Normal: coffee and raising the dead.

Insert the manifestations of the Holy Spirit here.

The difference is that as I am living out my “normal” life on the World
Race, my ears and the eyes of my heart are becoming more finely tuned
to the voice and promptings of the Holy Spirit. It is becoming normal
to feel the Holy Spirit prompt me to pray over that person passing by;
to prophesy over the people I meet; to lay hands on that dying child
and pray the spirit of peace and comfort over her father who is holding
her; to pray in tongues; to dance upon injustice during worship times;
to lay healing hands on people and see them healed; or as in the case
today, to raise a woman from the dead in the middle of the coffee shop.
You know, just normal Christian living. Wherever Jesus went, healing,
life and freedom broke out. He said we would do even greater things
than these . . . why do we not take him seriously? . . . yes, I did say
that I was present and a part of raising a lady from the dead in the
middle of a coffee shop. Why are you so surprised?!

 

So fast forward . . . today, I am sitting in the coffee shop, the Blue
Pumpkin, minding my own business, trying to write a blog when I look
over and see Michele at the counter. A quick scan of the Blue Pumpkin
and I see Liney, Carrye and Pastor D also. Immediately, I jump up and
start waving to catch their attention. After a quick round of hugs
Liney asks if there is air conditioning anywhere in the coffee shop. I
can tell she isn’t feeling well and so I quickly usher her upstairs and
put a fan on her. Knowing I am a nurse, she begins asking me about her
ailments. She is not sitting for more than a couple minutes when she
asks for the bathroom. Carrye, not wanting her to be alone, walks her
downstairs. Before my eyes she looks as though she is becoming weaker.
Carrye puts a hand under her elbow as they walk downstairs. Liney never
makes it to the bathroom but stops at the “wash station” (the sink
outside the bathroom) and begins throwing up. Carrye starts calling for
Pastor D to come down. Pastor D then looks at me and says, “you need to
come down as well.” I quickly grab my bag, ditch my computer and say a
quick prayer that no one steals it as I run to the top of the steps. By
the time I reach the stairs I see Liney on the ground. The thought,
CRAP, she is gray! runs through my mind. She is ashen gray. Michele
hears her gurgling and is afraid she is choking on whatever it was that
made her sick and tries to raise her limp body to a sitting position. I
run down the stairs and feel her wrist. Nothing. “We need to lay her
down.” I say. I check her neck. Nothing. I look at her eyes;
constricted pupils rolling in the back of her head. I call to her
loudly. Nothing. I check to see if she is breathing. Nothing! Start CPR
you fool! Just as I begin to move over her to start CPR Carrye says,
“This is spiritual!” So we began to pray. Instinctively, (which was
never instinctively before, it was always weird or forced or awkward) I
begin to pray in tongues. I lay my hands on her head and her shoulder.
We all lay hands on her and begin praying. Within minutes of us
starting to pray for her, her eyes roll forward. She inhales a deep
relieving breath. We allow her to lay there a few more minutes before
sitting her up. She is still very pale, she can not feel or move her
right arm. Literally, Liney takes her left hand and picks up her limp
right arm and places it on her knee. Carrye grabs my hand, puts in on
top of  Liney’s right hand. With Carrye’s hands covering mine she looks
at me and says, “Start praying for her, from your heart, whatever
comes, however you feel led. You have the anointing of healing on your
life.” I begin to pray again in the Spirit. Her pulses return, faint
and slow at first, but after a few minutes of sitting they normalize
into a rate of 70 beats per minute. She begins to move her right hand.
Looking from her hand to all of us surrounding her, I can tell she is
still discombobulated, she asks Carrye, “Did I die?”

As soon as Liney can stand we move her into a Tuk Tuk to take her back
to their hotel. I run upstairs to get Keet who had been in the third
floor lounge unable to hear the commotion. “Keet, can you finish
uploading your video at the hotel?” Keet looks at me confused. I am
talking fast, “I am pretty sure we just raised Liney from the dead and
now we are taking her back to the hotel! C’mon!” “WHAT?! Wait, WHO?! 
HUH?!” I quickly explain what happened promising that more details will
come and we hop on our bikes and ride to the hotel.

When we arrive Liney is resting in bed and as we sit down she begins to
tell us her side of the story. . . . She couldn’t remember what she saw
exactly, but it was bright. It was beautiful and peaceful. She said
that she felt well and happy. She said that she then heard us calling
her and thought, why are they bothering me, I am happy here. She said
she was confused and frustrated because she heard our calls to her, but
did not want to leave where she was, it took her a while to reconcile
the two and then she opened her eyes.