The Sound of Heaven Touching Earth (Part I)

Our Father

All of Heaven roars Your name

Sing louder, let this place erupt with praise 

Can you hear it?

The sound of Heaven touching Earth 

The sound of Heaven touching Earth

"Spirit Break Out," Jesus Culture

This past week I experienced Heaven touching Earth. Only by the amazing grace of God was I blessed with the opportunity to witness His glory face to face with the beautiful orphans, students in a school for the slums, and the villagers of India. I have many posts and pictures coming soon. 

On the first full day in India, our team attended Pearl City Church in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, which is one of the most developed cities in India. Microsoft, Google, Wells Fargo, and several other large companies have sites in Hyderabad's IT and Financial Districts, and it is home to India's Film City. So basically, think of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh as Charlotte, North Carolina of India. Oh God, how Your parallels are amusing. 

The service was incredible, but little did I know what belting out the following words during worship would release in the days to come.

Spirit break out

Break our walls down

Spirit break out 

Heaven come down

The Holy Spirit broke down my walls and revealed many things to me that have either been blind spots or I have been choosing to ignore (hey, if I can't be honest here, I can't be honest anywhere). 

One such revelation was that I am doing a disservice to myself, and offending God, by not being bold. Even more, I am not only being lazy spiritually, but I'm also putting myself on a pedestal by thinking I am too "good" to necessitate boldness in my life. 

You may think that I am bold by writing for Jesus on this blog. Or sharing testimonies with co-workers (and sometimes strangers at the nail salon). Or speaking out about the choice to be celibate or the passion to homeschool my future children. 

But it saddens me to think that these things are considered bold by today's standards where people of our generation are more concerned with which fight ensued on the latest Housewives (ahem, Live-In Girlfriends and Dramatic Baby Mamas) show on VH1.

Bold is realizing that if I can pray for healing for those in India and believe that God will show Himself and His glory will be made known, I can pray for healing for myself and believe wholeheartedly that it has already come.

Bold is standing on the truth that if God's will is for me to bear children of my own, it will happen, rather than accepting the fact that my baby box conspires against my every wish to be a mother (when the time is right, of course) and living in fear of the "what-if's."

Bold is also recognizing that if I never become a wife, and I never become a mother, I am still as precious in God's eyes and worthy of His love as those beautiful orphans.

Bold is choosing to no longer pray safe prayers.

Why pray for God to reveal His will and then sit on the sidelines waiting to get enough courage to get off the bench? The coach has already called us into the game, and if we are too afraid of getting hit to play defense, or too unfocused to play offense, He's going to send us right back to the bench.

I blogged at the beginning of our trip about believing that this is a season of preparation for me. 

Well, let me tell you this: the Holy Spirit does not reveal something to you, and especially doesn't allow you to share it with others, without the expectation for you to live it out. More to come on that later.

However, I learned in India that there are two types of preparation: active and open.

Active preparation is running your errands, buying travel-sized toiletries, and packing your bags so that when Jesus pulls into the driveway to pick you up, you can grab your things, jump in the car and GO.

Open preparation is keeping your house clean and not letting the laundry pile-up so that when Jesus honks the horn for a spontaneous day-trip, you can throw a few items in the overnight bag and GO.

The main difference between these two is the latter gives more room for the Holy Spirit to lead.

But both are ready.

Both are waiting in anticipation.

And both were experienced on this trip.

I actively prepared for months by praying, raising monetary support, and getting what was necessary in order (physically, mentally and spiritually) so I would be as ready as I could be when the time came to leave for India.

I openly prepared by releasing all control so that when we got to India and nothing -- read, NOT A SINGLE THING -- went as planned, the Spirit was able to fill in the gaps and do far more than I could ever dream.

I thought as I went on this trip, I would be able to actively prepare for the unexpected honor I received to speak to some young women in Nashville the very next weekend after I returned to America.

But God was much more interested in my open preparation, as we sat in the car traveling to the first village and our ground guide casually turned to our team members and asked who was preaching to the villagers we were going to visit.

Say what now? 

I certainly wasn't going to...I didn't have anything prepared.

Oh, but God.

By preparing my heart, and through God's preparation over the past few years in my life, I was able to press into Him so He could use me to share what He wanted those villagers to hear.

I did nothing but remain open.

Ok, well I wouldn't say I did nothing. I did freak out a little bit, and volunteered to speak at the second village to avoid distracting the Indians from the presence of God by soiling myself behind the podium.

But most importantly, I remained open.

And the Spirit definitely broke out.

Read more about how in Part II.