The Dream

Friday night, the 20th of May, I had a dream, I don't normally remember my dreams, not that I don't dream or I don't remember all of my dreams, they just usually aren't something that I think about much after I wake up. I know I dream and some leave impressions on me, but I don't usually "dream" about significant things, not on a regular basis. That night was different, I was having a regular dream, nothing exciting or different, there was a person, a lady I believe, though it's not someone I know, this lady suddenly turned to me and said "Your spiritual gift is prophesy"... or she might have said "you are a prophet", I can't remember exactly which it was, but the meaning is the same. I woke up right after that, I began to pray to God, I said that if this was true and from Him, to please give me confirmation. Honestly, this was not something I ever reached for, not something I felt that I needed to do, in fact, it's a bit scary to be given such a "gift", I would rather do healing ministries, and I very well may be allowed to do that too. Anyhoo, I didn't say anything about this to anyone, I didn't want to  spoil the chance of anyone who might confirm this.

So today at church (Sunday), the pastor made a comment about spiritual gifts, he used me as an example saying that I play piano at church, but that might not be my only gift, there may be other things for me to do. After church was over, a lady I know, but not someone I talk to regularly, said she needed to talk to me. I thought she was going to talk about doing pottery or something like that (she's a wonderful artist), she asked me if I knew what my gift is? It was a rhetorical question, she was about to tell me, she said my gift is prophesy. I did not expect to hear that from her, the funny thing is she didn't expect to say it to me either, but she knew she was supposed to give me that info, so she did. Well, there is my confirmation. I had heard the word prophesy several times over the last couple of days, but didn't want to accept that as confirmation, that could have just been coincidence, but there was no way that this lady telling me about my gift was coincidence. So there it is.

I think I am taking this the same way I took being instructed by God to go into the music ministry, it scared the crap outta me to think I was going to play piano in front of the church, or sing or be the music leader for praise and worship... my response to God was, "who, me?"... well, if I must, then please give me the courage, and He did! Now I enjoy it, even if I do freeze up every now and again, I still play and sing to the best of my ability. So now, if this is the direction God wants me to go in, then I have to have faith that He will give me the tools I need to accomplish this, I just have to remember that this isn't coming FROM me, it's coming THROUGH me, I just have to be a willing vessel.

Oh yeah, I said there was 2 things. Last week, while at the Christian class, it was mentioned about people in the Bible "casting lots", I had heard this term before, but thought it meant a form of gambling. Turns out it CAN be used for gambling, but it also had deeper meaning. It turns out that the Levite priests used this to get answers from God, they had (apparently) a black rock and a white rock, one meant "yes", the other "no". I asked my pastor if this was sanctioned by God? Apparently it was, not only sanctioned and approved, but encouraged.

I asked if this could be considered "divining" or divination? I waited until after the class to discuss this further with pastor. My thoughts are, I have experimented with dowsing in the past, when I got baptized, I didn't want to do anything that might be against God's will, I wasn't sure about dowsing, even though I felt like it was OK, there was enough of a doubt that I set it aside and asked God for guidance on the matter. I feel like I am about to get my answer on this matter, I talked to pastor today to remind him that I set up an appointment with him on Monday before the class to discuss this subject. He told me that he had a lot of info on his computer and that he would give me the files for me to read. It turns out that my pastor has no problems with dowsing, he considers it an autonomic response, a physical response and not anything spiritual. I did tell him that I didn't look for water, but I had used it to get answers from God, he seemed OK with that, though a little concerned about being so close to that line that I tend to walk. I will be very interested to see what he got for me.

I also have access to a genuine Levite, I'll explain more about that later. I plan on asking this man about this as well, though this will be next month before I will see him.

Lot's O' Stuff Going On

I have been meaning to write more here, don't ya just hate it when a blogger keeps saying that? So here I am. My spiritual life has been growing and growing.  I am getting more and more comfortable with myself and my spirituality at the same time. I had a few adjustments to make after my baptism, there were some small things were taken from me, at the time I had no idea what those would be, I just hoped it wouldn't be everything about my spiritual life, but was willing to give up any and all of it if that was necessary, I can truly thank God that it was not all taken, just tweaked to be even better.

My walk and talk with God has gotten better and better, closer and closer. I am participating in a Christian class at church, it's by John MacArthur, it's called Fundamentals of the Faith, I have enjoyed learning more and more, even if I don't agree with everything MacArthur says, especially about the spiritual gifts, he says some of them were only meant for the Bible days and aren't meant for today, I disagree, when God gives gifts, He doesn't take them back. I also know that we humans aren't going to agree with each other 100% of the time...

