It’s common for people to invite family and friends over to share the Thanksgiving Holiday, but most people forget to invite the most important family member, the one that loves you the most, God. God is the one we pray to give thanks for the food we are about to eat, so why not invite him too? That’s how I see it.
Yes, some may say how silly, but just the thought of remembering to invite him to the festivities is very much appreciated and welcomed. It doesn’t matter whose house I’m invited too, I invite him every year.
This year, I was invited to my sister Ellie’s house. My husband was out of town and my daughter Samantha and her husband, Ryan were to meet me there around 4:00 in the afternoon.
It was Thursday, November 27, 2014 around 1:30 in the afternoon as I drove to her house. It was a beautiful, clear, cool day in our part of the world in Texas. We had planned to eat around 4:00, but she had asked me to go earlier since she had invited a Pastor friend to come around 2:30 to bless her home and wanted me to be there for the blessing of the house.
During my ten minute drive to her house, I notice the stunning, sky blue color of the sky above. Thinking to myself, “Wow, God sure does paint a pretty picture.” At that moment, I asked God to come for Thanksgiving and to bring his son, the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his heavenly angels. Then I asked him, “Give me a sign God that you’re there!” This year, I just wanted some confirmation that he was there. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask just this once.
When I arrived at the house, there were around fourteen people there. Everyone including myself gathered in the living room waiting for the Pastor. The Pastor finally arrived about 3:15 and my sister walks in with him to the living room. He is a nice looking man in his early or mid-fifties.
My sister introduces him, “Everyone this is Pastor Houston, he’s going to bless our house.” I figured the pastor was going to introduce himself, say a quick prayer, splash some holy water and leave. No big deal, right? Wrong!
As he stood there, all eyes were on him. There was something different about him that I couldn’t pin-point. As he opened his mouth to speak, the words that came out were not what I was expecting at all. He said, “I am not your ordinary Pastor. Because of my personal encounters with God, my belief in him is way higher than most people.” As he said that, I blurted out to him, “Mine are way up there with yours.” I don’t know why I said that, it just came out. He took a quick glance at me and smiled as everyone laughed. It wasn’t meant to be funny though, I meant it!
He continued to speak, “As I was on my way here, God told me there is someone in the family with the name that starts with the letter C.” At first I thought he was talking about me. My last name starts with the letter C. “Can’t be”, I thought. Then he said, “This person is on the wrong road and is being helped by family members. Is there someone here with the name starting with the letter C? I thought to myself, “I’m not on the wrong road, my family members aren’t helping me. Can’t be me.” Then my brother-in-law spoke out and said, “That’s Curtis. (Not using his real name here.) He’s not hear right now. He’s my sister’s son.” His sister, who I will call Donna, has been in a wheel chair for years due to an accident. I don’t remember everything the pastor said, but my sister told me later that the Pastor had described the exact problems Curtis was going through.
Everyone held hands and the Pastor began to pray. During the prayer though, there was some powerful loving energy that entered the house as he prayed. I felt as though God was present. Suddenly, it seemed to me that the Pastor’s voice was loud but wasn’t. He wasn’t yelling or anything like that. The room was filled with some wonderful loving energy. It was mesmerizing. I felt lifted somehow. Seriously, I felt like my soul was standing up high at attention in the presence of God, and lifting my heavy, slouchy body up with it.
The Pastor prayed for Curtis and then he asked God to bless the house and everyone in it including the animals that resided there. It was a beautiful prayer. Everyone including myself were fascinated by the wonderful, powerful, loving energy in the room we were feeling. When he finished with the prayer though, I felt a release and didn’t feel lifted anymore. The wonderful loving energy was gone. I knew deep in my heart and soul that God had been there in those moments but then left after the prayer, because the beautiful, loving energy was gone. The energy in the room was back to normal and the Pastor’s voice was no longer loud.
I looked around and saw that some were brought to tears. My sister looked at me with a shocking surprised look on her face, wondering, “What just happened here?”
The Pastor then looked upon Donna and said, “You know I have to pray for you, right? She nodded her head, “Yes.”
As Pastor Houston walked towards Donna, he grabbed my arm and told me, “Since you have a lot of faith in God, I want you to place your hands on Donna’s legs while I pray for her.” So we both walked over to her and I placed my hands on her legs. He placed his hand on my shoulder and placed his other hand on Donna’s shoulder and began to pray. I didn’t feel the same energy as he prayed for her though. God had already come and gone.
Afterwards, I had a brief conversation with Pastor Houston and asked about his encounters with God. He responded, “How much time do you have? I understood, it was around 4:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and his family was waiting for him. He did get to tell me very quickly of one encounter where he was saved from an accident.
So, did I get my sign from God that he was there? Most definitely, without a doubt, undeniably, positively yes!
Those are yours alright! . We at least need to get these people stealing images to start blogging! They probably just did a image search and grabbed them. They look good though!