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I write a lot about how perception is not reality, because God has pulled the rug out from under me on more than one occasion. Always gently, often humorously. I’m not sure if God has a sense of humor or if He even needs one, but there is no doubt in my mind that he uses the power of laughter to teach us things and to heal us. In fact, that is often how I recognize His presence, He makes me laugh, a bit like a delighted child witnessing a slight of hand. It’s awkward at funerals.
When we are told to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, I suspect it’s our laughter that he finds most pleasing, not the kind that that is full of ridicule and mockery, but the innocent kind that just catches you unaware. Like His presence sometimes does.
Last year I had a prophetic experience that was somewhat humorous. I was having dreams about the return of Christ, beautiful dreams, so real, but oddly, a bit medieval. There was no rapture, no lake of fire, no destruction or any sort, no plagues, no four horseman, no blood moons, none of that, just the most pleasant and delightful return of a King, like a wedding or a family reunion. There was much feasting, horses, laughter, and gifts.
God is aware of the fact that I love literal translations of music videos. That’s where you remove all the metaphors and take the lyrics literally, often running video in the background that reflects the literal translation. They can be quite funny. “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” is a famous literal translation of a music video.
Anyway, God took me through this literal translation of the Book of Revelations. It got very surreal and I only share a few highlights. I literally whacked my head on metal man, this creature made out of tin cans hanging on a porch. I went inside and stepped on a 7 headed plastic beast which impaled my foot. (If you’ve ever stepped on a plastic toy, there’s this new and improved pain scale doctors now use to measure pain, it goes from zero…to stepping on a lego.)
So, with a lump on my head and bleeding profusely from my foot, I went home to take a nap. A few hours later, my second daughter called from Philadelphia. She had literally left work and flown across the country to go to a BBQ. As soon as I hung up the phone I got another call, from a church in Philadelphia, with a sales pitch that began, ” I have a bone to pick with you…”
At this point I’m starting to recognize the story, metal man, a seven headed beast, and the church in Philadelphia, but I didn’t think much of it. I was just grateful my daughter wasn’t calling to tell me she had eloped. So I got up and went to the store for some milk and sure enough, while walking into the store, our resident schizophrenic guy screamed at me, “hello! it’s the end of the world!” So I screamed back, “I know, isn’t it awesome?” So he smiled and tipped his hat at me.
Inside the store, walking through the wine aisle, a shoe box slid off the shelf and fell on my head. This is the second time I’ve been whacked on the head that day. I kid you not it was full of small plastic angels, 7 of them, each with a little gold trumpet.
That night I went to bed and something shook me awake, saying, “I come like a thief in the night.” I took that literally, not prophetically, since I was hearing noises in the backyard. So, a bit irrationally, I didn’t wake my husband up, I prayed. I asked, “what do you want me to do, Lord?” He said, “call out the window that you are alone and unarmed.” We had a bit of a discussion about the wisdom of doing that, but God just waited patiently for me to obey like He always does. So, I called out the window, “I’m alone and unarmed, are you okay?” “You,” fortunately turned out to be a girl, a very lost and confused girl, who collapsed on my pile of weeds and started to cry. She wasn’t high on a King, that’s for sure. God said, “preach,” so preach I did, out the bedroom window, everything I could think of, about how precious and worthy we are too Him, about how much love He has for us, about how it much it grieves Him when we don’t realize it. I preached about how there is nothing so big and so bad, that He won’t forgive and cover with His mercy and grace. So the girl calmed down, said she felt better, said thank you, and left.
About this time my husband wakes up and asks, “what are you doing?”
“Preaching out the bedroom window,” I told him.
To give you some idea of how graciously my husband has adapted to having a crazy wife, he said, “Oh, well alright then,” rolled over and went back to sleep.
The next morning, stuck in the pile of weeds I call a lawn, was a little wooden cross made out of two sticks tied together with a piece of yarn. I’m not sure if God left it for me or if the girl did, but it was the sweetest gift and it made me laugh.
