Confessions of a Recovering Scoffer, part 1

Change. It seems to be everywhere. In the weather patterns ( I know I have been away for awhile, but summer is usually pretty much here by now, right? And my parent’s pool is still too cold to swim in..what’s up with that?), in the economy, even in AIM. We were just told of some major restructuring that is going on within our leadership. The World Race is getting a new director. All kinds of new developments that will, I am sure, be the best thing for us all in the future. This time two weeks ago, I wasn’t spending my summer in Africa. Now I am. Just over a week ago today, life as usual was going on in southwest China, now 34,000 deaths are being mourned while many, many more are still left buried under the aftermath of a devestating 7.8 earthquake. If life is anything right now, it is unpredictable.

I sense this change in the spiritual realm as well. God is revealing Himself in ways that we have never personally seen before. People are being healed. Set free. And I am not just talking about those crazy charismatics that love to whip themselves into a spiritual frenzy every Sunday with no real fruit coming of it. I am talking about tumors falling off, people getting out of wheelchairs, the dead being raised. I heard a story the other day of a man from a good ‘ol evangelical church who went to the healing outpouring that is happening in Lakeland, FL. He came back to his congregation, full of the Holy Spirit. He was like, well this Todd Bentley guy said this is transferable, do you guys want it? They all said yes. Having no clue what to do, they called a meeting, and the man began to just lay hands on everyone present. Every single person fell out under the power of the Spirit. There was no flash or pomp, or sweaty prophet guy screaming at everyone. Just a desire for encounter. And He met them there.

Last night I attended the Encounter Service at the International House of Prayer in Atlanta. They were finishing up some kind of conference, and, boy was something stirring. Their director was pretty wrecked. Totally drunk in the spirit. He could barely talk. I had never been here before so I didn’t have anything to compare it to, but my friend Dawn leaned over and said “He is NEVER like this.” People were laughing uncontrollably in the audience. He was calling out symptoms of people who needed healing and as people stood in response we prayed for them. There were testimonies of healings from over the weekend-arthritis being healed, knees being restored. Lots of moaning and groaning, tears, and crying out.

Let me stop and be honest for a second. Usually this kind of stuff gets on my nerves. Bad. My knee jerk reaction to it is almost always negative. I sit and analyze what kind of group think is going on, how everyone is feeding off each other (dang that silly psych degree I have). I feel almost repulsed by it, yet there is a part of me that wonders why I am not laughing uncontrollably like a hyena. Is everyone just so much more spiritual and “with it” than I am? Well screw that! I don’t want any part of it anyway…

Ah, can you see where this is going? Hi, my name is Jessica and I am a recovering scoffer. It’s been a long road, but I think I am finally realizing something: I have put my God in a box. He is sick of it and is ready to come out.

stay tuned for the rest of this story in Confessions of a Recovering Scoffer, part 2