The Holy Spirit is so rad

   So this weeks teaching was on the holy spirit- being FILLED with the holy spirit. I could go on for days about every little thing I learned and all the scriptures to back it up, but I won't do that. I'll just give you some stories that happened this week personally to me- my testimony if you will :)
   We practiced praying over people this week- a lot. So many times in the Bible it talks about laying hands on people, so we put that into practice. On Tuesday, our speaker Bart told us to just sit in our chairs and allow the holy spirit to come fill us. We had our "glasses" ready to be filled with Him- and I was definitely filled. Later that night, I found out that my house (at home in Tulare) sold, which means that I will not be returning to the house I have pretty much grown up in. It seriously tore me up inside and this whole past week has been really difficult, knowing I'm not going home to my home. But that night, I felt an overwhelming sense of comfort and peace flood through me. Even if it was just for half an hour, it was a great reminder that God was with me and my family through this whole process.
    Wednesday during lecture, we prayed for healing- if anyone needed healing for anything, we received prayer from other students in the DTS. I had the urge to ask for prayer for my back. It's weird, because I had never thought of my back being healed further than my surgery. But God, being the amazing healer that he is, brought relief to my back. My back was completely numb for a full day- as if I was on painkillers at the hospital still, not able to feel anything. God showed me that He isn't bound by what the doctors say- that if we ask and have FAITH that He can and will heal us, he will!
   Friday was probably one of the craziest days for me so far. Like I said, this week was really rough for me, so it was extremely difficult to find joy at all. The 2 people praying for me didn't know anything of my home situation or of what was going on with my heart, my lack of joy. But as they were praying, one girl kept repeating "joy... joy... unexplainable joy... laughter." And then it hit me: the joy of the LORD flooded through me and I started laughing and smiling uncontrollably. I literally felt like I was drunk on God. As I was laughing, these weights were being taken off my  shoulders, as if my laughter, the joy of the Lord was healing me. It was an amazing feeling that I had never experienced before. Go God.
   It seems as though every time God does something amazing in my life, Satan comes back at me with an attack, and honestly sometimes succeeds in it. Yesterday (Saturday) was extremely rough. Certain events happened that put a huge burden on me all day, and it seemed impossible to find joy again. At one point, I became so angry- more like livid- because of the events of the day. All I know is that right when that rage hit me, I got the worst migraine I have ever experienced. I had friends praying for me for about an hour, but nothing happened. One friend said that they felt that I needed to repent of some sin in my life and forgive somebody, and then they would continue praying for me. I did, and as I forgave this person in my heart for hurting me, some of the pressure left my head. I also started loving this person- like LOVING this person. I stated out loud all the things I love about her, and I had nothing but love in my heart for her. It was a very humbling experience and very cool because I felt like I was loving her like God did. My headache was still there, though. I ended up having to go into a dark room for 2 hours, trying to shake this migraine. A leader came in with me and prayed for me, and she got the same impression as my other friend: I need to forgive people who have wronged me. Suddenly, people who hurt me 6 months, a year ago even, popped up in my head and as I forgave each person, my headache kept leaving little by little. Finally, I asked that God forgive me for harboring all these feelings of resentment over this last year and as I did, my migraine was completely gone. Praise God for being our healer! I could just feel the presence of the Holy Spirit surrounding me, and I was completely at peace for the rest of the night, as if I wasn't even really here.
   Many people have told me on this DTS that God has huge things in store for me in the future- they just get this impression that God will use me in great ways. And I believe that Satan doesn't want that to happen. Every time I get attacked, I try with everything in me to see it as a blessing- Satan feels threatened by me, and by the great almighty God who is at work behind me, so he tries to rob me of my joy. I find strength in this passage in John 16:22: "Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and NO ONE will take away your joy." Not even you Satan!
   I pray that you all had a blessed Thanksgiving! Be blessed. :) Love you all. ***Oh and just a side note: I leave for Africa in less than 3 weeks. jiofdsahjvkdshguhu. That's all.