Tablet of your Heart

Well, I will tell you a story whether you want to hear it or not!  It was my husband’s 50th birthday today.  So being a good wife, I wanted to do something special for him.  I tend to get a little over zealous at times.  He wasn’t able to come out to our boat this afternoon, so I thought this would be a great time to wash the boat on the outside for him.  Now, you say, so what??  Well, to preface this story, I will tell you that I am deathly afraid of spiders, am not coordinated, am afraid of heights, our boat is a 31 foot, and is in a slip at a Marina.

Ok, so this is how it went.  I opened the dock box and fought off hordes of spiders with the broom/brush.  I swept around the box, inside and outside of the box, and around the light box, where you turn the water on.  Oh, why do spiders love to be around water so much?  The hose is wrapped around a pole thing right in front of the boat.  So, I get the hose uncoiled and turn the water on.  I filled the big pail with boat soap and water.  Not too much…it would be too heavy.  (are you seeing a disaster coming?)

I went back into the boat with great determination and unzipped and unsnapped all the boat side and front covers.  I know that these are very old and difficult to take off.   They are much more difficult to put back on, but it was only 3:30 in the afternoon on a beautiful day.  I had this.

Now I proceeded to get the bucket and hose onto the front of the boat.  Why was a hose so heavy?  Well, I hoisted the half filled bucket onto the bow, and tried to pull the hose up there too.  I teetered on the edge of the dock and worked out a way to try to get that hose up on the bow.  Well, more than once, it fell into the water.  One time I pulled it back up, and lo and behold, I pulled up a brick with a rusty wire wrapped around it.  Just hanging there from the sprayer.  I dropped that back into the water.  I sure didn’t want to know what else is under our boat.  You see, Lake Macatawa is beautiful, but has a reputation…  Let’s just say it’s not clean.

So, I got the hose onto the bow and sprayed and brushed.  I had my tennis shoes on, but I know that part of the bow is very very slippery and I must crawl over those parts, or I would certainly end up like that brick.  Several times, men walked by, and even a man dressed in a military uniform.  I was so comforted by their presence…  One man walking with a woman, even commented what a great job I was doing.  I didn’t hear anyone offering any help with that hose.  It seems I have such a nice gang of people at my Marina.

A wealthy looking woman in a huge 50 ft-ish yacht rode by and gawked at me. Her look was all I needed.  It seemed to tell me, you poor woman, to wash a boat yourself.  And not pay someone to do it, and a woman no less!  No bow boys?  She pulled her fancy hat down to one side and smirked at my foolishness.

Well, I finally finished that bow, and proceeded to try to get the hose to stay in the cockpit of the boat so I could wash that part.  Why did that hose have such a mind of it’s own? It wasn’t quite long enough.  I hooked the sprayer end onto the steering wheel and hauled all my cleaning materials and the bucket into the cockpit.  Precariously crawling onto the sides of the boat, hanging onto the railings, I finished the sides.  Then I scrubbed the dashboard, the floor and the seats.

The ladies who had been sitting on the dock across the way, finally packed up and left.  I had my speech to them all planned.  If they said, “You’re making us look bad”, I was ready to reply with something like, “If you see me fall in the water, you will have an excuse not to wash the boat for your husband”.   I finished the swim platform, I swept for all spiders on the step and under the dock close to the boat- all of the spider webs I could reach.

Finishing the cockpit, I heaved the pail and rags up onto the dock.  I brought the hose back to coil it up.  I scrubbed the side panels with a soft hand brush.  I was really cookin’!  My hubby doesn’t even do that.  He leaves them.  Wow, I was woman, watch me roar!

One more major task.  I needed to wipe the seats with that special vinyl seat cleaner stuff that he always uses.  I reached for one of the seats.  My back went into a spasm.  I realized that I had just gone to the chiropractor for an adjustment earlier in the day.  I rendered that visit totally useless by my frenzy of activity.

But, it was such a beautiful day.  My husband would be so happy to see a clean boat tomorrow when he goes out there.  I finished the seats, dried the side panels and….oh, I forgot!  I needed to go back out on the bow and wipe it and the front windows with a shammy cloth or it would have all those water spots.  My back was killing me, but my mind kept racing.

