The day started as a peaceful rest day, and from the way the day was going, I had the sense that the Lord wanted me to get settled and rested before I had any encounters with Him. It is, after all, easier to hear God's voice when you are not exhausted or frazzled, and that is why I assumed He was having me get rested and refreshed before He spoke to me. God did instruct me to pray that morning to invite Him into every aspect of my day, and I was more than happy to pray that prayer.
Then the Lord asked me if I would be willing to invite the Lord to send His angels to my hotel room, and to use it for whatever kingdom purposes they needed. I thought that was a tad unusual, I had always assumed that angels could just go wherever they wanted and did not need to be invited. I think my assumption is probably correct, and maybe the reason God asked me to do that was more for my own receptivity than because the angels needed permission. But I was happy to do so, and I set the room aside as dedicated to the Lord and His purposes as long as I was there. I know it sounds odd, but I had a sense of a lot of angels congregating in my room--some of them interacted personally with me, but most of them did not. Still, I was very happy with the idea of my room being set aside for kingdom purposes, and I wanted more of His presence.
I told the Lord that there were a few "mundane" things I needed to do, such as go to the local grocery store and get some groceries that I could cook in my hotel room microwave or stove top. (That was, in fact, my top agenda item, because I was hungry, and nothing in the hotel breakfast was stuff I wanted to eat.) God went with me to the grocery store, and every time that I couldn't find something, He immediately sent me a store employee to assist me. Everyone at the store was so friendly and helpful and grocery shopping as a pleasant experience.
On the way back to my room, I passed two sets of other believers who had come to Lakeland for the revival. There was an instant sense of family and comradary, and we struck up short friendly conversations. [That was going to the a very common place thing at the hotel--it turned out that the atmosphere there was one of family, and it felt more like I was part of a tour group than being there by myself.]
I did my devotions, and a few mundane things, including spending a few minutes to explore the hotel grounds. When I got back to my room, I asked the Lord what was next on His agenda. He suggested that I go ahead and take a shower and wash my hair. I thought that was going to be mundane, but God had other plans.
When I stepped into the shower, a strong sense of the Lord's presence stepped in with Me. I found myself in a vision, clothed in a white robe and standing before Him somewhere in the Heavenlies. I couldn't really see the details of the vision very well, it was like I was in a dense fog that glowed with the glory of the Lord. It was foggy, but very bright and radiant with His glory. I could more sense the Lord's presence than actually see Him with my eyes. In fact, everything was so radiantly bright that I had to squeeze my eyes closed.
Of course, the first thing I did was bow down and worship Him. We did that for a while and it felt wonderful to be near Him and sensing His presence so strongly. Then the Lord asked me to stand up.
I assumed that I had been brought before His throne, and that there were all sorts of angels and heavenly creatures there as well. The Lord addressed my unspoken thought, and said, "No Teresa. For this vision I have brought you to a private place and this is just you and I. I want some private time with you.
Somehow that made it seem even more special. I was breathing in His nearness, and He was too wonderful for words. After a bit He asked me, "Teresa, what would you like Me to do for you? If you could ask me for anything, what would it be?"
I started straining my brain to come up with the one thing that I wanted God to do for me more than anything else. I was weighing a few things in my mind to see which one was the highest priority that I should ask for.
There was laughter in God's voice. "Who said you had to limit yourself to just one request?" So I started asking Him for some of my top priorities--for my mother and husband to be saved, for deeper intimacy with God, that God would heal my ankle problem.
Then God said, "Teresa, why are you asking Me for things that I have already promised to you? Didn't you believe Me when I told you that I will do those things for you?"
I felt rebuked and greatly loved at the same time. He was right, I was praying for things He'd already promised me. There are times when His promises don't feel so real, and I wonder if they were my imagination. But right then, standing before His very presence, every one of His past promises to me felt completely and totally real.
"I'm sorry, Lord."
"That is alright, Teresa. But why don't you use this opportunity to ask Me for things that I haven't already promised you?"
That was actually harder than I expected, because He had already made so many wonderful promises to me. I came up with things like walking in good health, increased sensitively to His voice/leading, walking in increasingly greater intimacy with Him in my day-to-day life, increased anointing on my own life/ministry, carrying the tangible presence and power of God, and even increased ministry prominence and effectiveness.
Then God told me that almost all of my requests were for kingdom things. He also wanted me to make personal requests. So I threw in financial blessings, to the point of being able to do whatever I desire or feel led to do--and being able to stay at nice hotels instead of budget ones when I travel. I also asked for close friends and for good relationships with others, that His blessings and favor would rest on me.
Then God said, "If I do all these things for you? What will you do for Me?"
I began wracking my brain to come up with a good answer for Him. I considered things like worship Him, serve Him, etc. But those were not good answers because I would do them even if He did not do all those things for me. I wasn't sure how to respond to His question.
