A Moving of the Holy Spirit

This is what I wrote on Saturday morning of the production, Empowered. It is about what occurred on Friday, October 27, 2017 in a small building in Garner, NC.

Last Night.

There are no adequate words to describe what happened at the Spiritual Twist Production building in Garner, NC.

Something amazing and incredible.

Holy.

The Holy Spirit showed himself in a way I have never felt or seen before.

I actually feel sorry for the people who did not attend last night.

I also feel sorry for the audience. Yes, they got to experience a great moving of the Holy Spirit.

But, the crew and cast up on stage were the ones who got the biggest blessing of all. We got to sing praises and worship in a way that I have never, EVER experienced before.

The Holy Spirit moved in such a way that it was bubbling over from the stage and cast and filling the entire building.

I Felt it and so did the entire audience and even those working backstage who were not even watching from the front. There was such an energy and excitement that a lot of the cast members and even audience members had a hard time getting to sleep after we all went home.

It truly was a miracle!

Most people who have been involved in a Spiritual Twist Production play know that Friday is normally the show where things go wrong.

The cast is tired.

The crew is tired.

The opening night high is gone.

We get attacked by Satan on multiple fronts. We also tend to get a little prideful as we have one show under our belts and we feel that we’ve got it down.

I personally felt like I was under spiritual attack yesterday. The kids were bickering with one another. It as bad. VERY bad. Satan attacked me and made me think those old thoughts of being a bad mother. That I am not spending enough time with them because I am at STP too much. I felt like a failure all day. I left the house and got a phone call not 10 minutes from the house.

World War 3 had erupted at my house. I almost turned back.

I was able to diffuse the situation but I did end up losing my temper with several of my children. I sat in Aversboro Coffee for a while studying my Bible and trying to calm my anxious heart. I was able to study and worship and pray and write. It was just what I needed.

My Philippians devotional yesterday was all about living in a manner worthy of the gospel. I had to confess that yesterday, with my children, I did not. I had to call my sweet daughter and apologize. I wanted to have my relationship with her right before I walked onto the stage to perform. More importantly I wanted to have my relationship with the Lord right before I walked on stage.

While I was studying Philippians I was listening to Heal Our Land by Kari Jobe.

“You take our lives

Flawed yet beautiful

Restore, refine

Lord, you’re merciful

Redeem, Revive”

What a balm for my soul. It was just what I needed for my soul. I was able to go to the pre-production time with a calm heart ready to worship. The time was filled with worship and prayer. LOTS of prayer. Humbling, powerful prayers. We prayed alone. We got into groups and prayed. We prayed as a whole cast.

I prayed with 6 other young ladies in my group. It was a special time. The guys got into another group to pray. When my group was done praying we all noticed that the guys were still praying.

It was reverent and HOLY. It was like we were all transported to the throne of God.

My sweet William, at one point, fell out of his chair onto his knees on the floor. He was crying out to God with tears streaming down his face. I was overcome with emotion.

To hear my son praying a powerful prayer before God. I was so thankful and humbled and proud.

None of us wanted it to end. I sat and listened to these strong, young Christian men cry out to God with boldness.

I was overwhelmed.

That all happened before the show even started. We almost made the start of the show late as when we reluctantly ended praying we saw that it was 7:25 for a 7:30 show start.

It was a blessing that the show was almost sold out so much so that they had send people to the overflow parking lot. The show started about 7:40.

From the start of the show we could tell that we were all full of the Holy Spirit. Each scene had power and emotion and strength and boldness. There was so much prayer and encouragement going on backstage. People would come off the stage and find someone to pray with. And worship. On stage and off. By the end of the show we felt like we were on fire.

The last song was unlike anything I have ever experienced. There was a moment when the Holy Spirit overflowed from the cast and covered the entire audience. It was amazing and powerful. It was if the entire building shook with power.

I literally could not sing by the end of the song. I was so overcome with the Holy Spirit that I could only lift my arms and cry.

We all were overcome. The audience was crying. The cast and crew were crying.

We were filled with the Holy Spirit. All of us.

It was like a fuzzy picture coming into focus with sudden clarity. That is how this whole play has been for me. It is like I could not see anything but blurs and I have finally put on glasses that allows me to finally really see for the first time.

 I have learned so much about the Holy Spirit and about Jesus. I knew all of this before but I had never truly experienced it. I have had moments in my life where I have felt the power of God but never like this. It was amazing.

I will write more about what I have learned in another blog post but what happened on Friday night needed a whole post of its own. I will always remember that night as one of the most incredible nights of my life.