Now, I had the task which I knew would give me trouble.  The side panels are extremely hard to zipper and snap and I knew it.  I started.   I knew the general process which my husband usually takes when doing it.  I had helped him countless times.  I could certainly do this.

I zipped first.  No, then I couldn’t snap.  Ok, so after fighting with the panels for about an hour, I thought I needed to try to snap first, and then zip.  Well, no, it needed to be a little zipping, and a little snapping.  Why does this take my hubby only about 10 min. to do?  I had to climb back out onto the bow again and again.  Zip from the inside, try to snap from the outside.  Climbing on my hands and knees so that I wouldn’t slip and fall.  I laid on those snaps.  I pushed on those snaps with all my weight.  They just didn’t want to be closed.  Finally, with some brute strength and some zip and some sweat, I got them all done.  Except for a couple of snaps.  I just do not have the arm strength to do them.  It would have to do until he got to the boat tomorrow.  I closed the boat up and it was finally done.  It was over three hours from the time I had begun the job.

A bird flew by.

That’s why I will leave the boat washing and putting the boat “window” panels on, to my husband next time.  And probably forever.  Sorry honey.

I love riding on the boat, sleeping in the boat, writing and reading in the boat, and spending time with my husband, family and friends on the boat.  I’m so thankful for the boat.

While I worked, I prayed for 50 more healthy years for you.

Happy 50th Birthday!  I’m so thankful that you wash the boat.  I will clean the inside.  I love you!  More.

Hi there friends!

I decided to give you a little “re-introduction” to my blog, since many of you have come in recently, or may be confused as I changed the name of the blog and the Facebook page.

If you don’t know me, here’s a short synopsis.  I have been a “wanna-be” writer for most of my life.  I mean, I wrote the love poems for mom in second grade, and the occasional short story, and journaling.  Dreamed of writing since my late teens.  I knew there were reasons for all my childhood pain, but didn’t know what they were.

Life got busier and busier, and I was on to so many things throughout my life and writing was almost always put on the back burner.  I continued to keep that dream tucked away.

Went to college, got married, had two sons, taught elementary school for 27 years.  All that mom stuff- running to preschool to volunteer, grade school class trips, college visits, and then that continuous never ending pile of wash–and schoolwork!!  Soccer games, volunteering- you get the routine.

A never ending flurry of activity that kept me on a merry-go-round which never seemed to stop.

Until one day…God had other plans for me.  I didn’t know what they were then.  But one day, He started to make it clear that I was going to move on to something else.  I just wasn’t sure what it was for a long time.   Lots of change and heartache, followed by tons of prayer and soul searching.  Lately, He’s been rubbing the fog off from the steamy window.

Now He’s given me the gift of time.

“Tablet of your Heart”, has been changing and evolving and it is really the story of a little child.  A child of God.  I decided to give it this name, because the verses in the Bible with these words touch me.  A couple of my favorite places are in 2 Cor. 3:3, where the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Corinthian church and says, “You yourselves are a letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.  You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.  The other, is in Prov. 3:3, where it says about the Word of God, “bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart”.

We’ll see what God has in store.  It’s an exciting journey!  I am looking to Him.  He is the author and perfecter of my faith.

Follow along and see what God does!  If you have a similar story, I’d love to hear what the Holy Spirit has been doing in your life!

What time is it??  Isn’t that a question that people are always asking?  I do it myself.

Why are we always so concerned about what time it is?

In a hurry up world.  Gotta get someplace.  Have to get my own point across.  Must make that deadline.  Don’t really have time for praying.  I have to move on this fast.

Take a breath.   Step back.   Think.

Why does it matter?   Really.  What are the things that are really going to matter when I stand before my Master?  That I made thousands of “friends” on Facebook, got in front of that rude person on the road, or made it to on the next rung on the ladder in record time?

When is the last time I did things on God’s time?  It’s called Kairos time.  God has His own agenda and timing.  It might look completely different than the grand plan that I have made.

