I FELT LAYERS PEELING OFF

Maria Phillips (Bradenton, FL)

God started working during the pre-Encounter, showing me that I would be addressing something I thought I would have to bare the rest of my life as a burden. Well, there is one thing that I am seeing more and more of and that is that we need to take ourselves out of the equation if we are to truly live our lives for Him and if we are to see what He has in store for us.

As the weekend progressed, I felt the layers peeling off... God had already dealt with so much of my past that I really thought there wouldn't be much left to address, and that I could just bask in gratefulness and praise... How wrong I was!

Just as I was ready to commune in the fullness of His joy and peace, this terrible thing happened and there I was sobbing, as everyone was rejoicing at all their burdens finally released. I thought, "God, is this a joke? satan, can you get to me even here...". I couldn't go any further and I reached out to my angelic server in desperation and she held me and prayed me through it, refusing to let me quench what the Spirit was doing. It was truly a threshold moment. I blindly claimed my victory by the blood of Christ and no other possible way and in that moment I saw what God was trying to show me. It was a truth I knew, but felt I would always be too weak to ever overcome it. In that moment God forced me to face it and showed me what that "freedom" felt like. It wasn't exactly exalting, it was a crutch in my life I was very used to, even though it did not please God, but He showed me I could live without it if ever I needed to.

The story doesn't end there. There were a couple of older ladies there who came to me with the revelation of something they had done and the pain it had caused. In those women I saw my mother and what she had been feeling for so many years, something I was completely oblivious to beforehand.

And then there was the work that continued to happen after we left. I was moving in the Spirit wonderfully until Monday morning when our whole family came under attack. God continued to work in some areas and little by little I knew I was losing that high and getting swamped by the world again. It is such a hard struggle to overcome our humanity, but at least now I have had a taste of what God wants and who He is and I know I want more of it!

Now, only a week later, I am taking stock of my life and trying to see how I can make the changes necessary that will allow me to live more in the fullness of what God has for me, rather than in the busy struggle that was based on need and desperation and sinfulness rather than the Power within. Where is the joy in that?!

I have felt the shining love of the Spirit within, and have a few tools to help me get back there. I am truly appreciative of those at the Encounter and their vision for anyone seeking more from God, no matter where they are in life. I hope to see more of WOCIC, even though it is a long trek from home. I pray my husband will share the intimacy of the experience with me one day, and that many more will pass through your doors in victory.

Thank you for an experience of a lifetime ladies!