"Stay in your car and pray!” That was the unmistakable message Sharon received from the Holy Spirit on Easter morning.
“I am part of my church choir,” Sharon said, “and we were scheduled to sing at three services. I also had fifteen people coming to my house for Easter dinner, so I planned to drive home between the second and third services to baste a turkey I had roasting.”
As soon as she finished the second service, Sharon hung up her robe and hurried out to her car. She had exactly forty minutes before she had to be back in her choir robe and ready to sing again. “When I reached for the key to turn on the car, suddenly the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that I was not supposed to go home, that I was to stay in my car and pray,” she said.
“I had no idea what to pray, but I began praising the Lord for dying for me on the cross and for being raised from the dead so I could spend eternity with Him. As I continued to pray and worship Him, the Lord gave me a frightening vision of a small child as he got out of a car in our church parking lot. He ran out in front of another car and was seriously injured. I knew immediately that God wanted me to pray for the safety of that child. I didn’t know who the child was or when this might happen, but I began to intercede for the child and pray a hedge of protection around him.”
Sharon finished praying twenty minutes later and returned to the church. She walked up the hall and noticed another choir member, Elaine, looking out the window.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” said Elaine. “I’m waiting for my husband.”
Sharon continued on her way to the choir room. A few moments later, Elaine walked in. She was quite emotional and upset.
“What’s wrong?” Sharon asked.
“My husband is trying to calm down our three-year-old son. He ran out in front of a car in the parking lot and just missed being hit by the car.”
Sharon was speechless for a moment before she could tell Elaine about the vision the Lord gave her and the command to pray for protection for the child.
“I’m so thankful that I rejected my worldly plans and obeyed the Lord when He told me to pray. How much better it is to thank the Lord for protection than it is to petition Him for healing,” Sharon said.
The Lord took care of everything that morning, including Sharon’s turkey: “It was the best turkey I’ve ever fixed. Nothing is too small for our Lord!”
In John 16, Jesus told the disciples that He would be going away but the Holy Spirit would come in His place. The disciples were upset, but Jesus explained, “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come” (vs. 13).
God spoke through Jesus when he was on earth. Now he speaks to us through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within all believers. What blessings we receive when we obey!
Originally published in The Times, Frankfort, IN, on April 20, 2002, in a devotional story for the religion page.
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