“If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” (Matt. 9:21)
My story of the over-flowing of the Holy Spirit actually started the night before. Much like the woman in the Bible who we do not know her name, what we do know is she had a twelve-year affliction. She was in a dire situation; this affliction caused her physical pain as well as emotional isolation. She spent all the money she had with Dr’s, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. (Mark 5:26). Much like this woman I found myself afflicted in deep depression. I had just gone through the death of a child/adult, non the less a child to us. He had suffered two years with AML and when reaching his final days here on earth he wanted to do hospice at home with us. Which he had been living with us a good portion of the two years already, naturally we wanted the same. Before we knew he was not going to be able to get the bone marrow transplant, which we were believing and standing in faith for complete healing and he did finally receive his complete, total healing from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, just not here on earth. That is a whole other story, maybe one day I will share that because God did some preparation in him, us, his siblings and others for his eternal homecoming. Glory be to God for that. At the same time this was going on, a few months before he got really sick, I decided to breed my Doodle for the very first time and she had 15 puppies. I had to deliver the first 3 all by myself, this turned into a very LONG night, but it gets even worse. My husband was driving a coach bus for a company that required him to be out of town a LOT, this was one of those times. Our son was very sick just before the birth of the puppies and he needed to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion and that required him to stay in the hospital for a few days. When he came back home, he tried to help me out with the puppies, but he didn’t have the strength and I was not eating, or sleeping, I had lost 15 pounds in two weeks. Six weeks after much hard and I mean hard work, keeping 15 puppies alive and healthy, by myself, it was time to take the puppies to the veterinarian for their first series of shots, where they contracted parvo. I immediately went back to my vet, got the necessary meds, hydration bags, needles, etc. to come back home and build a quarantine area for sick, still nursing puppies. Thank God my husband was home for that week, or I think I might just be up there in Paradise with our son. We lost the first sick puppy, then we lost 2 more here at home, but praise God, He gave us the strength and everything else we needed to save these little guys & gals. Now my husband is back on the road again, and our son takes a turn for the worse. He immediately meets me at the hospital and that’s when we find out it’s time for him to come home on hospice. Everything happened so fast, I was literally living and moving on adrenaline only. The pain had gotten to be too much the last 24 hours for him, so we went to the hospital for those last hours. Then we had a funeral service to prepare for. Again, I am leaving so much out because I am trying to stay focused on the message I am trying to deliver here today. Honestly, I could write a series of books if given the time for most of these blogs. Now, back to the night before I received the mighty encounter with the Holy Spirit. Like the woman in the Bible, she spent so many years full of dead ends, helpless and hopeless, but she heard the reports about Jesus and that was all it took for this disheartened woman to move forward, there was this tiny seed of hope in her heart, that gave her the courage to take a BIG risk. That’s when she reached out to touch His cloak, with faith believing for her healing. She had to be bold as well, because she was out in the crowd with all the people and Jesus, she wasn’t even supposed to leave her home. When she made her way to Jesus, as soon as she touched the edge of His garment the bleeding, her affliction had stopped (Luke 8:44). Mark says, “Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (Mark 5:29) But her story is not over. Later, when Jesus wants to know who touched Him, Jesus didn’t humiliate her in front of the crowd, instead you hear Him calling her “Daughter” and tells her, “Your faith has made you well.” All because she dared to reach out to Him for help when every earthly avenue had ended in nothing but loss and despair. Back again to the night before. I was all alone again, after burying puppies, saying my goodbyes to our son, and watching my husband leave again for another lengthy road trip. It was around six in the evening, and I decided to take what little energy I had and get in the shower. I cried out to Jesus with everything I had inside of me. I needed a miracle, I needed change in my life, I needed strength, I needed someone to love and care for me, right now, this very moment or take me out of here, yes that is exactly what I said to Him. I think I was crying harder than the water was coming out of the shower head and of course my voice was as load as a train coming down the track. I needed Jesus to hear me! Then, suddenly, I heard Him. He was comforting me, telling me He had me and everything was going to be alright. He instructed me to go to this Woman’s conference the next morning. I really did not want to go there; I didn’t feel I fit in with the women there and I was already feeling all sorts of negatives inside me. Fear had been playing a huge role in my life at that time as well. Satan loves to use fear as one of his tactics to keep us from our destination. Well, let me tell you, that next morning I got up early, mustered up all the courage I could and I went! I didn’t just go, I sat on the first row, end seat, and when the worship music began, I jumped up and went to that alter with all the bravery and boldness I had in me. That’s where I released EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHNG. Fear was gone! By the time the conference was over, I felt equal to any woman there. I had been delivered, set free from my afflictions! and I could hear Him call me Daughter. Then, comes morning. Feel free to read the blog, titled, “Where You lead, I Will Follow” if you haven’t already.
Bread and Water 