To update some of my spiritual experiences I have had recently, a month ago (+/-) I was in my Bug on the way to church in the afternoon, I was by myself, I live in a very rural area with mountainous dirt roads that are curvy and have lots of hills and valleys. There are places where the road is not wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass, it's a good idea to drive slow out here, sometimes I will think I'm going too fast only to look down and see I am going 15 mph. Anyhoo, I was going to the church, doing my normal speed on this particular part of the road, I was "told" to slow down, I didn't question it or even think about it, I just did it, I dropped my speed by about 5 mph, I began looking ahead to see why I had been instructed to slow down. I expected to see animals in the road (a common occurrence out here), maybe deer or feral donkeys, I was coming to a curve in the road when I saw the UPS truck coming the opposite direction, he was in the middle of the road coming around that curve, there was not enough room for both of us to be on that spot at the same time, if I hadn't slowed down, I would have been there at the same time as the UPS truck, would there have been a crash? I don't know, possibly a crash, possibly one or both of us might have ended up sliding off the road, I do know that it would have been at least a close call, not something I relish thinking about, much less experiencing...

I am still seeing into the spirit world, little sparks of light, the glowing orbs, the shadows and such.  For the most part, I just look and go on, I don't try to interact or communicate with whatever these things are. My neighbor's house had been pretty quiet the last few months, but things have been ramping back up, I have been seeing different things there, things like sparks of light near the ceiling. Yesterday, I was down there with my Dad, he had fallen asleep in the recliner, I laid down on the couch to catch a nap too, when I saw a large, shaggy looking shadow flying across the cabinet doors in the dining room, I have been seeing more and more activity in that part of the house. This only lasted a few seconds, but was significantly different from the other things I have seen there, it left an impression on my mind. I didn't say anything to my Dad about this though. So today, after church, we ate lunch at my neighbor's house, then my Dad laid back in the recliner and wanted to take a nap, I told him I was going up to my house, if he needed me, he could call me.

I had gotten up to my house (it's a bit of a hike up a mountain side to get to my house), I had enough time to get on the internet and check my email when my Dad called, he said he needed me back down there asap. When I got there, he was a little shaken up, he said he had not been asleep yet, but his eyes were closed, then something grabbed his foot. He opened his eyes and saw nothing, then he saw what he described at a large, dark tubular thing near the ceiling going toward the dining room. He rebuked it and it left him alone. Shortly after I got back down there, he told me that he saw something else, it looked like a small bird going toward the dining room, his dog also responded to this. It's strange that the sightings in that house had changed so much, I hadn't said anything to my Dad about this, yet he is also seeing these things too.

I have another 2 things to write about, I'll only tease you with them and say they are VERY GOOD THINGS, exciting things, somewhat scary too, but not in the spooky sense, scary because of the great potential and the responsibility that go with it. I'll write about them in the next few days.

I'm Still Here!

Although it would seem that I have forgotten about this blog, rest assured that I haven't, I will say that things have and are changing in my life, these are good things, good changes.

Last summer/fall I was baptized at church, I have considered myself a Christian since I was a teenager. The one thing I rebelled against was being baptized, I needed to determine if this was a man made "rule" or if this was something commanded by God. I finally came to the conclusion that this was not an absolute rule that had to be adhered to to get into Heaven, BUT I did determine that it was something that I needed to do, it is an outward show that you have died to your old life and are born again, resurrected to your new, Christian life. When I decided that I wanted to do it, I did it and it was wonderful, my Dad was present, I was the last kid that he had who hadn't been baptized, so I really wanted him there.

I did a lot of praying before my baptism, a lot of it had to do with the spiritual side of my life, the "church" in general tends to frown on the things I do, see and experience, they say it's all demonic, from and of the devil. I don't believe that, but I still want to be obedient to God, so my final prayer as I was going to the baptismal was for God to remove any part of my spiritual life and experience that was not of Him and from Him.

Once I went under the water, I had that thought in my mind, along with the fact that the water was cold. I was worried about what might be removed from me, how much of what I did and experienced would be removed? Once I came up out of the water, I did feel some things draining/lifting from my being, these were very minor things, small things, I have not missed them one little bit, I do not regret my prayer nor the response.  I fully believe that there were some negative spiritual influences around me, call them demons or evil spirits if you want, those are gone now, I pretty much knew they were there but thought I was strong enough to keep them at a distance.

I still see spirits, I see the shadows and movements, I still know things that are going to happen before they happen, I still feel and sense people (living), my healing prayers are stronger than ever (thank you God!), I feel that my prayers are powerful, strong, I am cautious about what I pray for and about, you know the old saying, be careful what you ask for, you may get it, that is such a truism. I am not bragging, this is simply fact.

So for now, I'll break off, I need to go to bed, gotta get up early in the morning, I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here, and better than ever!

