You know you are Acclimated to Oklahoma when. . .

Encountering the Presence of God

I was twenty-two and although I was very active in church, the pain that I had suffered with for years, tugged heavily at my heart. I was attending a crusade and as the music played I sought desperately for just a moment of relief from years of suffering. It was early in the evening and the crusade had barely started. Finally the anger at God was too much and with a frustrated attitude I bolted off the bleachers and headed for my car. As I hurried for my car, a young woman scurried to catch up with me as I saw her trying to put her shoes on. As she approached me she said, “I knew God wanted me to talk with you, but I wasn’t expecting you to leave so fast and I didn't even have my shoes on.” As she walked beside me, she began to ask how I was doing and if there was anything she could do. I had never seen this person and I couldn’t understand why she was taking the time to come after me. After talking for a few minutes, she asked if I wanted to come back to her apartment with her. I agreed and we decided to go in her car.

As we left the crusade and headed for her apartment complex, I realized we were heading to the very same apartment complex I had first lived in when I had moved back to Oklahoma. I had not been back in over a year and half. But as we got out of the car, it was more astonishing as she lead us to the very apartment that I had lived in a year and half ago! She said she was from Tulsa and was visiting some friends. As she lead me inside I felt the familiarity of the place and the amazing coincidence of what was happening. She turned on a dim light and picked out a record to play. As she was picking out the record she began to share how much she liked this music and that there was a special part with words she wanted me to hear. As we sat in the dimly lit room and listened to the music, I found a peace and a presence of the Spirit that was out of time with who I was. After sharing the music, she asked if I wanted to pray with her. With such a sweetness in the room, I found no hesitation. It was as though there could be no room for pain or anger in the room. As she began to pray, she began to sing the most beautiful song in a tongue I did not know. I had never been with anyone who had prayed in another tongue, much less who could sing in one! But it was the most beautiful music I had ever heard. To this day I still remember the beauty of the words as she sang them. It was like a song that was scripted out just for me. Then she began to pray words of encouragement with a sweetness that could only touch me with a sense of awe. After a wonderful time in prayer she took me back to the crusade to get my car, just as every one was leaving. She asked me if I wanted to come over the next day for a few hours and I agreed.

The next day was Saturday and I went over in the late morning. She was heading for the pool and asked me to come along. We sat on the edge of the pool as we dangled our feet in the water. It wasn’t what I had known about laying out at the pool, it was more like sitting beside the pool of ***. As I looked at her, I saw a beauty deeper than I had ever known. She had soft black hair against her beautiful fair skin and she moved with an ease and contentment. And the peace from last night still glowed about her. As we sat sharing the morning, I watched her share Jesus with those who came by. It was such a peaceful way of sharing or encouraging. I had never nor ever met anyone who cared so deeply and shared about Jesus so naturally. She finally told me she had to head back home. I never saw her again or her friends.

Now I don’t know much about angels, but if I was ever to think that I was to meet an angel unaware, she would have been one. And at the time, I really wondered. I am awed by what happened as I look back today as much as I was then. Perhaps more so.