New Life

So much changed in the first few months after my salvation. I felt like the world had changed, but I knew it was me. I realized I was a sojourner on Earth and that it wasn’t my home. My politics changed. I was a registered democrat, but I realized that the government was not likely to solve the world’s problems. No – I didn’t go so far as to register Republican, but man’s idealism wasn’t going to be translated into reality. That’s probably a good thing to remember in these hard economic times.

I forgave my father. The funny thing was that I didn’t know I held anything against him. But I thought about his life and realized how life had shaped his personality, including how he behaved toward his family. I cried for him and loved him deeply from that day on. He was saved on his deathbed, but I will get to that story later.

I saw my new body in a vision. It was great – a dancing fountain of light ranging from silver to dark blue. This might not be true – I am not sure where my visions came from back then, but it appeals to me. The occasional visions I had became a source of concern to me though. How did I know where they were coming from? The solution was simple. I prayed that the Lord would filter them so that only visions from Him would come through. This worked. From that point on the only vision I had, with few exceptions, were of crosses. I’ve seen hundreds of them over the years, but I’ve never seen the same one twice.

I drove past a bulletin board that proclaimed “I found it!” I knew there were others experiencing the same thing as me. I didn’t find a church though. I tried a few, but their teaching didn’t line up with what I was reading in the scriptures. I guess I was born-again contentious. I did find Women’s Bible Study Fellowship and learned more about the scriptures. It was nice to have women to study with. More on that next week.

Behold, all things become new – 2 Cr. 5:17

The First Ten Days

The ten days after I was born again were amazing. I think of them like my honeymoon. I walked, lived, and breathed in alignment with God. It seemed I only had to think a thing and it was so. If I read a passage in the Bible that I did not understand, I would only have to turn on the radio to hear the answer. One time I prayed over a verse and the phone rang. It was Olive. She did not even say “hello.” She just explained the verse to me.

My niece came over for dinner and I shared my story with her. As I was preparing dinner I decided to serve some canned peas. I searched for a can and, remember how the Lord and I had been working together, jokingly I told my niece that I would pray that I could find the peas. There was not a can of peas in my pantry. Deflated I took a can of green beans and opened it. There were peas in the green bean can.
By the next day I was getting cocky. I prayed that if I was aligned with the will of God, I could use $100. When I went out to my mailbox, guess what was in there? Apparently I had overpaid the escrow on my house that year.

I saw my demon leave. I didn’t realize that I had one, but when I saw the demon’s face I knew it was mine. I would not be honest if I didn’t confess that we had a lot of fun together, but where I now live, my demon could not come. I haven’t missed it, praise the Lord.

By the tenth day I was beginning to realize that I might have trouble fitting in with everyone else on the planet if this kept up. The Lord stepped in – I popped a contact lens. By the time I found it I was back on Earth. But I was changed. I became a sojourner here.

The Lord still whispered in my ear that He loved me. I was safe.

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? – SgS 8:5