A Lovely Post-Christmas Gift

This is my first post for the twenty til twenty series that I am doing. Hopefully, the somewhat-weird title drew you in, because the memory I want to share with you first is by far the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I'm talking about the day I was God filled me with His precious Holy Ghost. 

There is a saying I have heard my whole life, that is "I cut my teeth on the pews in that church!" referring, of course, to those people who were born and bred church-going kids. If that saying describes anyone, it's me. My grandfather is a pastor of a little country church in Barren Plains, TN (that location has got to tell you something about how country it is). When I was eight years old, we built this church (which will definitely be a story that comes up later!) and soon after we built it my sister, my two cousins, and I were baptized in the name of Jesus. Well, I knew what came next. I had repented of my sins, been baptized, and according to Acts 2:38, the next step was to be filled with the Holy Ghost. 

Honestly, I never remember seeking the Holy Ghost before the night I got it. I guess it's one of those things where I was a child and had the faith that since I wanted to be filled, God would fill me, and He did! It was Wednesday night Bible study after Christmas (literally, the date was December 26, 1999) and the crowd at church was slim. I don't know why, but around here, church has the least attendance around Christmas... Anyways, my granddad preached about the pool in the New Testament where, when the water was stirred, people could come and be healed. He told us that the altar was our pool of water and the water was being stirred if anyone needed anything from the Lord. I remember, as an eight-year-old little girl, knowing that if I went up there and asked God to fill me with His Spirit, He would. It was a promise I had yet to receive. So I went up to the altar and began to praise God. Within minutes I was speaking in a heavenly language. It was the greatest moment of my life. My sister and my cousin Becca were right there with me and were filled with the Holy Ghost that night too, as well as two other girls in our church.

My life has NEVER been the same since then. I don't have enough words to describe how greatly God has worked in my life since that time. Before I was filled with the Spirit, I knew the Lord and I did what was right, but when He filled me up, God became a part of me. He has never left my side since then. I love the verse in 1 John that says, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!" I know that is what happened to me that Wednesday night: God lavished His love on me and I was called His child. 

I don't know if you, my readers, have been filled with the Holy Ghost, but if you have not I am begging you to start seeking God's face, bury yourself in His word, and most of all ASK God, in faith, to fill you up. It is the greatest thing you could ever do. In the book of Acts, Luke writes about the Spirit being poured out in the early church and in Peter's sermon, on the day of Pentecost, He says, "The promise [of the Holy Ghost] is for you and your children, and to all who are afar off, for all whom the Lord our God will call." I am writing to tell you that He has called YOU. He wants to fill you with the Spirit. It is a promise. You just have to ask.