Baptism of Joy
Psalm 126:2 (New International Version)
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
We were gathered at the altar after communion--when those having a need for prayer are invited to come forward. I saw her--a older woman who had been struggling with deep depression--and I knew--I was supposed to pray with her. I can't explain it, but I had such faith that God was able to lift the depression and restore her mental health. As I began to mentally form the words I would pray for her, I felt, rather than heard, God's voice saying to me, "You don't need to say anything--I am able to touch her by my power alone."
A few of us laid our hands gently on her and began to pray. I was praying in tongues--a prayer language through which God can flow--and as I did, I knew that God was powerfully doing something in her.
Sobbing came from deep within me as I prayed, and then, as if from a hidden well-- joy poured out in joyful laughter--deep, cleansing, healing laughter. I realized that she too, was laughing, and the man next to us was also laughing--snorting with laughter in fact.
It felt so good and I felt like saying to the people who were by then milling around and leaving as it was the end of the service, "Don't you realize? God is here in power."
I'd never experienced this before. I've always been open to whatever God wanted to do in me, but am not given to spiritual experiences of the powerful physical type--although there have been at least two others occasions in my life when something like that happened. I can only say that it felt like we were laughing with God--sharing his deep joy--one with him, and outside the realm of time--in fact for those moments it felt as though time no longer had significance .
I wish I could say that the woman was healed of her depression. She wasn't. But experiencing that tiny droplet--that taste of his Presence, made me aware of the deep joy that awaits us when we are fully with him one day.
Psalm 84:1-2 (New Living Translation)
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
2 I long, yes, I faint with longing
to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
We were gathered at the altar after communion--when those having a need for prayer are invited to come forward. I saw her--a older woman who had been struggling with deep depression--and I knew--I was supposed to pray with her. I can't explain it, but I had such faith that God was able to lift the depression and restore her mental health. As I began to mentally form the words I would pray for her, I felt, rather than heard, God's voice saying to me, "You don't need to say anything--I am able to touch her by my power alone."
A few of us laid our hands gently on her and began to pray. I was praying in tongues--a prayer language through which God can flow--and as I did, I knew that God was powerfully doing something in her.
Sobbing came from deep within me as I prayed, and then, as if from a hidden well-- joy poured out in joyful laughter--deep, cleansing, healing laughter. I realized that she too, was laughing, and the man next to us was also laughing--snorting with laughter in fact.
It felt so good and I felt like saying to the people who were by then milling around and leaving as it was the end of the service, "Don't you realize? God is here in power."
I'd never experienced this before. I've always been open to whatever God wanted to do in me, but am not given to spiritual experiences of the powerful physical type--although there have been at least two others occasions in my life when something like that happened. I can only say that it felt like we were laughing with God--sharing his deep joy--one with him, and outside the realm of time--in fact for those moments it felt as though time no longer had significance .
I wish I could say that the woman was healed of her depression. She wasn't. But experiencing that tiny droplet--that taste of his Presence, made me aware of the deep joy that awaits us when we are fully with him one day.
Psalm 84:1-2 (New Living Translation)
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
2 I long, yes, I faint with longing
to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God.
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