This year at Lee University, we have a thing called Convocation. My other schools were too small to have this and according to what I've noticed, no one would've really cared. Everynight I've been to Convocation, the Conn Center has been packed!!! That is actually a real blessing and it's great to be at a school where people are excited about spiritual formation. That doesn't happen very often. So the second night I went, we had a guy who works at the Headquarters for the Church of God preach to us. He was a very in-your-face kind of preacher and that's what I like. He spoke about Jesus' journey from the Garden of Gethsemane to Calvary. It was very moving and emotional. It had me on the edge of my seat. Toward the end of his sermon, he had an altar call, which is not what I'm used to experiencing lately. He said if you need forgiveness for anything or you just need to give some things up to Jesus, to come down. He said it doesn't matter what anyone thinks of you, just come down. So of course, I did. I tend to take part in a lot of altar calls because they always tend to apply to me because I know that I have a lot of things that I need to sort out with God.
After a while of just sitting there, praying and worshipping, he asked us to just grab hands with someone and start praying for them. My friend, Kayla was right next to me up at the altar and she didn't even know it until she looked behind her. She moved over to me and grabbed my hand and put her other hand on the side of my head and started praying. To be held like I was being held and be prayed for like that, did more than my words could ever express. After she stopped praying, I turned around and looked at the girl who was next to me, because I had heard her crying. I hugged her and she hugged me back. I hugged her for a long time and after I let go, I looked at her and she had a huge smile on her face. I felt that I probably really helped someone out.
Then I looked around and I saw this girl who was sitting in front of my group in the service. I could tell she was really sweet and I wanted to talk to her. She gave me the biggest and best hug, I had ever received in my entire life. She was so sweet and God immediately gave me a love for her. She is such a sweetheart. I saw this girl come up and get prayer from another girl at the altar, this girl just grabbed and hugged her and put her hands on her head. Being me, I said to myself I so want that girl to pray over me. They prayed for a really long time though and I didn't think I'd get the chance. Then the girl that was sitting in front of us was praying over one of her friends and had her hand on her head and I wasn't going to interrupt the prayer so I just waited. When she was done, I went over to her and asked her if she could pray for me. She gladly agreed!
We sat together at the altar and the first thing she did was she just hugged me and started praying. She prayed in tongues for a really long time and her prayer language is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever heard in my entire life. Beautiful, powerful, anointed...it's all that and so much more. She had her hand on my head too and so having her hand on my head and speaking in tongues just made it all the more powerful in my eyes. It was amazing. After she stopped, she told me a little bit of her story. It was so amazing, you don't even know. Then I found out her name was Mary. Then we exchanged phone numbers and she walked me back to my dorm.
Today (Tuesday) I saw Mary all day. I saw her at lunch, at dinner and when I arrived at the Conn Center for Convocation. Today our speaker spoke about integrity. During the end, he asked us all to hold hands as we sang Amazing Grace. Then he asked us to hold hands again as he prayed. He didn't really have an altar call, but he said the altar was open if we wanted to pray. He said, "Maybe you need to grab a friend or a staff member to pray with you up here." It was ironic that he said that, because I had asked Mary if we could pray after Convocation. She looked at me and asked me with her eyes if we should go up there and I nodded. We went up there and again, she prayed in tongues and once again, it was so beautiful. At first, I couldn't hear it because they were playing music, but then she moved her right up to my ear and then I heard her loud and clear. She had a vision of Jesus just kissing me all over...I smiled because that was a beautiful sight to envision. She is such a great friend and she told me today that the reason she continues to love on me so much is because she's just trying to express how much love God would give me if I were to meet Him face-to-face. Plus, the Bible says to love one another, as He has loved us. She also said, "We need to walk like Jesus walked on earth, we need to talk like Jesus did to His people through Scripture or in reality when He was on earth. We need to set an example to how to be a true Christian and that's what I'm doing and I'm still learning to be perfect like God." I love Mary and she's shown me how to be a better friend and a better follower of Christ.