Somewhere during all of this, my eyes had adjusted to the brightness surrounding me, and I was able to open them. I really couldn't see much except for the glory fog swirling around me.
I hadn't even realized that my eyes were open until that moment, because God showed me an image of a solitaire diamond engagement ring and said, "If I do all this for you, will you marry Me?"
I was sort of shocked because we (the church) are already the bride of Christ. So, I told God that I was going to marry Him anyhow, that He did not need to do anything to get me to agree to that.
I could sense a smile in His voice as He repeated the question. He said, "Teresa, if I do all of these things for you, will you marry Me?" There was an amazing sense of His love along with this question. I knew the love was not just for me, but for all of us--and yet it felt so personal and so intimate.
I said, "Yes Lord."
Then He put the ring on my finger. Even though this was a vision, I could feel the ring (its weight and shape) on my finger as He slid the ring onto it. [This is an aside, but even weeks later as I write this, I can still feel the ring on my finger. I can't see it with my physical eyes, nor can I touch it with my other hand. But I can still feel its weight on my finger. I think the Lord means it as a reminder of what He did for me in that vision.]
I felt like the deal was very lopsided, and God was not getting enough out of it. He was doing all the giving, and all He was getting back from me was something that He already had.
Once again, God addressed my unspoken thoughts. He said, "Teresa, your relationship with Me is always going to be lopsided like this. You can not be in an equal relationship with Me because I am God almighty, and you are one of My creation. You will never be able to reciprocate. I want you to learn to just receive and not feel obligated to "pay Me back."
How could I have any response other than to get lost in worship? I worshiped Him for a while, but I also kept remembering what He had just given me, and I could see it and feel the weight of it on my finger.
When I had been first engaged (in real life), I kept staring at my engagement ring and could not keep my eyes off of my finger. I found that I was doing the same thing in this vision. I kept looking at the ring. At times it looked like a beautiful large solitaire diamond set in gold. But at other times, the diamond seemed to turn pink and then red, then it would turn clear again. Each color was more radiant and beautiful than "normal life" and the glory of God seemed to shine out of the ring.
The Lord explained that the blood of Jesus was surging through the ring, because it was by His blood that we are able to be in intimate relationship with Him, and that is what the red is. He did not explain the pink to me, so I decided that must be a reminder of Jesus' great love for us. God did not confirm or correct that impression.
I am not sure how long I was in that shower vision, but I think it was at least two hours. When I came out of the vision, I was still in the shower, and the water was running over me. I washed my hair and then got out of the shower. My mind kept replaying that vision and it was wonderful. The Lord's glory and tangible presence were not there any more, but there was a lingering sense of His sweetness.
I remember thinking to myself, "Last night it felt like God was wooing me and now He just proposed. This trip feels like an engagement trip." [And it was a theme that God continued to carry through the rest of my Lakeland trip.]
When I got out of the shower and had dried off and gotten dressed, the enemy tried to rob me of my experience with God. He reminded me that my husband had minor elective surgery on the day he drove me to the airport. The surgery was not dangerous, but it was very painful. Ed had chosen to drive himself home from the procedure instead of asking a friend to drive him. The enemy began flooding me with "concerns' that Ed was medicated from his procedure, and had gotten in a car accident on the way home from it. I envisioned him as in a hospital in a coma, the car ruined, and the dogs dieing of thirst in the back yard because no one was home to take care of them. It was such an unpleasant mental picture, and not the way I would normally think. But the concern would not go away, so I tried to phone him. He did not answer the phone, so I left a message on the answering machine, asking him to call me back on my cell.
The enemy was trying very hard to get me worried. God spoke to me and said, "Don't worry, all is well. Ed is at home sleeping, and your dogs are fine."
I found myself telling God that it wasn't the way He said, then I was unable to hear His voice clearly and I would have to assume that I'd heard wrong in the shower, and that my whole engagement vision had been my imagination running wild with me. I am not sure how I tied those two things in my mind to come to that conclusion, but it seemed very valid to me at the time.
Then God told me, "You haven't heard Me wrong on this, and you have not imagined the other. Your husband will call you before you leave for the meeting tonight to confirm what I am saying to you."
Then the Lord told me to make myself a meal and to get ready to go to the meeting. (I planned to leave at 4:30 because I had been told that I should be there at 5:00 to get my pastor's wristband, so I could get prayer at the meetings. I had been told that Todd prays for pastors for impartation at each meeting, providing they have the wrist band on. That is why I wanted the wrist band, but it turned out they did not do that the week I was there.)
My husband did return my call shortly before I left, and he was fine. He said that he was sore and taking pain medication and sleeping a lot, but other than that, all was well.
As I hung up the phone, God said, "See, I told you so!"
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