One Phone Call

I had a friend that I went to high school with.  That was over thirty years ago.  His mom attends the church that I attended most of my life.  She is also friends with my mom.  They aren’t the kind of friends that get together very often, but the kind that have the same heart and faith and the few times that they do get together they both leave blessed. They both belong to a traditional Lutheran church over those years, but they knew the LORD in His fullness of His Spirit.  Both of them lived with the gifts of His Spirit.  

Rarely spoken about in the church, these charismatic women would find each other and have a prayer time in their private homes where they were free to pray in His Spirit and worship in His fullness and power.  It was a little bit of an underground, but those prayers kept families, often unknowing pastors, and one another going.  These women are remarkable and I am blessed to have grown up under their prayers and love.

My mom has been spending time in Florida during some cold Minnesota months.  Apparently she wrote her friend a letter and she shared some of the things happening in our lives.  Good things.  God things.

I had just finished writing another article and I sat in the quiet and wondered to myself, “Now what?”  The phone rang and broke through the silence.  It was my mom’s friend.  I may have had conversations with her on the phone two times in the last thirty years. She was crying.  She quickly told me she was crying and praising.

She began sharing that she got a letter from my mom and she was moved by what my mom had shared in regards to the miracle of our new grandson.  From there she proceeded to pray for my family, my children, my husband, my brother and his family.  She prayed blessings, she praised and she prayed in the Spirit.  She wept, prayed, prophesied and praised some more. 

As the ring of the phone burst into the quiet, so did her prayers like a sudden gust of wind.  I can’t really describe it.  I received her prayers.  As quickly as it blew in, it was done and we hung up.

This lovely lady in her eighties has been widowed two times.  She told me that she is alone in her home and she sings and praises and sings towards that empty place where her husband used to lay beside her. He has been gone for two years.  She says she misses him, but she doesn’t grieve any longer.  She said it is because she knows how happy her husband is with Jesus.  

Instead of counting her loss, she counts his gain.  She sings and praises and prays for others.  She says she likes this quiet time because she’s free to fill her house with singing to the LORD.

Her exuberance in the call, her hope and joy were life to me.  Her prayers for the people I love dearly were a blanket of comfort and protection.  It was a shower of gifts; one gift after another, with every word of life, love, hope, blessing and prayer.  Her words that were spoken in tongues that I did not understand were velvety and beautiful and sounded like they belonged in a palace for a King.  And they were.  She did not hold anything back from the flow of His Spirit. 

I am still in a bit of wonder from what feels like such a holy time that burst through my quiet.   I am inspired by one so sweet and courageous to boldly speak this kind of blessing and celebration into my mind, heart and soul.  She prayed for and blessed going down the generations of my family; my husband and me, our children and our grandchild. 

Her choice to use her time and life by placing a phone call praying and blessing while praising the LORD was a powerful choice and it gives much into our lives.  She is an example of living life boldly and that we can continue to do great things in life and in His Name  even from a home alone, but filled with His Presence.

If you come across older women with twinkles in their eyes and smiles on their faces, there may be a whole lot more going on than you thought and if they offer to pray for you, let them.

Psalm 145:18  The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Ezekiel 34:26  I will bless them and…there will be showers of blessing.