I have not been able to write for a while - my computer is in the repair shop! And in the meantime, a most remarkable adventure occurred. I left the Denver airport last Thursday on what seemed like a routine trip to lead a women's retreat up by Yosemite in California. When we flew into Phoenix for my connecting flight, the tail of the jet spun back and forth crazily, and the pilot told us the cross winds would make landing difficult. He did a masterful job in getting us safely landed - but the winds continued to accelerate until they finally closed down the Phoenix airport for the rest of the day and night, with every flight in or out cancelled! My last wait-listed flight cancelled at 9:30 pm and so I called the number for the hotel voucher given me by the airline. I was told, "You're too late. There are no rooms left in the Phoenix area."
I pulled out my itinerary for the trip, remembering it was made by Expedia. Perhaps they could help me find a room. The "Expedia Man" checked for me and told me he could not find a room in all their database of hotel chains; then surprisingly asked me, "Would you bear with me while I continue to check? I'm not willing that you should be without a room for the night." I thought this was rather extraordinary, and told him, "Of course I'll bear with you - I have no other option!" While I thought I was on hold - both times - I prayed in the Spirit. I never used English words, praying only in my prayer language. I was on the phone with Expedia Man for 40 minutes! When he finally came back on the line he told me he had found me a room. "It's in the industrial section. There is no shuttle and no food. You'll have to take a cab. But you'll have a nice clean room and a good bed. I wanted to keep trying until I found you something because you are my sister in the Lord." I was astonished! "How did you know that?" I asked him. "Because I heard you praying," he gently replied.
I was filled with the sense that this was not going to be just any ordinary trip! The devil was trying to turn me away, but the Lord sent "Expedia Man" to the rescue! The next morning I was diverted into Fresno airport and picked up by the pastor's wife. We drove up toward Yosemite Park and met the other women for dinner in a small nearby town. During dinner a most unusual snow storm hit the area, and none of the women had 4 wheel drive or snow tires. We were literally stranded there, unable to get up the mountain to the conference center. Staff from the center rescued us and little by little, transported us up to the mountain where roads were icy, snow-packed and treacherous. We were all weary and my Friday evening teaching time had been stolen from us.
But when I woke up the next morning, on this beautiful Shabbat glistening with sunlit snow, I knew God had something powerful in mind. I had not battled all those travel difficulties for nothing! Eighteen women gathered in the conference center and I taught them God's Hebrew names - and how He reveals Himself to them through His names, and how He desires a close, intimate relationship with them. I had been praying hard that there would be EARS TO HEAR what the Spirit had to say; but I could not have dreamed that YHVH would take this literally and unstop the ears of the deaf! Yet, that is what He did.
In the afternoon "free time," one of the women came to the library and asked me to pray for her. She was deaf, with large hearing apparatus in both ears. She told me much about her life - and I heard the Holy Spirit instruct me to ask her to begin forgiving those who had abused and wounded her. Timidly at first, and then with increasing determination, she named them and asked God's help in forgiving them. When she finished, the Spirit said to me, "Tell her to take out her hearing aids. She doesn't need them anymore." I summoned the courage to tell her this, and she responded in immediate faith, throwing the hearing devices aside and rejoicing!
Throughout the rest of this weekend this woman was among us, hearing every word, even in a crowded dining hall with its background noise. And the other women present were receiving new life too as they began to get excited about the Torah and all the new understandings they were receiving. Spiritual rebirths were occurring all around me - and the ears of the deaf were unstopped, both in the natural and the spiritual! Truly we ARE coming into a new time of outpouring of the Ruach haKodesh, and miracles that follow the teaching of the Word!
My trip home was uneventful. Satan lost another one!
