missing something

"but you shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you..." acts 1:8

i grew up methodist which meant you were baptized as a baby and that was it.
there's wasn't a lot of talk about being "born again".
so you can assume my thoughts when i met sonny and he started asking if i had been water baptized.
of course i had. the nice man when i was a baby poured water on my head and that was that.

wrong. 

there was so much more.

after sonny and i had started dating my family and i started going to a nondenominational church. you know, the crazies with their hands in the air during worship. the "amen"ers during a sermon. the head nodders. the clappers. it was like someone had picked us up and dropped us off on another planet.
but then things started to click.
we got that there was so much more.

i got water baptized in april of 2010.

"whoever believes and is baptized will be saved" mark 16:16

this was also the day sonny asked my parents to marry me. big day in the steiner house. 

i finally understood that Jesus said i was to believe and then be baptized. 

there was an order there, and for a reason. we don't understand grace and the love Jesus poured out for us as babies. heck, we can't even eat on our own.

but as an adult, or a child, you can understand that grace and love. 

it was a huge decision for me. one i had to make all on my own, one that i spent a lot of time in prayer about. God called and i answered. 

so things were great. amazing in fact. 

i was slowly moving away from the church i had grown up in that seemed full of rules, to understanding that God loves me. and that it is that simple. 

my relationship with God grew and grew. 

but i wanted and needed more. 

i sat listening to people preach, as well as my own husband talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. i'd sit and nod my head (a wife thing). acting like i understood. 

but i didn't. 

last week sonny and i talked about it. and i finally told him that i had never been baptized in the Holy Spirit. we talked for a while about it. and he just said, "if you pray for it, God will give it to you".

so i did. 

then.

this past weekend i went with my mom to tampa to see joyce meyers. 

and don't you know that a preacher man came out and started talking about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. 

have you ever had one of those moments where you just have to laugh with God. because He's that good?

the preacher man explained that when we're born again, and baptized by water God has more for us. that until we were baptized in the Holy Spirit, we weren't living in the fullness of His power. 

sometimes when people talked about the power of God in me, i'd get all weird. it was strange to think that the God of the universe's power could be in me. 

"for john baptized with water, but not many days from now you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" acts 1:5 

but then. 

i got it. 

the preacher man prayed with us and baptized us in the Holy Spirit. 

and HOLY COW. can i just tell you how awesome life is. 

there really, really, reallllly is more. 

"...suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting...and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit..." acts 2:2,4

i gatta tell ya that life is good. 

"God never meant for us to live weak, powerless lives-always running on fumes, and barely getting by. His will for us is to be "more than conquerors" (romans 8:37). He wants to provide us with the strength and ability we need to succeed in life and be powerful witnesses for Him." - joyce meyer

it's little things like all the stress i had about certain things before is gone. i've really given it up to God. and then it's big things like really feeling His presence in my prayer time. it's soaking up the Word like i've never read it before. 

there is power, friends. in the name of Jesus. 

i haven't spoken in tongues yet (i get asked that a lot). to be honest that used to be one of those things that weirded me out. but now i know it's real. i'm praying for it, and know that God will make it happen when He plans on it. 

i didn't think my faith in God could get any better but it is. 

if you've been water baptized and haven't been baptized by the Holy Spirit, i'm praying for you! and go talk to your pastor! 

"as we stay filled with the Spirit, we will live above our circumstances and have His joy, peace, hope and resurrection life. we will live our daily lives with a new energy and become powerful witnesses for Jesus Christ." - joyce meyer