Slain

Though tragedy, heartache, and sorrow abound

And many a hardship in life will be found,

Just put all your trust in the Savior of light,

For He can bring hope in the darkest of night.

—D. De Haan

It was a wonderful service we had at church yesterday. The Holy Spirit was evidently among us as our guest speaker, Ps Victor Rodriguez, gave us the Lord's message and later gave an altar call for the whole congregation. He went around prophesying for everyone. Nothing like this has ever happened before, and Penny and I were holding each other and crying our hearts out to God.

But that was just the beginning. He soon came over to us and gave us a prophecy from the Lord. Previously, I've felt little tingles and funny sensations whenever the Holy Spirit was touching me. But this time was different. As I stretched out my hand to the Lord, they started trembling involuntarily. I thought I was crying so hard that my body was convulsing and it sort of freaked me out because this never happened before.

Then it came. He said, "The Lord knows the anger, frustration and confusion you are going through as a couple. The Lord has put you in a desperate situation so that you will look to Him and seek Him more". I lost it. A man who hardly knew us and he spoke words that were spot on. The covulsions intensified so much that I had to grit my teeth and couldn't even hold my hands open. I wanted to shout out to the Lord but only managed a few grunts. He even prophesied about my desire to work with the youth and Penny being a woman of Proverbs (she has been meditating over Proverbs 31 for some time now). When he said, "Someone get behind this couple", I knew what was going to happen next. He continued praying but I was too busy trembling to hear what exactly he said.

Just like clockwork, as he counted backwards from three, I just fell backwards on one. I didn't even care if anyone was behind to catch me, I just went backwards. Not voluntarily, though, it just sort of happened. And then I was pinned there on the floor, my whole body trembling. My neck was beginning to hurt from trying to lift my head up and my fists were clenched so hard that my fingers were cramping up from trying to open them. I just cried and cried and cried. Again I thought the trembling was caused by my crying. But the funny thing was, it just stopped suddenly when Ps Rodriguez said, "Everybody quiet down". It was then I sat up, dazed and tired from all the trembling. I couldn't even stand up and fortunately, Ps Ronald was in front of me to help me up.

I thought to myself, "That was radical!", but it didn't end there. As the worship continued, I sang in tongues at the top of my voice and continued crying out to the Lord. A mixture of tears and mucus (haha!) were dripping onto the floor but I didn't care. Then it came again, that same convulsion and trembling like I was being electrocuted. It continued until the singing ended and Ps Don took over the mike.

As we stood behind the congregation thinking the worship was over, Ps Don started singing again. I could barely stand or lift up my hands as I was physically drained by then, but I stretched out my hand anyway (I was hanging on to Penny with the other arm). And it came again! Suddenly, I was caught in another wave of convulsions and I just started crying out to God again. Though there was a strong desire to shout His praises, again I had to grit my teeth and all I could do was grunt and snort.

Then when the singing stopped, my trembling stopped too. Just like that.

I was totally dazed and fatigued by the time the service had ended. But it was a wonderful feeling. Wonderful because today I was touched by the reality of who God is and felt the closeness of the Holy Spirit.

I believe and have faith that this is just the beginning of a new chapter of our walk with God.