Humans have set up Chronos time.  The steady tick tock of the clock.  It marks out the days, years and seasons.  We are always looking at it, thinking about it, or worrying about it.

We all can add our own variety of ways we think about the hands of time.

It’s a heart cry I have.  To learn to do things on God’s time.  In His way.

To trust.  To listen.  To know when the time is just right for me to step in with a word that He lays on my heart.  When it is the time for me to be still.

Be still.

Do I know how to do that?  It is not only the act of sitting quietly in His presence.  No.  It seems to be much more than that.

Being so in tune with my Maker that I know when to speak, when to listen, what to say, and even how to say it.  It can make a huge impact on a person, a church, or even an entire nation.

You never know how The Holy Spirit intends to use you.

My obedience or disobedience in following God’s timing and waiting on Him can leave implications that I cannot even imagine. What if I miss the moment, or what if I jump ahead when I’m impatient?

Think and pray on this.  Long and hard.  And don’t look at your phone, clock or computer.   Can you do that, even for one morning?  Even one hour?  Seems like such a contradiction….setting a timer for one hour, so that we will not worry about the time or get distracted from what is really the most important thing.

Time with God.

My prayer for myself is, “Lord open my spiritual ears to your Kairos timing.  Let me be totally open to your will and your way.  Tune my heart to your Word.  Breathe your Holy Spirit into me so strongly so that I will hear your voice.  May I follow and obey your lead.”

These thoughts are inspired by the book, Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit: Seven Principles of Dynamic Cooperation by Brad Long, Paul K. Stokes and Cindy Strickler (Nov 3, 2009)

This concludes my brief meditations on the seven steps of the Dance of the Cooperation with the Holy Spirit, which are described in this book, and in the conferences which are offered by P.R.M.I. (Presbyterian -Reformed Ministries International) http://prmi.org/which is an international training ground for teaching people how to be more in tune with and follow the Holy Spirit.

Moving in time with the music.  The dance floor of love is the foundation.

The Holy Spirit has so many gifts he wants to pour out on all his people.  Because he loves us.  He gives good gifts to build his kingdom here on earth.  The gifts all work together, as when several workers are building on a common project.

When the dance floor was built, the builders didn’t say to one another, “I don’t need you”.  Or if the tools could talk, would they say, “You’re unacceptable, go away!  You’re too loud!    We can do the job without you!”

The foundation is built strong, so that many dancers can be on the floor at the same time and it will hold firm.  So it is with the Spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit of God.

Each gift is given for the building up of the church of Christ.  Building up.  Not to build fear.  Not intimidation.  No jealousies, no envy.

The gifts are beautiful and need to be tuned.  Each instrument in the symphony shined up and ready to play.  If we don’t use them in God’s design, we may sound like that “gong”, or “clanging cymbal”.

If we don’t use them at all or seek them out, are we saying we won’t play or are too fearful?

With order, and under the authority of our church leaders.  Covered with that quilt of prayer.  If I just run off across the dance floor, would I be in the palm of the Holy Spirit’s hand?

Instead of being hurtful, we can learn the music together and grow into the Spiritual gifts that have been given to each of us.   Play slowly at first.  Practice.  Move to a faster pace when ready.  A safe and caring environment.  Should some be pushed into fear, resistance or confusion?  He did not give us a spirit of fear, but of love and sound mind.

Jesus showed us how to use gifts, when he was on earth.  A mystery we can’t understand.  Fully God, but acting as a human filled with the Holy Spirit.  The conductor of the orchestra  knows each of us well.  He has given us private lessons.

He gave words of knowledge, he healed, prayed, gave words of discernment, drove out unclean spirits, spoke prophetic words, proclaimed the good news, was a leader, served others, taught.

I hold out my hands in a prayer….that I will use what he gives, and use it to His glory.    Shine forth in His glorious riches.

Now the music is playing in harmony.  All the dance partners are in step.  The feet move with intention.  The dresses are flowing.  It’s a sound like that of heavenly chords.

A beautiful symphony of praise.

