The day before Thanksgiving, while driving to work, Isaiah 58 came into my mind. I realized that I did not really know what that chapter was about. I decided I would take the time to read it sometime over the weekend.
Later that afternoon, a lady I work with, who has the holy Ghost, asked if she could speak with me. We went outside and she proceeded to tell me about something she had done, which was making her feel terrible even after she tried to make things right.
I have been talking to her off and on over the last year or so about the truth. The one particular detail I had never mentioned was that I am not a Christian. We have just enjoyed talking about God. However, sometime back I asked God to let me know the right time to talk to her about Christianity. I said, “God if she brings it up, then I’ll know it’s time.” So for almost a year now, we have been talking about God, but until this particular day, she never brought up Christianity.
As I listened to her tell me how she was feeling inside, I could feel a familiar burden. She had recently been told by another co-worker that she was not acting very “Christian-like” in a particular situation. I took this as my invitation from God to tell her my testimony about coming out of Christianity and receiving the baptism of the holy Ghost.
I started by telling her how disappointed and dissatisfied I became after joining a small Free Methodist Church in 2004. I explained that my excitement and hunger for God had quickly turned into a mass of confusion. I told her how I felt burdened down trying to act a certain way or say certain things that I really didn’t feel in my heart. I wanted her to know that Christianity had placed those burdens on me, but God wanted to remove them and called me out of Christianity.
I anticipated that her reaction would not be pleasant, as I have often experienced in the past. However, she simply asked a question. She asked, “Amy, do you fast?” I knew that the true fast was not necessarily sustaining from food and drink. However, I was not able to fully answer her question. I did not know what the true fast was, so I told her what I thought it was.
Afterwards, I hugged her and she thanked me and said she felt much better. I felt a little unsettled inside about it ,although I wasn’t sure why.
The weekend passed and I did not have a chance to read Isaiah 58. On Sunday night I had a dream. In the dream I was taking a speech class. When I arrived for class, I was not prepared to give my presentation. In fact, I didn’t even know I had a presentation due that day. As the other students presented I hurriedly skimmed through the pages of the book I was supposed to give my presentation on. I knew that when it was my turn to present I wasn’t going to do a very good job. I thought I would be able to give some idea of what the book was about, but I knew if I had prepared I could have given a wonderful presentation. There was no doubt that I was going to receive a failing grade on this presentation. But I promised myself in the dream that I was going to work really hard and put in a lot of effort on the next presentation in order to redeem myself in front of my teachers and fellow students.
When I woke up, I really felt like the dream was from the Lord. I have had other dreams in the past where I was not prepared and I took heed to the warning. But this dream seemed a little different, nevertheless, I asked God to show me what it meant.
Tuesday morning on my way to work I put in a meeting CD from July 2007 titled Isaiah 58. I figured since I had not read it, I would listen to it. I was hoping to hear a clear definition of the true fast. Brother Gary was reading the scripture: "Is not this fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?" When Pastor John explained that the true fast is loosening the bands that Christianity places on God's people, I immediately understood what had happened the previous Wednesday when talking with the lady at work.
I was hoping that by telling her my testimony, she would feel some relief. But because I did not know what the true fast was, I did not tell her the reason she was feeling relief from our conversation was because she was hearing the truth about God.
I was not prepared and I feel like the Lord sent me that dream so that when I did understand the meaning of the true fast I would know that I was not fully prepared to speak to my co-worker that day. However, I was able to prepare and represent my testimony to her. What a wonderful opportunity and lesson.
