I am reading this book currently (almost finished it) called River Dwellers by Dr. Rob Reimer. It is about learning to stay in the River with the Holy Spirit.
So at LDW we did a listening prayer for a small group (everyone in the circle prays to God about a specific person and we are given words, pictures, Bible verses , etc all for that person. One of my raised up squad leadrs, Michelle – my little sis on the squad got for me that whatever book I was reading currently is going to be used in my life. I thought that was awesome.
Flash forward to tonight/technically this morning, I had this crazy dream. I was back home in America with my family. We were driving near where my grandparents used to live in Feasterville, PA. For some reason we stopped at this house that a woman from our church used to live in but died a couple of years ago. My dad and I were walking and the door to the house was wide open and looked like no one was home so I walked inside and remember instantly thinking it looked beautiful. This house I knew was my church member’s old house, but it looked AND felt different. I remember being in awe of the house, it’s beauty. There was this beautiful wooden coffee table that was just so cute and the room was so bright and homey.
I walk through the house to the glass door leading outside to a back or side yard, when all of the sudden thus super friendly voice asks me and my dad something. I was kind of startled because I didn’t think that anyone was home. I instantly became apologetic but felt that I needed to tell or remind the woman how beautiful the place looked and had been in the house several years prior and it did not look or feel like it did currently. She laughed and said thank you. She was in her early 50’s, shorter than me with short blonde hair and was wearing a pretty blue shirt and jeans. Like something you would wear to garden or so housework but she was very clean. Her next question caught me off guard though.
“Do you feel the Holy Spirit,” she asked me (my dad was focused on something else in the house and the rest of my family had not come inside yet.) I said that I know He lives in me and you but at that current time I did not feel Him. Actually I told her that I had never felt Him in a physical way or having that unontrollable laugher. She then said, “well He lives in this house too, look at my prayer rug hanging on the wall.” I look above a doorway that I had not seen yet since being in the house and there was this blueish rug with some colors like gray or silver kind of woven around all in it. It wasn’t anything especially beautiful but it did remind me of the night sky in a way. As soon as I began to say back to her, “No I still don’t feel Him…” I was immediately overtaken by this feeling. It felt like I was in the middle of a fire, every part of my body had this intense shake or tingle, but I wasn’t burning or hot or afraid. I could hear the sound that comes when the wind is blowing flames, like in a campfire, that big swoosh-ing noise. I remember just being in awe and looking over and seeing the woman just smiling. When it was over, it didn’t last long. I just started laughing that Holy Spirit laughter, uncontrollable joy that I’ve read about but haven’t necessarily seen or felt.
I remember feeling so happy and at peace after the encounter. My family then walks in and we are all invited to sit down in this woman’s house. I begin telling my family about the experience, for whatever reason my dad wasn’t paying attention and then would try to ask a question or make a comment about something totally different and the woman would just ignore him and kept smiling at me and encouraging me to tell about my experience. I told my family and they seemed accepting of it, all of them, which was awesome. Even my dad, who eventually started paying attention to what I was saying! I remember saying that I had never had the Holy Spirit move in me before and then He did it back to back with the fire experience and then with the laughter. When I said the fire and the laughter, the woman said it with me at the same exact time in the same exact cadence as me!
We didn’t grow up going to a church that addresses the Holy Spirit all that much, much less actually feeling the presence of Him. So in my dream it was wonderful to see my mom, dad, brother, and grandmother all being so accepting of the Holy Spirit and Him moving in me!
Then I woke up feeling so happy/at peace, I knew that I needed to write it down so I wouldn’t forget it! Thanks Holy Spirit for coming to me in a dream!