This is the sixth dynamic of the dance of cooperation with the Holy Spirit, Welcoming the gifts and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit.  These thoughts are inspired by the book, “Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit”, by Long, Stokes, and Strickler.  Stay tuned for the last one.  It’s exciting!!

Here we are…we’re dancing on the ballroom floor of life.  Love is the foundation.  The Holy Spirit is my helper and my counselor.  It’s been a soothing dance.

But, suddenly a big decision is set in front of me.  I stumble.  My grip on his hand tightens.  Jolting images.  My head is spinning.

A vision begins.  I’m driving at night, and the fog is strangling me.  It’s as thick as glue and poured upon my whole being.  I’m drenched in the icy feeling of it.   The demand is dominating all my thoughts.

It’s getting tougher to move along on the road.  The blinding darkness.  Was that the yellow or white line?  I think I begin to see a traffic light emerge.

Slowing down, the traffic signal is barely visible.  Out pops headlights from another vehicle.   I’m narrowly missed, as the rude honking fades.  The smell of the farm I pass every day?  An unfamiliar loud noise makes me jump.  Was that a train?  I’m going to be crushed.

The fog is so thick that my skin is soon prickling with fearful goosebumps.  I realize that I have no idea where I am…

Ok, breathe.  Breathe deeply.  Pray.  I tell myself that everything will be alright, but my soul is not falling for it.  The pressure is like a vise.

Am I going to pull over and be late for my appointment, or keep going and risk a crash?

Wait.  I thought I saw a traffic light a few moments ago.  Smothering milkiness.  I look up again.  The light is blaring yellow.  Please Lord, help me!  Should I stop or go?

If only the light was red or green. Then the decision would be clear.

Almost underneath the light, I turn to the side of the road and shut off the car.  Help will be on the way.    Inhale.    Exhale.    Slowly.

Exercising the muscles of patience and faith.

Sliding back into reality, the discernment lesson comes to me.  Will the decision I make exalt Jesus Christ?  Is this consistent with scripture and God’s character?  It needs to be confirmed by other Spirit filled Christians.  Is there confirmation by verifiable events or facts?

Back on the dance floor, I raise my head and look up again.  His face.  He’s still there.  I was the one who took my eyes and ears away again.  What I need are strong spiritual senses.    He had held my hand when I tripped over the bump in the floor.  He didn’t allow me to fall all the way down.

The light was dispelling all the darkness.  In 2 Cor. 4:6, the Bible says, For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Dear friend, I pray you see the light of the knowledge you need today.

These are my thoughts inspired by the book, “Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit”, by Long, Stokes, and Strickler.  This dynamic, Discernment, is the fifth of the seven dynamics of the dance of cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

Did I just hear something?

Uncertain, I ask God.  I’d rather not do that, thank you very much.  It is something painful or frightening.

At times I’ll ask the Holy Spirit, “Is this what you wanted me to do?”  Or I’ll give the “reflective listening” a try.  Hmmm….I must be hearing him wrong.

Or I ask again, because surely he wouldn’t want to give me something enjoyable.   It must be my imagination.

Some think that God taught us everything in the Holy Scriptures, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased.  God was done talking.  That’s it.  How then, do people have gifts such as wisdom and mercy? Who decided that prophecy, tongues, words of knowledge and healings were considered a bit “unacceptable” today?

Another school of thought is that the Holy Spirit still speaks today.  Yes.  Today.  The condition is that everything that we think He says has to be weighed…consistent with the Word of God and with the nature of Jesus Christ.

John Calvin spoke of the Holy Spirit;  “He is the Author of the Scriptures; he cannot vary and differ from himself”.

So that is the delicate balance as He directs me.

When I dance with the Holy Spirit, He may give me a gentle nudge in a certain direction, some eye contact, a whisper in my ear…

The communication could be a vision, dream, the voice of a human, an angel …hosts of ways that my creative maker could make himself known.

But I have to be listening.  I have to be in close contact with Him.   If I don’t take time to be in His presence in listening prayer and His Holy Word, how will I know the dance steps?  How would I notice if something is off beat, or out of tune?

The need to be open; the need for practice.  Any good dance steps need repetition.  I have to be willing to receive the guidance and step out on the floor.