I suspect that what God really wants us all to know more than anything else in the world, is how much we are loved.
suckmywake said:
Thanks for sharing this. It’s amazing how God works and how God’s love is so awesome. I’ve found that out many times in my life but none more than recently when I cried out to Him that I was alone and felt very fearful that He wasn’t listening to me anymore…a few hours later, I felt the urge by God to listen to a minister’s radio program that streams over the web….I didn’t want to because it was very late, but I got out of bed and turned it on. Not five minutes into the sermon the preacher exclaimed in a bold and very commanding way:
“NEVER DOUBT GOD’S ABILITY TO HEAR YOU, BECAUSE HE DOES HEAR YOU…EVERY TIME YOU PRAY!”
Those words were all I needed to hear and God knew it. He’s so compassionate and knows exactly what we need at exactly the right time. 🙂
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insanitybytes22 said:
Isn’t He amazing? The synchronicity of getting those precise answers at the perfect time, just takes my breath away.
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xPraetorius said:
Sweet, fun, deep post. All over the lot. Like life. Well done. Again. 🙂
Best,
— x
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wiseblooding said:
A divine serendipitous appointment buoyantly described … Loved it!
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Wraith said:
I have come to the conclusion that God does, indeed, have a sense of humor, and in fact, it is one of His greatest gifts to us. When everything’s falling apart, and something makes you burst out laughing in the midst of it? That’s God giving you a helping hand. 🙂
You can tell those who don’t know God: They have NO sense of humor. Especially about themselves.
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One Gentleman said:
First, I hope you guys had a wonderful weekend. Secondly, every so often, I somehow automatically unfollow you. It makes no sense. I then refollow, check your page again, and it disappears. Lol. Weird. So, you will notice notifications about my follow every so often.
This post reminds me of my family and dreams. It really is amazing when you understand the delivery of his message. I rather enjoyed this story. I believe this is my favorite part :
“About this time my husband wakes up and asks, “what are you doing?”
“Preaching out the bedroom window,” I told him.
To give you some idea of how graciously my husband has adapted to having a crazy wife, he said, “Oh, well alright then,” rolled over and went back to sleep.”
Lol. Alright then. Lol
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Tim Shey said:
This is really beautiful and this is how the Lord works in my life.
What is crazy in the eyes of man is not crazy in the eyes of God. Remember when the Lord told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah? We need to act in faith and obey the Lord even if it seems absolutely insane. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
You meeting that schizophrenic guy reminds me of something I heard years ago:
This crazy guy walks into a grocery store, picks up this cantaloupe and says, “This is paranoia. Don’t leave home without it.”
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Tim Shey said:
Also I would like to say that it was very Providential that I read your post today. I believe it is confirmation on what the Lord showed me yesterday. Yesterday I was reading the Book of Jeremiah and came across a certain Scripture that really bore witness with my spirit. I planned on posting that scripture from Jeremiah this morning, but then I backed down and decided not to because I thought it was too extreme. Now that I have read your post, I believe I must post what the Lord wants me to post—so I will post it later today.
The Lord doesn’t care if I think something that He tells me to do is extreme, He wants me to OBEY Him.
Thank you for your obedience to the Lord.
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insanitybytes22 said:
“The Lord doesn’t care if I think something that He tells me to do is extreme..”
LOL, that is so true, except in my case it’s, “the Lord doesn’t really care if I think something is crazy or embarrassing or uncomfortable.” He just waits patiently for me to work it out and to obey Him.
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Tim Shey said:
Gabrielle: Here is that post that I originally did not want to publish on my blog:
http://hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/therefore-deliver-up-their-children-to-the-famine/
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Tim Shey said:
I came across this post today; just thought you would like to read it:
“The Bewildering Call of God”
http://levithetford.com/2014/08/05/the-bewildering-call-of-god/
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