Day 68 - Winter is Over

As a Christian we owe all those that we minister to an encounter with God. It’s sad to say that most of the western church doesn’t operate in that mindset. I hate to say it, but I really believe that many if not most western “Christians” have never had an encounter with God. We have allowed mental assent and knowledge to take the place of divine encounters and true heart changes. Tonight I was involved with a Sozo. The most important thing we try to do in the Sozo ministry is to leave the person with an encounter with the Godhead, (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). We have a number of tools that we use to help identify wounds and lies, but in my opinion, if we do not leave the person we have ministered to with an encounter with the Godhead we have not done out job. Tools are great, but a connection and a memory of an encounter, can be life changing. It was fun tonight. I can’t go into any details except to say that I acted as a third on the team and used prophetic art to help bring the person into an encounter. It is really getting to be fun doing this. It is such a stretch out of my normal box. I have to totally trust that I am hearing God, and just go with it. I am really a terrible artist, but I am getting better. What I am learning is that God uses many different means to talk to us, and we usually focus on a few. By doing something you haven’t ever done, you can begin to hear Him in different ways, which sharpens your senses to hear him better in every way.
Today is the day I have been waiting for since probably sometime in October. I was able to put the top down on my Miata and ride around with the sun and wind in my hair (figuratively speaking of course). It was great! The sun was warm, and I felt the freedom on the road that I miss with the top up. I love convertibles. I have had my Miata since 1999. It has almost 155000 miles on it, and I plan to keep it for a long time. Before that I had another Miata, a Chrysler LeBaron, an Suzuki Samari, a Datsun Fairlady and a 1968 Camero. So over the past 42 years I have had at least 6 convertibles. In fact, the only years when I didn’t have a convertible were when the kids were too young, and I couldn’t talk Julia into having one. I’m not ready to give up a convertible yet. I guess someday I’ll be too old. But today is not that day. I plan on putting a new engine in my present Miata when the time comes. I just really enjoy driving around with the top down. So with the outside temperature approaching 70, and the sun shining down, the top came down for the first time this year. Julia loved convertibles too. She normally had short hair, and having the top down wasn’t too bad for her. I know that many times she would have rather had it up, but she knew how much I enjoyed riding around with it down.
I was also able to get a run in. It was just a beautiful day, and tomorrow looks to be just the same. I do plan on getting all the pine straw spread in the back yard tomorrow. I felt bad that I didn’t get any spread today. I know that Julia would have been after me to do some if it today. Well tomorrow night, hopefully I will be able to say that it is all done. We have to enjoy tomorrow because the cold is going to try to make a comeback on Sunday.
I don’t think I can say this enough. God is Good. We had prayer answered today for a friend who I wrote about a couple of days ago. God can turn things that look disappointing into things that are blessings. I give thanks to Him. He is so good, and He loves us so much.
So, I’m looking forward to a good weekend. I am ready for spring, and it is finally here. Winter is over. It’s time for a change of seasons. I am ready!