I love the story about Paul getting the vision to go to Macedonia. The man was standing and begging him to come and help.

That is my heritage.  That is the very first time that the gospel was preached to anyone in Europe.

My Gentile ancestors received the Gospel because Paul was obedient to the vision he had.  What if he hadn’t listened or was afraid and didn’t obey?

In Acts 2, it’s laid out clearly, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below…”

These are my thoughts, inspired by the book, “Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit”, by Long, Stokes, and Strickler.  This is the fourth dynamic of the dance of cooperation with the Holy Spirit.  There are three more, in posts to follow.

The all powerful sovereign God of all creation needs me?

He certainly created the world without me.  He often works in miraculous ways without me.   Why would he need me?

There’s a mystery.  It’s the dance of the cooperation with the Holy Spirit which we can have as humans.  God certainly can do whatever he wants to.  But most of the time, he has chosen to work through humans’ faith.  Faith as small as a mustard seed, which germinates into a huge plant of obedience.

The cycle continues.

Mary trusting in God throughout an impossible, terrifying and embarrassing situation.

Moses going to Egypt to face Pharoah and lead the Israelite nation to the promised land.

Ezekiel told to prophesy to a valley full of dry bones.

Ruth, a lonely immigrant to Israel became the ancestor of King David, and Jesus.

Using my imagination I try to place myself in the boat during that terrible storm on the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus could control the wind and the waves, but he chose to walk straight across the water towards the disciples in the boat.

I’m Peter.  Can you imagine that you are Peter?  I first have to step out of the boat to walk on water like Jesus.  Jesus invited me because I asked him.  I hesitate.  Shaking in fear. Cold to the bone with the wind, driving rain and the dark ominous waves.

One step, two steps. Three.  It’s going well, as long as I’m looking toward Jesus, into his eyes.  This is going pretty well.  Is this pride or faith?

It doesn’t seem as if there are any wind or waves now.  There’s a laser beam of light from his eyes to mine.  There’s a slight awareness that there is still a storm. But it flows past me on both sides.  My eyes are fixed.  We are focusing on each other and nothing else matters.

It’s a balance between faith and obedience.

As soon as I look down at the waves and pay attention to the cold wind, I start sinking.  Is this doubt and fear?   Oh no.  I was looking into Jesus’ eyes.  Where did they go?

Who’s eyes moved?

Down I’m falling, going to my death.  Choking and drowning.  I cry, “Save me Lord!”.

Jesus is speaking to me.

He reaches out his hand to me and lifts me gently back into the boat.  Jesus gets in with me, and lovingly asks me why I have so little faith.

So, I get another set of clothing on.  A warm dry set.  Now we worship him and know that he is God.  Adoration and praise….. and next time…

Trust and obey.  Next time, my mind is determined to trust.  Obedience is the matching piece of clothing.  Don’t we all get dressed up for a dance?

These are devotional thoughts which are inspired by the book, “Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit”, by Long, Stokes and Strickler.

“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap…”  Ezek. 22:30

Intercessory prayer is a mysterious two way communication with God.

The Holy Spirit has taken my hand.  I know there is genuine love.  Now I need to invite Him into the situation.  Will I speak with my Lord as we dance?  Will I look into His loving eyes to confess, adore Him, thank, or ask something?  Will I listen to Him, so that I can be used by Him in this story of life?

He has taught me how to pray.  He has asked me to keep watch with Him as he struggled in Gethsemane.  I watched him sweat drops of blood over the agony.  Or did I fall asleep too?

It’s a call to talk to and also to hear from, the Holy Spirit of God.  The great I AM.  What a privilege.  I’m like a small child who is learning how to speak.  I get to the end of human understanding.  He intercedes through me in sighs to deep for words.

Sometimes  I go through a list of needs or wants.  It is one sided.  But He still listens.

At times it becomes long and painful.  Tears.  Physical pain.  Desiring healing for someone so badly that it hurts.  Exhaustion.  The dance is long and I get weary.

There are times of exuberant praise.  It’s like swirling around with my dress flouncing around behind me.  There is a bounce in my step.

