A Call to Prayer

Gifts of the Spirit

When I was sixteen, I felt that God was calling me to be a Nun. When I answered Him - my answer obviously being "No", as I am married with children & grandchildren - it never occurred to me to wonder whether or not it was God calling me.

Later, as different things happened in my life, it then never occurred to me, that it might be God.

When I walked through church doors again almost ten years ago, I heard for the first time, teachings on the Holy Spirit. Later, I took a course called Life in the Spirit, and it was then that I began to ask the Lord to bless me with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

At one point, I was told that if I asked for something more than once, it was as if I was telling God that He didn't hear me the first time 'round. I was also told that it was a sign of doubt. But the longing inside of me was so strong, that I ignored this, and I continued to beg and to plead with God.

And He did answer me.

I don't think that God would do anything that He wouldn't want to do, and so I believe that in reality, He rewarded my persistent prayers.

Shortly after the Life in the Spirit course, a fellow parishioner & I were agonising over the fact that nothing seemed to be 'happening' for us. We were both in chapel ministry, and neither one of us was seeing visions, or receiving images, or hearing the Lord's Voice, as were some of the other members in the chapel ministry. And we were wondering about this advice to us concerning persistent prayer to God for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I remember feeling pretty stubborn about this, and saying that I intended to continue to ask God, to use me for the advancement of the Kingdom, and to bless me with the Gifts of His Holy Spirit.

Shortly after our conversation, there was a healing service at the church. There was a small group of us, and so when it came time for the Eucharist, we gathered in a circle around the altar. At one point during the service, we took time to 'listen' to the Lord. 5 My eyes were closed, and I saw an image of a woman who was at the service with us. In the image, she was on the phone, and she was crying. I heard the words, "Lift her heart. Ease her pain." I then heard our priest's voice, asking us if anyone was receiving anything from the Lord. I opened my eyes, and looked around the circle. The woman was no longer there. I mustered up my courage, and shared with the group what I had seen and heard. Father Bob looked around and asked where the woman was. He was told that she was in the office and that she had been called to the phone. He sent someone to get her, and when she came back, she was crying. She shared with us the news that had distressed her. She also told us that she had recently been diagnosed with a problem in her heart. We prayed for her. The one thing that I remember clearly about this incident is the wondering look on the face of the parishioner that I had been sharing with only a few days before. The Lord had blessed me with the gift of Knowledge.

Shortly after that, another vision stands out sharply for me.

Again, it occurred during a healing service. My eyes were closed and I saw the image of a spinal column. I said nothing. Then I saw a small round disk with blood in it. This I shared with the group. A woman there said that she had been having difficulties with her eye, and so it was suggested that we pray together. But the prayer time seemed disjointed, and so we closed. Shortly after this, I suffered a herniated disk in my upper back. That was six years ago, and after much prayer and no surgery, I thank the Lord that I am fully healed today.

Would I have suffered this injury had we prayed for discernment? Would I have received the gift of healing instantly instead of gradually over 6 years? I don't know. What I do know is that the Lord used it for good, and that through the healing process of this back injury, my faith has grown more than at any other time in my life. And for that I am eternally grateful. During those 6 years, despite the pain that I suffered, I knew that I would be healed. The Lord had blessed me with the gift of faith during this time.

One day, I had a strange encounter. I was attending a class at Concordia University. There was a young woman with short dark hair seated behind me that I was very aware of. As I left the class, she came along beside me. I seemed to be walking in slow motion - quite peacefully - and everyone else seemed to be racing past us down the escalators. She left me when we got to the lobby, and I continued on my way - trying to walk a little faster - and wondering at how relaxed and slow-moving I was. I made my way to the Guy Metro Station. Downstairs in the station, as I walked along the platform to wait for the train, I saw a vacant seat, and, although something told me not to sit there, I told myself that I was imagining things, and went to sit down. There was a woman with long brown hair seated next to me, with her back turned towards me. She got up and as she did, I saw a large pair of open scissors on the seat. She picked them up, then looked at me and said, "Don't look at me. I'm not in a good mood. I'll hurt you." I was shocked at her words and must have closed my eyes, because when I looked again, she was gone. I looked up and down the platform, and she was no where in sight. I realised then that if I had hurried from Concordia - as I usually did - I would have been sitting next to this woman for a longer period, & could have been seriously hurt - or worse. I also realised that I should have paid attention to the Voice inside telling me not to sit there. I saw neither woman again. Could this have been in part the gift of Discernment of Spirits?

When this next incident occurred, I was in charge of a bank branch in Cartierville. The branch had never been robbed. The tellers had gotten into the habit of going over their cash limits in their drawers, and so I was doing spot checks. I had just finished doing a spot check. The branch was extremely busy with line-ups at all the counters. One of my customer services officers was in the middle of explaining something to me, when I suddenly heard a Voice deep inside me, say, "Quick! Check the tellers!" A strong sense of urgency came over me. Excusing myself, I left the surprised woman in the middle of her sentence, and again quickly entered the cash cage where the tellers worked. I checked their drawers quickly, one by one. Most of them had taken in deposits and had not had time to 'drop' their excess cash into their hidden cash vaults. At my direction, they did so now.

