God Moments: Amazing Prayer (Part One)

It was probably after my second surgery that I finally had my blinders removed and realized that I wasn't going anywhere quickly.  I had slow improvements in my numbers, little bits of encouragement here and there, but nothing huge.  If a doctor came to my room and told me ANYTHING about improvement, I clung to every word he said!

By then, I was very tearful.  I was overwhelmed by the people that were getting in touch with me to offer their encouragement and prayers.  My parents would get emails daily that they shared with me about another person or group praying for me.  My sister sent me emails and notes on Facebook that she received from her friends and some of my old friends offering encouragement.  I had so many texts and emails on my phone I couldn't keep up.  Everyone wanted to help, but truly, the only and the BEST thing they could do for me was pray.  We were living on prayer and the peace that came over me multiple times was distinct and powerful.  I knew someone was praying for me then.  I wanted those prayers.  I begged for them.  PLEASE pray for my healing.

The dearest of friends' husband has a pretty amazing testimony himself about a group of men he meets with weekly to pray.  I am not talking about hold hands, Kum-ba-yah, say a prayer and be done kind-of-group.  These men have powerful prayer, emotional prayer.  They don't always know what they are praying for before they meet, but something always comes up.  They could spend hours in prayer together.  I have always been interested in their group.  I am fascinated by his story, as well as the power of their prayer.  My friend texted me to tell me they prayed for me one night.  Then, they asked if they could come to the hospital to pray for me.  Overwhelming YES!

What happened in that room was nothing short of divine power.  As I tried to explain it to my mom and dad, I realized that there were no words to describe the emotion, the feeling, the power that we felt as these men prayed over me and Babe.  Each of the men have their own unique spiritual gifting.  It's really fascinating, but I couldn't do it justice by explaining.  I do know that my friend's husband can often feel or see things that we don't see.  He doesn't talk about it in a way to brag or even discuss it with people that might not receive it well.  I believe what he says because I know him and I know his character.

That evening about 4-5 men and my friends oldest son (13yo) descended upon my hospital room.  I was so excited to have them in my room.  We took a few minutes for pleasantries and then we got to business praying.  Babe was at the foot of my bed and the rest of them circled around my bed.  Apart from the "feeling" I had during that prayer, two distinct things happened.   One I heard a few days later and one came to fruition after I was home.  

My friend's husband and one of his friends came back at my request to "rehash" what happened the first time.  I wanted to know what he saw or felt.  What his take away was from our time in prayer.  The most impactful thing he told me was about what his son saw and what he actually felt.  Every time they said my name his son saw fire flash behind my head.  He SAW this.  (This is a precious boy who has shown signs of possibly having the same unusual gift as his dad.  He is young and doesn't know how to interpret any of it, but gratefully has his dad to communicate with about his experiences.  For both of them I will say, the "visions" don't happen all the time or on command.  His is almost always thru the power of prayer and he takes great care to ensure that it is from God and nowhere else.)  His dad didn't know that at the time, but his dad was up by the head of the bed and he said he was sweating profusely.  Like, he had to wipe the sweat from his head while we were praying.  None of the rest of us were hot at all.  He FELT the fire his son was seeing.

The interpretation of this could possibly go anywhere.  When I asked him how he interprets what he sees, he simply states that it is thru prayer to ensure that what he interprets is true.  This is a HUGE subject and I know could be off-putting to some.  Like I said before, I know him and his character and his amazing faith that I trust him and what he has to say.  I also believe that there is a spiritual world out there that we can't see with our own eyes.  His opinion was that it was the "Refiner's Fire" mentioned in the Bible multiple times (Zechariah 13:9,  I Peter 1:7, Isaiah 48:10)

From John Piper's Desiring God:He is a refiner's fire, and that makes all the difference. A refiner's fire does not destroy indiscriminately like a forest fire. A refiner's fire does not consume completely like the fire of an incinerator. A refiner's fire refines. It purifies. It melts down the bar of silver or gold, separates out the impurities that ruin its value, burns them up, and leaves the silver and gold intact. He is like a refiner's fire.

It all left me speechless.  Whether I could SEE Him or not, the Holy Spirit was present in my room.  Take it or leave it, two experiences (seeing the fire and feeling the overwhelming heat) matched up between two different people.  What it did for me was to encourage me and use all that I am going thru to bring Glory to the Lord.  The Refiners Fire does not exist to hurt or destroy but to make better, stronger and more pure.  I knew then that I would survive this mess.  I just had to stay focused on my healer and continue to give thanks for all the blessings in my life. 

I will never be the same.