A picture paints a thousand words
My Church has been “accused” of getting a tad too “supernatural” with its teachings, beliefs and practices. I have no doubt that just praying, singing, praising and worshipping God with music, songs, instruments, dancing, flags and clapping of hands or raising hands, reading and meditating on His Word (Bible), speaking in tongues, fasting or perhaps even having a casual conversation with God will touch Him in a special way and move Him to hear and answer prayers. After all, these are the “traditional” Biblical practices from the Old and New Testaments, so it only makes sense that’s how God works and no other way ……. or so I thought !
But when the church started teaching that painting and drawing pictures is another unique way that God speaks, that got me a little spooked. It was almost beginning to sound like a “cult” church and I was getting concerned, curious, even intrigued and baffled.
I brought this concern to my cell leaders and asked questions. They replied that when God chose Solomon to build Him a temple, He had him craft elaborate drawings of gold-plated birds, animals, flowers, plants, trees, peoples, utensils and other fascinating visuals in the temple. Why would God inspire the wisest man Solomon to built Him a sprawling temple that dazzles with such spectacular sophistication (1 Kings 5) ?
It appears that God is indeed highly interested in minute details – God is absolutely concerned about how He expresses, represents and portrays Himself, as well as how His people view Him, perceive Him, observe Him, understand Him and relate to Him as the Supreme and Sovereign Almighty God !
Yeah Oooo-kay ….. So I went away feeling contented yet still not quite convinced. But Oh well, God is God, the Bible says that His ways are not our ways, His ways are HIGHER than our ways (Isaiah 55). In other words, God works in mysterious ways !! … I just prayed and asked God to show me the secret of His mysteries as I needed further confirmation and deeper conviction about whatever my church is teaching.
One Wednesday afternoon, I was in the library doing my research for a couple of hours till 4pm. I left the library at exactly 4pm, went out and waited for my bus at the bus stop. It took unusually long for my bus to arrive that afternoon, but while waiting, a young lady suddenly appeared from nowhere. I must have been too engrossed with my reading to notice where she came from, but she came straight at me and started talking to me.
She told me that she had just completed a church conference that ended at 4pm. They were taught how to hear from God and put it down in drawing and pictures. She had two pieces of paper in her hands. On one sheet, she had drawn a picture of a girl standing at a bus stop along a long stretch of road that had trees on both sides. On the other sheet of paper, she had a description of the girl she was supposed to meet – short, curly hair and brown T-shirt and jeans ……. And guess what? I have short, curly hair and was wearing a brown T-shirt and jeans !! Whoa !
But she was a little disappointed because she thought I was not a local – she thought I was an international exchange student or something. When I told her I was a local, she was doubly delighted and literally jumping up and down with joy and excitement. She said God led her to sketch the picture and description of me on the two sheets of papers which she then handed to me and told me that I can have them. She then asked me if I had a need that she could pray for. I told her I had pain in both my knees, so yes, I definitely needed healing that time. Without any hesitation and oblivious to strangers at the bus stop who were already looking at us by that time, she immediately hit the ground, held on to my two knees and prayed a simple prayer for healing. Without any delay, she then invited me to come to her church before she bid farewell, turned back and ran to the car park.
The most amazing part of the whole story is that the girl that I met at the bus stop is from the SAME Church that I go to for the past 10 years …. It being a mega church, we have never met each other before and she invited me not knowing that I was already a member of the church, but for some reason I didn’t want her to know that I was already part of the church !
I still have the two sheets of paper today (see below) – they serve as awesome reminders that God not only answers prayers, but He works in mysterious and unexpected ways, and should not and most certainly cannot be limited by man to work only according to how we can imagine Him to work with our finite human understanding …. My knees have been completely healed today with absolutely NO glucosamine or other supplement intake, and I am able to climb up and down a long flight of stairs without any pain or stiffness! Wooohoo, praise the Lord !!