I left the cage, and quickly went to check the portable teller that was used in the customer services area. That cash drawer was also over the limit. All this took just a few minutes, and as the last bit of excess money was being dropped, we heard a man shouting. We were being robbed. As I look back on this experience, I realise that the Lord had blessed me with the gift of Knowledge: that we were going to be robbed; and the gift of Wisdom: that I was to check the tellers' cash holdings.

Incidentally, this was quite a witness to the people that I worked with - and the watershed of my Christian walk. Up to this point, I had been asking the Lord to bless me where I chose to walk. I now decided to follow Him. It was then that I left my banking career behind to work with World Vision Canada.

At one point during my time with World Vision, the Lord led me to write an appeal letter of sorts. It was in the form of a memo to the whole of World Vision Canada, asking my colleagues across the country to prayerfully consider contributing to the purchase of a bike for each of my co-worker's two young sons. The boys had just suffered the loss of their only bike, and their parents could not afford to buy a new one. My colleague had prayed with her sons, and with them, had put all this into the Lord's hands. She and her husband were also in the process of teaching the boys about tithing. The Lord directed me in the memo, to say that He had laid an amount of $300 on my heart, and that 10% of this would be tithed by the boys. Within seven days, we received $300. Twelve people had responded. Some would say that this is co-incidence. I call it the gift of miracles.

During my later years at World Vision, I had an experience that I will never forget. I began to receive images of a woman that I worked with. In the images, I saw an arrow in the lower left part of her back, and I saw hands there trying to remove it. This did not happen when I was in prayer. The first time it happened, I was walking to catch the train for work. Another time I was chatting with a train companion in CN Station. With the images came the urge to lay hands on her. I didn't tell anyone about these images. One day, this woman & I were in prayer together, and I saw the same images again. But this time I also saw the image of a cloth being wrung out, and liquid pouring out of it. She shared with me that she had suffered a back injury a few years earlier, and that she was now incontinent. The next time we prayed, several of us lay hands on her, and I then saw the hands remove the arrow, and a shiny bandage being smoothed in place. A few months later, she told us that she had been healed of the incontinence. She had received the gift of healing from the Lord.

Just prior to the end of my time with World Vision, I began to have the urge to clean out my files. Then a while later, I dreamed that my position had been cut. In my dream, I was cleaning out my files. Then I again received words from the Lord in the form of a memo to my colleagues across Canada, to indicate that I would be leaving World Vision. I shared this with only one person, my dear friend Linda. She encouraged me and prayed with me, and I began to clean out my files. Two months later, in December of 1997, I was advised that my position had been cut. I was prepared for it emotionally, and besides this, my desk was clean as a whistle! What could have been a painful experience, was a source of joy and celebration for me. I had seen the Word of the Lord come to pass. The words from Isaiah 55 verses 10 to 13 were a reality for me. And I did go out from that place in joy. And I was led forth in peace. I had been blessed with the gift of the Prophetic Word.

Those who know me, know the most marvellous story of my life, the healing of my dear and precious grandson, Jacob. At 7 months, Jacob had become very sick, and was hospitalised at the Montreal Children's. He was put on intravenous and oxygen and the doctors didn't know why he wasn't getting better. Every time I prayed for Jacob, I felt something holding me back. The Lord kept saying to me, "You are praying for the part and I desire the whole." I was led to baptise Jacob in the hospital, and he was healed. It was my Easter miracle. But that was not the end of the story. My son, Jason and Sarah, were married at The Church of Saint Michael's three months later in June, and in July, Sarah and Jessica, her daughter and my newly inherited granddaughter, were baptised there as well. I will never forget the smile on little Jessie's face as she looked up from the font of water that day. Our whole family had been blessed with the gift of healing in mind, body, and spirit.

One thing that I have learned in these experiences with God, is that He is Sovereign. He is the One Who knows all, and does all, and is All. I am simply the invited guest. My job is to be there, and to make myself available to Him. And as He comes near to me, He has all these things on His mind, and because He is near, I get a taste and a foreknowledge of them. But it is all Him.

Another thing that I have learned is that seldom have I experienced one gift of His Presence without experiencing another gift of His Presence. When I receive Understanding or Knowledge of a situation, He will also bring to me the Wisdom of what I am to do.

I am not special or extraordinary in any way. I am not any different from any of you. And in all the things that come and go in my life, there are three things that I continually pray for: A humble heart - a willing spirit - and an obedient will.

And I have recently added another to my list of these three. And that is, that the Lord bless me with a heart for His people. Because as I grow and mature in my faith, I come to understand more and more each day, that the Gifts of the Spirit are not for me, they are for others. The Gifts of the Spirit are not for me. They are for you.

Close with this prayer:
Lord, I thank You for this time. I am human. I know that You know that, because You made me. Help me in this time. I need you.
In Jesus' Name.
Amen.

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