The Beginning of Knowing God

So, God heard my prayer and He answered my cry so amazingly.  And, on April 13, 1992 (Can you believe this? I just looked it up in my Bible, to see the day, and it was exactly 20 years ago today! Wow! God is so, so amazing!) I asked God to fill me with the Holy Spirit and He did, in such a glorious way.  Here are the details (Yes, I am a woman, and I like details! I mean, I really LIKE details! So, if you don't like details (then you're probably a man) and maybe this blog isn't for you! Just kidding...):

So, I was in my second semester of my sophomore year at Emporia State University, and my then-boyfriend, now-husband was attending Labette Community College in Parsons, KS (our hometown). We had been dating for about a year and a half, and he was in a Philosophy class at LCC.  His instructor was a man of God, a pastor actually, who asked Jeremy if he would like to come over to his house sometime to talk about the Lord and to be prayed for by Gene, the instructor, and his wife, Jill Day. Jeremy was very excited, as this man had really made an impression on him in class, so he went. As Jeremy was driving over to his house that afternoon, the Lord spoke to him in his car.  Now, he didn't hear an audible voice, and if you would have asked  him if the Lord had spoken to him, he may not have even realized it was the Lord, but we know now that it was. Jeremy said it seemed like a thought.

"You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit."

Jeremy nervously knocked on the pastor's door, and was welcomed inside by Gene and Jill Day with love and kindness.  Gene looked at Jeremy, and the first words out of his mouth were, "So, the Lord tells me that you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit." I'm serious here.  I'm not making this up.  Jeremy said something like, "Ummm, yeah."  I mean, God was moving here.  I won't go into all the details, but Jeremy was filled with the Holy Spirit that afternoon and spoke in tongues for the first time.

He called me soon after this happened, and what he said made my head spin.  I had no idea what he was talking about, but I could tell he was very happy, excited and full of love for God.  Our conversation ended with him telling me something like, "Just read in the book of Acts!  You'll see what I'm talking about!  Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a separate thing from being saved.  Read in Acts and you'll see what I mean.  God wants to speak to us today through the Holy Spirit.  He wants to lead us and show us what to do."

OK.  Well, that was interesting, and that was exactly what I wanted, for God to lead me and show me what He wanted me to do.  Hmmm, could this actually be true?  Could God actually speak to us today through the Holy Spirit?  Was there really such a thing as being filled with the Holy Spirit?  I mean, I had gotten saved the summer after my 6th grade year at church camp, but was there something more to knowing and living for God than that?  I didn't know, but I was very hungry to find out.  More on that in my next blog.  Thanks for reading!