Reflections of Christ's Love

It was April 1977, when I was baptized with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave the utterance. Oh, that is not the year that I became born-again, when old things were passed away and I became new. No! I was born again nine years previously to that time, and I had never before heard of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then in 1976, I met up with a group of believers, women from all denominations, who were meeting together to study God’s Word. They had a joy and an inner strength and power that I desired and came to understand as the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I also came to understand that that Baptism was for the purpose of being a witness for Jesus; for Him to be able to express Himself and His life in and through the believer…to be able to glorify God by allowing Him to minister through that believer to others. Those women I had been meeting with had individually received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then I in 1977, received the Holy Spirit, to the full and overflowing. After receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, I was so hungry for more. I saturated myself with scripture, Christian tapes, church services, Christian gatherings and fellowship. It seemed I could not get enough spiritual input. I wanted more and more of Jesus…the written, and the living word. As I drew near to Him in His word, I was receiving incite, revelation knowledge, and wisdom that I had never before received, believed or understood. My faith was developing like a muscle because of my relationship with Jesus, the Word, and my Father God. I was becoming more and more intimate with my Lord Jesus Christ, via my helper and friend the Holy Spirit, continually enlightening the eyes of my understanding, as I yielded to Him. Then, in the winter of 1979, I entered graduate school in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I drove 1 1/2 hrs (one-way) from my home in Indiana to attend classes. It was there that I began to experience manifestations of God’s power as I went about my daily routine and activities. Scripture says in (James 4:8) “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” (NKJV) The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “The closer you come to Him, the more He allows you to see!” Because it was so painful to leave my young family twice a week in the afternoon and evening, for more than two years, to complete my masters degree, I submitted it all to my father God, and He then began to lift me up. It was by faith that I knew I was to go to graduate school, at that time in my life. My husband and I were in agreement regarding it. And yet, I did not want to leave my 11-year-old son and my 13-year old daughter…I wanted to be home when they got home from school; I wanted to be there and available for them, if they needed me for anything, during those formidable years of their young lives. It was a bitterly painful time in my life. I prayed, “Lord, I don’t want to leave the children twice a week, afternoon and evening. I don’t know anyone in Kalamazoo. I have to leave my friends and I have to spend my time studying when at home! I haven’t been in school for 14 years! I release this all to you and I choose to trust you, to lean upon and to rely upon you. Please help me to accept this and help me through to the end.” It was a choice that I made…for the Lord to change my soul (my mind, my will and my emotions), so that I could endure the time to complete my masters degree, by His grace, (through His strength and power). By faith, because my husband and I were in agreement, I believed my appointment in graduate school was of God. Little did I realize how wonderfully the Lord Jesus and my Father God would meet me at my point of need. What began as a bitterly painful time soon became sweet, as the manifestations of His presence, His divine appointments, and miraculous events started to take place in and through my life. I was being shown the faithfulness of God, His love and His manifested power. And the wonderful awesome experiences, that began in Kalamazoo that year in 1979, have continued to take place in and through my life ever since. It is these wonderful awesome experiences that are a reflection of Christ’s love for me and for others working in me and through me to others, which is the focus of this book. And because God is not a respecter of persons, what He has done for me He will do for others, so that you too can experience such awesome manifestations of the love of God!