The Presence of the Holy Spirit Part 2

John 14:15-17
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate (Holy Spirit), to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of  truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him not knows Him. You know Him because He abides with you. And He will be in you.

I spoke to a lady this week who lives halfway across the country. She initially reached out to me because we share a common bond. She too has lost a child. She offered me comfort by understanding where I was emotionally and empathized with my feelings. She had heard about Will through the sharing and resharing of  the group page "Prayers for Will Smith" and opened up dialogue with me early on in this walk.

Without divulging too much information about her, I want to share another story about this lady's walk with me. This is another story about the presence of the Holy Spirit moving among us. A story that starts with a tragedy.

One night this week, I received a frantic FaceBook message from a lady who was still suffering from the loss of her daughter several years ago. She was reaching out, questioning what it was that I seemed to have. She was in effect crying out to God to heal her of her pain and anger. As I was trying to explain, or convey my experiences with her, she was uncontrollably typing and laying her pain and suffering out there for me to see. She was "blowing up" my inbox. I could barley keep up with my responses. She was conveying to me her pain. She said that the tears were pouring out so fast her eyes hurt and asking question after question about God and scripture.

As she openly confessed her experience, I was given the opportunity to pray for her online.

She exclaimed:

"OMG the tears are stopping, they are stopping. It is like it's gone. I said it and now it is gone!"

I believe she had received a Holy Spirit indwelling and a healing. It was a powerful moment for her and I had the privilege of witnessing it happen.

Then she said, "My tears are good tears and for once I know I will hold my daughter again."

A beautiful moment for both of us. a moment in time when the Advocate was present in both of our lives. But the story does not end there. You see, I have been struggling this week with something that I have shared with only a handful of close friends.  While I have been openly grieving the physical loss of my son I have been harboring a fear, as a father who loves his child, that was beginning to consume my thoughts. I have been fearful that my son was scared as he fell into the water, was pulled under and washed downstream. I have been consumed with him calling out for help and me not being there to rescue him. I swore I would never abandon him and I have been wrestling with the thought that he felt abandoned and alone. Even though I know I had no control over the situation, I still had those thoughts and that pain had been rising up in me of late.

This lady had no idea that I was suffering with this at that very moment. How could she. She`lives 1000 miles away and I had not shared this with her yet. Then she messaged something. This is the exact quote:

"OK, here goes. I have no idea why this keeps playing in my head, but I think this is for you. The remarkable thing is he never had a moment of fear. For the way of the light leads to good things, for this he was taught by his parents. The lights from the heavens above glistened and danced above the waters."

It was my turn to cry. I shared my fear with her and this was her reply

"And that means because you believed and loved God, you spoke to Will to love God and so he did and trusted God like you and through you and through Will now I will learn about the love of God and can tell others someday too and so maybe someone will also know him too ! That's how WILL'S WORK all started with a dad telling his son about God !"

I am still in tears over this moment.Ttears of gratitude and blessing as God moves before us for all of us.