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Tribute to the Holy Spirit for his presence in my life


As a child, I could relate to Jesus or God the Father but I always found the Holy Spirit very mysterious and sometimes scary. I would only be able to relate the experience of the Spirit to people talking in tongues or trembling which would scare me a little. It was over time, after I had a strong experience of the Holy Spirit myself that I slowly began to see him as a person. Looking back at life, I don't think I would still be alive without the presence of the Spirit. What I want to do in this blog is recount the ways the Holy Spirit has been there for me, hoping that my experience may inspire someone to call upon the Spirit of God today and deepen your relationship with this kind and gentle friend. 

The Spirit my counsellor: Very rarely have I heard the voice of the Spirit so clearly as when one day, before we were married, my fiancé wasn't keeping well and his parents were out of town. I checked up on him in the morning and his fever seemed under control so I felt it was safe to leave him alone for the day. Especially since it was just my second day at my new job and it wouldn't look good not showing up. So I took a rick and headed off to the metro station. The minute I sat in the rick I heard the clear voice "Go Back". I had never experienced something like that before, so I was in shock for sometime. It didn't make sense to me at first but as I got down from the rick I found I couldn't take another step. It was such an overwhelming feeling that I had to return back. My fiancé was surprised to see me back home and he looked physically fine, so I felt I made some mistake, but I stayed back nonetheless. It wasn't until afternoon when I realized he wasn't able to move. He was burning up as his temperature suddenly shot up to around 104 F and seemed to be rising even further. We were eventually able to bring the temperature down with ice and other medication but that evening we pondered on what would have happened, had I not heard that voice telling me to return. 

The Spirit my guide:  Some years back, a close friend of mine, left the church and joined another group. At that time I hadn't read the Bible and I didn't know much of what was in it. Daily this friend would tell me scripture passages which she believed were directed against the churches teachings. This would confuse me and disturb me terribly. She kept inviting me to know more about her group, visit the meetings etc. I was so uneasy one day after talking to her and I couldn't think straight, I just wanted to know the truth. It was then as I was sitting in my seat in office, churning about, I remembered a conversation I had with my sister years before, where she mentioned the Ministry of the Word course in the seminary that teaches about Scripture. Suddenly, I felt my conscience get clear and felt so energized, I quickly started making phone calls asking people if they knew about the course, only to find out that the course was about to start and the registration was almost closing. Every cell in my body was telling me that I needed to go for it. Sure enough, I called the priest in charge who met with me and I went for the two year course that changed my life forever. Looking back at that incident, I know that it was the Spirit that bought to my mind that course which I had completely dismissed years back. It was the same Spirit that motivated me and gave me courage to pick up the phone and make the decision which went against my shy and contemplative personality. 

The Spirit my comforter: I was having the worst time at work with an extremely rude manager who told me everyday of how incapable I am. For the first time in life, I was told I could get fired. I was shattered mentally and I just wanted to give up. I didn't want to go to work one morning and fell to my knees and cried bitterly asking God to help me. Just as I was praying a scripture passage came to mind. It was from Isaiah 41:13 "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, Do not fear, I will help you." The  courage this passage gave me was incredible. I truly believed God would hold my hand and help me in my work that day. Through the day at work, I kept repeating the passage and it bought a smile to my face. It was incredible because for the first time that day, my manager didn't pass a single rude remark and approved all my work. So I continued to do this day after day and things started improving drastically, to the point where I was receiving compliments for my work and eventually getting promoted. 

The Spirit my protector: We were hanging out in the church compound late one evening when I saw a dog that I loved and fell to my knees in order to play with her. I was so engrossed patting her that I didn't see a car reversing in my direction and since it was dark, the driver completely missed seeing me too. Suddenly I heard my friends scream and when I turned back I saw that the car had stopped just an inch away from my head. The driver still wasn't aware I was there, until I stood up. I don't know what made the car stop as there was still some space to reverse the car. I truly believe it was some kind of divine intervention that saved me this time and many other times in my life. 

There are so many other incidents where Spirit of God has been there for me. If I go on, this would be an endless blog. But my aim in writing this, is simply that you yearn for this amazing friend to be by your side and you take the time today to thank the Holy Spirit for all the times you have felt his presence in your life. 


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