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Introduction to The Holy Spirit – Encounter Him and Find Power, Peace, and Joy!

Let me tell you a little about what I am presenting for you today. As the title states, this is the rough draft introduction, along with the content page. I want you to see the titles of the different chapters. As you go through the journey (the book) that transformed me, I hope you’ll experience breakthroughs and healing, as I certainly did when I encountered the Holy Spirit.

I expect the page numbers to change, but not too much of the content.

Contents

Introduction.. 6

Chapter 1 – Forgiveness. 10

Chapter 2—An Introduction to the Holy Spirit. 19

Chapter 3–The Upper Room… 23

Chapter 4–The Gifts of the Spirit. 29

Chapter 5–The Gift of Speaking in Tongues. 31

Chapter 6–The Fruit of the Spirit. 37

Chapter 7–What is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?………………………………………….45

Introduction

“The Bible, through the power of the Holy Spirit, awakens the human soul to seek, know, and walk with God.”

The above quote is from Bible Study Fellowship International, the Matthew study.

Some years ago, I felt God calling me to minister to survivors of abuse. I have authored this book with the Holy Spirit’s direction because it has been through the Holy Spirit that I, someone affected by abuse, have found peace and joy.

This book is about Himself as a member of the Trinity and how He desires to bring more to your life, more peace, power, healing, and joy!

This book is also about your desire to understand your life and how to live it to its fullest.

Have you ever tried to describe a sunrise or sunset? You try so hard to sexplain those colors, and the way the sun is setting on the horizon stirred the spirit within you. Even so, what you saw and experienced was worth trying, even if the glory of it escaped your human words. Mere human words cannot express God’s love and care for us; therefore, this attempt to produce a book and course is a task I have not taken lightly. I have worked for several years to put this material together, but still, I cannot capture its fullness.

(ADD B. GRAHAM QUOTE HERE)

Rejection

Since I began this book, I have received healing from rejection. Rejection that I was born into, even though I had both biological parents with whom I lived. The Holy Spirit led me through the reasons for that rejection by asking me to walk in my mother’s shoes. Once I understood the backstory of why my mother rejected me, and accepted that my earthly father tried to accept me, I received the healing and peace I was seeking. Then, in 2021, I joined a group of Kingdom-minded entrepreneurs who introduced me to new models of heart or inner healing, which I am extremely excited about. Please check out the resources and recommendation list for more information.

I write from personal experience of receiving healing for many heart (or emotional) wounds. I suffered from the following forms of abuse: rejection, physical, verbal, mental, emotional, financial, stalking, and sexual. Sadly, the person who brought me into the world carried out most of this abuse over the years. Just in writing this, I realized that there was stalking involved. I will share a little of my story so that you will know my story is real, and if you need healing, God can heal you, and you can move past your past abuse into peace and joy, too!

When I was born into a middle-class southern family, there was an older brother who became my hero, and you will understand why in a moment.

Too ugly to name

My mother told this story to me repeatedly from such an early age that I do not remember the first time I heard it. Every birthday began with this story, which took the fun out of what was supposed to be my special day. I would try not to cry. I would be shaking even as a small child, feeling her rejection so clearly.

This is what my mother said, “You were so ugly when you were born that I would have nothing to do with you. A nurse passed her nurse’s cap around to the other nurses to get donations and bought you a little yellow gown and bows for your long dark hair. Still, I wanted nothing to do with you. And when it came time to name you, I let that nurse name you, because you were too ugly for me to name. ”

Within the first couple of weeks of coming home from the hospital, my two-year-old brother heard her tell someone I was ugly, and he knew what to do. He climbed up to the medicine cabinet, where my mother’s nail polish was, and then into my crib, where he began to work on me. Of course, while attempting to paint my tiny baby nails, he was actually painting my toes and fingers. When caught in the act, he kept repeating, “Make baby pretty mama, make baby pretty!”

A Hero emerges

As I write this, I still feel my brother’s love for me, trying to make me, his new sister, acceptable to our mother. I can imagine a normal mother being frightened by this discovery. She tells it as if it’s no big deal, and she calls the pediatrician to see how to remove the polish. As I grew older, I certainly felt the shame of being ugly, but others told me I was cute, even pretty. I think that because she had been a beauty queen, she expected her daughter to be pretty or even beautiful. Born with a head full of long dark hair and huge blue eyes. Mother said I looked like a baby monkey. I am camera-shy because of her words, but I’ve claimed a victory in that I loved my last headshots, thanks to AI.

I was rejected at the beginning of my life, and things didn’t improve for me for many years. My mother mistreated me in front of others, but the worst treatment came when my father was not around. She told of beating me so severely when I was a toddler that she put corduroy coveralls on me in the hot Georgia summer to hide the marks from my father and my godparents. When asked why I had them on, she lied and said I had a temper tantrum because I wanted to wear them.

The physical pain was probably easier to take than the verbal assaults, the bullying, the name-calling. I was a child without self-esteem who became a young woman with no confidence. It took me many years to find confidence in my appearance and abilities, which helped raise my self-esteem.

My last beating came at eighteen when I shocked her by striking her back as she took a wire coat hanger to beat me for some perceived wrongdoing, which she imagined I had committed.

Over the years, I became so depressed that I tried suicide a few times, starting at age eleven. This is just a little peek into my childhood.

But God was there

I didn’t know him, nor that he was grooming me for this season of my life. A season in which I get to help others prevail over their abuse and all the scars left behind and see them become joyful, peaceful people who honor themselves and God every day with kindness and mercy. I’ve learned over the years that nothing, not even pain, is wasted with God.

God can do this for you. Even if you do not have an abusive past, we all have heart wounds from living here on this fallen planet. I was stuck in a loop of pain, anger, and bitterness until the Holy Spirit started walking me through my healing.

There are different models of heart healing or inner healing. I have studied several, but when I saw how the Immanuel Approach works with brain science to bring us into the presence of Jesus for healing our wounds, I had to learn more. So I started listening to the Face to Face Podcast. The ladies of this podcast explore various models, interviewing their leaders to provide a deeper understanding. To hear this podcast, tune into “Face to Face Ministries Podcast.”

I accepted Jesus as my savior at thirteen, but I learned little about having a relationship with Him. That all changed in the mid-seventies when someone introduced me to the Holy Spirit. I wanted more of God, and I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He, the Holy Spirit, has been teaching me the great truths of His promises since then. Sometimes I take the wrong path, but He graciously pulls me back. He has healed some deep wounds within me as He walked with me.

Note:

I’m aiming to expand this book to at least 100 pages, ensuring the spine is printable, so I’ll have plenty of content to add before editing. Your prayers are appreciated.

(I hope you’ll leave a comment about this introduction)

As always, thanks for reading and sharing.