Promptings of The Holy Spirit
On the weekend, I gave a talk on the topic of Loving Your Neighbour at a Parish-Based Retreat. I have given this talk before so I felt confident in accepting the invitation to speak. I prepared the slides and the materials. Before the afternoon session started, I had set up the slides, the music, the movie and the sound amplifier. Everything worked.
However, thirty minutes before I was due to speak, I went to a room and prayed to the Holy Spirit that I may speak about God's real message that could touch at least one of those present.
When it was my time to speak, everything did not work - the remote control, the projector, the slides, the sound and the video (movie).
But I had to start.
So, I grabbed my Bible and started to read the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I shared a bit about what touched me in that passage, the words that came up very strongly and how this story can be compared to our situation today.
When the projector came up again, I quickly went through the slides. I then did my personal sharing about some failures in my life that later were made better and greater by God.
Somehow, I felt strongly that that someone just changed my plan. The whole talk changed.
When I finished the talk, I initially felt sad and not very pleased with myself as I would have wanted a smooth presentation like the two presentations I did previously.
But, reflecting on the whole situation, I had to remind myself that indeed, I prayed to the Holy Spirit! I had to be humble enough to accept that the talk was given not for me, not for my own pleasure and satisfaction, but to deliver God's message.
In the group discussion that followed, one of the attendees shared about something she had picked up from the talk, a message that I thought I only covered very quickly. This lady remembered it. I hope she will take it to heart and act on it. Perhaps I will never know if anyone else caught God's message from the talk that afternoon.
After the talk, my heart and mind was stirred by the Spirit. I could not talk to anyone about it because within me, instead of thinking about what went wrong, the Spirit was still clarifying in my mind and in my heart what the message of this experience was for me: that I needed HUMILITY if I really wanted the Holy Spirit to work in my life; and that my faith journey has been about my apparent FAILURES that were TRANSFORMED by God into something BETTER and GREATER.
I can plan as best as I could in my life. But, if I want to do God's Will, I have to learn to accept a bit of chaos and a bit of out-of-my-plan experiences. Yes, God talks to us and moves us in different ways. And sometimes, these experiences may not bring us personal pleasure but a keen awareness of the world around us. For me that day, awareness that in our lives, we always need to be OPEN to the promptings and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Take care.
Ros
However, thirty minutes before I was due to speak, I went to a room and prayed to the Holy Spirit that I may speak about God's real message that could touch at least one of those present.
When it was my time to speak, everything did not work - the remote control, the projector, the slides, the sound and the video (movie).
But I had to start.
So, I grabbed my Bible and started to read the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I shared a bit about what touched me in that passage, the words that came up very strongly and how this story can be compared to our situation today.
When the projector came up again, I quickly went through the slides. I then did my personal sharing about some failures in my life that later were made better and greater by God.
Somehow, I felt strongly that that someone just changed my plan. The whole talk changed.
When I finished the talk, I initially felt sad and not very pleased with myself as I would have wanted a smooth presentation like the two presentations I did previously.
But, reflecting on the whole situation, I had to remind myself that indeed, I prayed to the Holy Spirit! I had to be humble enough to accept that the talk was given not for me, not for my own pleasure and satisfaction, but to deliver God's message.
In the group discussion that followed, one of the attendees shared about something she had picked up from the talk, a message that I thought I only covered very quickly. This lady remembered it. I hope she will take it to heart and act on it. Perhaps I will never know if anyone else caught God's message from the talk that afternoon.
After the talk, my heart and mind was stirred by the Spirit. I could not talk to anyone about it because within me, instead of thinking about what went wrong, the Spirit was still clarifying in my mind and in my heart what the message of this experience was for me: that I needed HUMILITY if I really wanted the Holy Spirit to work in my life; and that my faith journey has been about my apparent FAILURES that were TRANSFORMED by God into something BETTER and GREATER.
I can plan as best as I could in my life. But, if I want to do God's Will, I have to learn to accept a bit of chaos and a bit of out-of-my-plan experiences. Yes, God talks to us and moves us in different ways. And sometimes, these experiences may not bring us personal pleasure but a keen awareness of the world around us. For me that day, awareness that in our lives, we always need to be OPEN to the promptings and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Take care.
Ros
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