Former cops turn to ghost hunting in California

A paranormal investigative team made up of former cops was formed in California. For almost a decade, members of Paranormal Investigative Technology have been applying investigative techniques learned as officers, detectives, and more, to searching for evidence of the paranormal.

Read the rest of the story here:
Former cops turn to ghost hunting in California

Sweet Tooth Attack

Darn darn darn! I soooo want something sweet and oh so not healthy, not that I'm that big of a health nut, I figure if I write this down, I might not succumb. Any other time and I'd be digging into my stash of goodies, or making something... the reason I am resisting is because of something I learned as a teen, sugar tends to lower my resistance (health), I learned this by trial and error because of allergies, hay fever is what it used to be called. I used to have to take a handful of antihistimine pills just to get through lunch rush when I worked at a fast food joint. I found out that if I cut out sugar during the months when my allergies were at their worst (itchy red eyes, nose running like a faucet, sneezing 10 times in a row...) if I quit all sugar then most if not all of my symptoms went away.

As an older adult, I have not had many problems with seasonal allergies, in fact the most I usually ever suffer with is the itchy red eye thing, I just use eye drops with an antihistamine and it is usually over in a couple of weeks, I might sneeze once or twice, nothing more. Since moving to a completely different area, I wondered how my body might react to different allergy stimulus, but didn't think too much about it. The first 2 years and I had little to no problems, well this year has been different. It started out with the red itchy eyes, now I'm doing the sneezing, runny nose thing, not anything like I did as a teen, but darn it, I don't want to go through this every year! The eye drops are not helping much either, I broke down and bought some generic Benedryl, I've only taken it once, I don't intend to make that a habit.

Today, I decided enough was enough, my eyes itching, my nose running then plugging up. I pulled out my DIY netipot, it's a water bottle with a sports top, I made up a batch of warm water with salt and a few sprays of food grade H2O2 diluted down to 3%, I put my head over the sink and poured the warm salty water through my nose, first one side then the other. I did this again about 20 minutes later. I didn't take any antihistamine, though I did do the eye drops. It worked, my sinuses dried up to normal, and I didn't have to blow my nose all day. This is something I may have to do on a daily basis until the allergy season is gone.

To top all of that off, I broke out with fever blisters, something that happens occasionally, but this time it hit with a vengeance! I can usually feel them before they fully form, if I catch it quick enough I can medicate with Abriva and they never show, for some reason this time around I either didn't notice the first signs or they never happened and went directly into forming blisters. I usually only have one blister, and they don't usually get big, this time I have 3 separate clusters on my bottom lip and they are particularly bad. I have been been very careful to wash my hands a lot, don't want to spread this to anyone, I have been taking zinc, vitamin C and echinacea, all in hopes of ending my lip torture sooner, once the blisters have formed, it's almost too late to stop it, it just has to run its course, I'm glad I'm not going out in public too much, yeah I can be vain about some things, especially big ugly blisters on my bottom lip. :)

I rarely get sick, rarely! And when I do, I tend to not get the major symptoms that most everyone else gets, I usually get over the rare illness pretty quickly, for whatever reason, I have had several things hitting me at once, seemingly unrelated, but who knows, no one really knows the triggers for fever blisters, and the allergy thing I blame on my diet lately. I haven't been eating right the last month, my Dad came out for a visit and we ate rather richly (yeah, I enjoyed it!) and ate lots more sweets than normal, I've even been drinking sodas, something I haven't done on a regular basis in years, and now I think I'm paying for it (not your fault Dad, I could have and should have done better).

So now, I have to get back on track and eat right, not that I'm a major health nut, I just don't eat a lot of sweets and sodas, I definitely don't eat the diet crap, that's worse than eating the sugar laden stuff in the first place. When I want something sweet, I usually make something, there is a cinnamon biscuit I enjoy making and eating, I put in lots of freshly ground flax seed, chia seed and millet, there is real sugar in it but not much, and with the addition of cinnamon, that helps to counteract the sugar's effect on the body, that usually takes care of my sweet tooth without too much harm done. I don't have an exact recipe, I just don't cook that way, but here is basically what I do, I take about a tablespoon of each of the above named seeds and run them through a coffee grinder, then I add them to about a cup of Bisquick, a tablespoon of sugar, a hard dash or two of cinnamon, then add enough water to make a biscuit dough, I preheat a cast iron comal (flat cast iron pan) and place golf ball sized bits of dough on the hot pan, I put a lid on top and cook it for a few minutes on one side, turn over and cook for a few more minutes, long enough for the biscuit to be fully cooked through. I enjoy pouring raw honey or agave syrup on the hot biscuits and eating them up! The scent of cinnamon wafting though the house is irresistible!

OK, enough complaining, the sweet tooth has passed, now I can go back to surfing the internet and getting to bed soon.