Days when I have a spontaneous conversation with a best friend.  We laugh.  I think I hear Him speak and I write it down quickly in a journal, like I’ve received a treasured jewel.

A day of unexpected grief.  I drop to my knees in utter helpfulness and dependency.

Urgent times when a friend, or even someone I don’t even know needs me.  My heart goes deep.  I’m commanded to stand in the gap.

Place yourself near this beautiful picture.  Joshua was in the battle against the Amalekites.  Moses was on the mountaintop holding up his staff in prayer. When his staff was raised, they were winning.  When he would tire, the enemy gained ground.  

People were placed in Moses’ life to help.  First they put a stone under him so that he could sit down.  Then in God’s grace, he positioned Aaron and Hur on either side of him to hold up his arms.  The Israelites overcame.

We may be called to be in the valley fighting a war.  We might be on the mountaintop in prayer.  There will be a time when I’m in the valley.  A ‘Moses’ will be called to intercede for me.

These meditations are my paraphrases and thoughts based on the book, “Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit”, by Long, Stokes and Strickler.

In the Bible, tucked in between two chapters about gifts of the Holy Spirit, is a chapter completely about love.  These two chapters are not the only places in the Bible which are about Spiritual gifts, but this is a little different.

I find that quite interesting.

It’s in the center.

Follow in 1 Cor. chapters 12-14.

In 1 Cor. 13, it starts out by saying, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Now I don’t know about you, but a gong or a loud clanging cymbal would really grate on my nerves after a very short period of time.  If I’m just going along using my spiritual gifts in a prideful way, or if I give to the poor and act as if I’m generous, then I am being irritating.

I am nothing.  I gain nothing.

I am not showing the kind of love that Jesus did.  Our world is already too full of words and information.  It’s short on love.

Real love.

Jesus demonstrated his genuine love to his disciples by washing their feet.  He stooped down low and did the unthinkable.  In John 13:2-5, it describes the leader being a servant and washing the grimy feet of his friends.

The dinner had been prepared.

He already knew that Judas Iscariot was going to betray him unto death.

“….so He got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

Jesus showed them the full extent of His love.  He showed them by doing.

It demonstrates the way we are supposed to love others.  It sets the stage for the Dance with the Holy Spirit.

The table is prepared off to the side.  The soft music is playing. The loud clanging noises are  silenced.  The Lord takes my hand and raises me up.  I have clean feet and it enables them  to move smoothly in the dance.

Healing begins.

Love is in the Center.

These concepts of the dance with the Holy Spirit, are my paraphrases inspired by the book, “Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit”, written by Long, Stokes, and Strickler.

As I get older, I realize that I have more and more to learn.  Yes.  I do.  I want to soak in as much as I can.  I’ve known the Father as my Lord and God and I’ve known Jesus.  But I haven’t known much about the Holy Spirit.

This is what I’ve been learning lately.  There is a “Dance of Cooperation” with the Holy Spirit, the comforter that Jesus left us when he left this earth to return to heaven.  He promised that we would have a counselor!

John 14:26-27, says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

I don’t know about you, but I sure am in need of a counselor.  Wow, a comforter by my side at all times!?  Anytime of the day or night- no charge.  The thing that is hard, is ‘listening’ to this counselor.

The dance involves me actually wanting to participate.  Like when a man asks a woman to step out onto the dance floor.  Hesitant, but daring, I have been stepping out.

He takes my hand.  I step out.  I feel like I have three left feet.  I feel like my ears are stopped up.  I can’t seem to see clearly.  But I go.

The Holy Spirit is a gentleman.  He takes my hand, and moves me slowly in a gentle way.  He speaks softly and knows my name.  It does feel peaceful.

It’s a song which I don’t think I’ve heard before.  I am not sure of the tempo or the tune.  But He has my hand and He holds me.  I will be alright.  In fact, I think I’m really enjoying this new dance.

There are seven steps to the “Dance of Cooperation with the Holy Spirit”, which I will tell you about in the next blog posts.  This information comes in part from a book, titled, “Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit”, by Long, Stokes, and Strickler.