, until one sunday I was on my way to church listening to this video by William McDowell where he was telling a similar testimony and told how God allowed the Holy Spirit to arrest him right in his tracks and he had to stop running and surrender to the call. At that moment I knew God was telling me to stop running and surrender to the call because I’ll only find everything I need at His feet.
That same Sunday “Pentecost Sunday” to be exact I’ll never forget my Bishop did an altar call I’m usually not one to go down to the altar but that day I knew I had to obey the Holy Spirit I went I stayed there for a very long time I felt like nothing was happening yet everyone around me was getting it, so I was tempted to return to my seat but I remember vividly my Bishop repeating the words “Stay There. Don’t leave until you get it.” to those at the altar I then tuned everything out that was happening at that altar and I began to talk to God and ask Him to come into my heart for real my life was in shambles I was confused and feeling purposeless I prayed a prayer that I remember hearing in the William McDowell video I wanted an encounter with God that would forever change me. Well, God heard me and He showed up that day right while I was at that altar He threw out the anchor and arrested me and just when I thought He was done before I could run back to my seat God tells me “I want your YES” I didn’t understand at first but as I told God YES as sincerely as possible I began to see and hear the chains of every stronghold, yoke, and bondage over my life be broken that day and moment I pulled out my white flag and surrendered to God. He set my soul ablaze with a fire I couldn’t contain or control and I haven’t been able to since. I truly received breakthrough, healing, and deliverance like never before I had such a sense of freedom, peace, and a burning passion for Christ. That was a day I knew my life would no longer be the same I experienced an encounter like never before I made peace with being set apart. I knew God was ready to take me to a new level in Him and in my life all He needed from me was total surrenderance. He wanted me to incline my ear and position my heart for anchoring. Let’s talk about being gracefully broken. Well sometimes God has to break you to position you and put you in your right place at the end of the day it’s all worth it. He works all things for our good!
