During work I like to turn on the radio using my bluetooth headphones. Since I work through Sunday mornings, I don't go to church, and instead listen to their podcasts after they have been broadcasted. Or in this case I listen to a Christian radio station that allows people to phone in their testimonies. One caller said, "The Hebrew word for the Spirit is wind." He talked about his own testimony of visiting Israel, but when I heard that Hebrew word, I recollected a memory of talking to the pastor that officiated my marriage. This conversation happened years before my marriage, and during the time when I was either eighteen or nineteen, and believed that I had found the man I was going to marry. Thank God I was wrong, and the man of God was right. I didn't marry the boy who took my virginity with my own consent, something that I have regretted ever since. Woman of God, my mother, had been correct to try and keep me from him.
I met that boy of nineteen, during a teen revival at a rather large church which my pastor had funded for me to attend. I had no idea that he had paid for me to go, just that he was interested in what I had learned while at this retreat. The teens weren't treated as they had liked, with no pillows, sheets, blankets, or even convenient heating being offered for our stay. We were told to bring blankets and pillows, but those of us who did not have parents with a lot of extra money, (or pastors.) shivered in our frost filled rooms with our room-mates. I met a girl there who was sad about not being with her boyfriend, and I comforted her and helped her with her hair, in the mornings before service. We were ushered to three services per day, with three meals a day. Unfortunately, some teens weren't given any meals, and so went very hungry. If they brought extra cash to get a bag of chips from the snack machine, that was all they were given to eat. Unless someone felt like sharing their own meal. I shared my meal with the boy, and he was so grateful he asked me to date and then marry him. As a loner for most of my life, I immediately agreed, but stopped short of marriage. We had to date first, after all! I left my female friend to spend more time with him; another choice that I regret. Her friendship would have been amazing to have, if I had just let my lust be quelled.
After returning from this misused trip, I told the pastor that I, "Hated it." In reference to going to the teen revival. I told him the truth, that I had made one friend and one boyfriend. I thought I was being good by being honest, but I never accounted for his feelings. At the moment after I said that I hated the experience, a massive gust of air blew between us. I felt scared in that moment, and so plowed on in my story to tell him why I didn't enjoy the event.
As I said earlier, it wasn't until recently that I realized that the wind I felt was the Spirit of God. I have no proof of this wind, I cannot say that it physically happened, as nothing in the room we talked in, was stirred. I believe it was a spiritual wind that blew, and that I was wrong for using his money to score a boyfriend, and scorn a friend. I didn't even think about God, and that was the whole point of the trip. Something that the pastor brought up, while the teenagers complained about unfortunate eating and sleeping arrangements.
The testimony is that God should be first in everyone's life, that no child or teenager, [or even adult] should fornicate with each other; and while honesty is appropriate, consideration of other's feelings should be taken into consideration. There shouldn't be lies of omission, to ease someone into your lie, but words can be better constructed, if they are thought about carefully first.
I met that boy of nineteen, during a teen revival at a rather large church which my pastor had funded for me to attend. I had no idea that he had paid for me to go, just that he was interested in what I had learned while at this retreat. The teens weren't treated as they had liked, with no pillows, sheets, blankets, or even convenient heating being offered for our stay. We were told to bring blankets and pillows, but those of us who did not have parents with a lot of extra money, (or pastors.) shivered in our frost filled rooms with our room-mates. I met a girl there who was sad about not being with her boyfriend, and I comforted her and helped her with her hair, in the mornings before service. We were ushered to three services per day, with three meals a day. Unfortunately, some teens weren't given any meals, and so went very hungry. If they brought extra cash to get a bag of chips from the snack machine, that was all they were given to eat. Unless someone felt like sharing their own meal. I shared my meal with the boy, and he was so grateful he asked me to date and then marry him. As a loner for most of my life, I immediately agreed, but stopped short of marriage. We had to date first, after all! I left my female friend to spend more time with him; another choice that I regret. Her friendship would have been amazing to have, if I had just let my lust be quelled.
After returning from this misused trip, I told the pastor that I, "Hated it." In reference to going to the teen revival. I told him the truth, that I had made one friend and one boyfriend. I thought I was being good by being honest, but I never accounted for his feelings. At the moment after I said that I hated the experience, a massive gust of air blew between us. I felt scared in that moment, and so plowed on in my story to tell him why I didn't enjoy the event.
As I said earlier, it wasn't until recently that I realized that the wind I felt was the Spirit of God. I have no proof of this wind, I cannot say that it physically happened, as nothing in the room we talked in, was stirred. I believe it was a spiritual wind that blew, and that I was wrong for using his money to score a boyfriend, and scorn a friend. I didn't even think about God, and that was the whole point of the trip. Something that the pastor brought up, while the teenagers complained about unfortunate eating and sleeping arrangements.
The testimony is that God should be first in everyone's life, that no child or teenager, [or even adult] should fornicate with each other; and while honesty is appropriate, consideration of other's feelings should be taken into consideration. There shouldn't be lies of omission, to ease someone into your lie, but words can be better constructed, if they are thought about carefully first.
