Delirium

God is in such a good mood! It REALLY made me SO happy!

Wow. What can I say about my experiences at Bethel Church.

It's a place where I did feel Kingdom realities. The tangible presence of God was so prevalent, even at Ann's house where I eventually moved to on the 3rd day of my stay in Redding. I found myself resting and charging up just being in His Presence. In some instances, I was buzzing from the encounter. I don't say this to glorify Bethel Church, but it gave me a sense of what it means to have God's Kingdom pulled down to earth. Where miracles and prophecy are mainstays, where people walk in the fullness of their callings, where God's heart is more important than church decorum, religiosity and social norms.

I could describe all that I had experienced while I was there, but you would have to know the history of my life for any of it to make sense and understand why it meant so much to me. But suffice to say, that all I had desired from my trip was fulfilled, and much more! There were little geeky things, and there were deep things, and there were things to do with my past...

My flight out of Redding to San Francisco got delayed for 12 hours. This would've meant that I would either be flying for close to 30 hours straight from Redding to San Francisco to New York then to Singapore (IF I could get the right connecting flights), or I would miss my flight back to Singapore entirely. So, I made a sudden decision to cancel my flight out to Redding and drive myself to San Francisco, which was a 4 hour drive, to make a connecting flight to New York. Now this was a brave thing I did because anything could happen on the road, and I could not afford to make mistakes because I was short on time. I panicked for a while after canceling my flight, fumbling through my insurance papers and flight schedule, but I went anyway.

Stalling in my Chevy Cruz

So here's a bit of back story. Packing to leave Redding was the hardest thing I've had to do the entire trip. And when I pulled into Redding Municipal Airport for my flight out, I sat in the car stalling for time since I was early for check in. I was reluctant to give up the car, because it would mean that I was giving up my time in Redding and checking in at the airport meant the end of my 20 day trip. I told God how reluctant I was to leave and I don't want to ever forget all He had done for me these 20 days. Mostly I just covered my face with my hands and sighed.

After learning that my flight had been delayed, I loaded up my luggage and climbed back into the same white Chevrolet Cruz I had been driving around Redding, popped in the new prophetic music CD I bought at The Eagle's Nest and laid out some food and water for easy access and pulled out of the car rental parking lot. After going through the small roads, I got on the I-5 and there rolled out before me was the Californian country. Gold fields on blue skies and great hills. At this point, God's goodness to me over this trip just went over my head. I had already been so so full from the past week I didn't think I could take in anymore. And I suddenly burst out laughing! And then I was crying from how absurdly good God had been to me! Because I had been wanting to take a road trip with Pat since 2 years ago, but we could never find the time to do it. And here is God taking me on a mini road trip, and with the Love of my life!! And then I was laughing, and then crying again!

I felt very distinctly that the first part of my trip was about what I wanted. And God was my travel companion, accompanying me through all that I wanted to do. The itinerary I had planned for myself had been so blessed. Everything going smoothly and making no loss or wrong turn (except for Central Park!) Even in the DMT intensive, dancing was about self-assertion and finding my voice. At Redding and Bethel, it was about what He wanted for me. And He packed a full itinerary for me even though all I was doing all week was going home and going to Bethel Church and going to ToGo Sandwiches for lunch. The second round of improv class with Ann and her dancers was where I found that I could dance prophetically and it was the opposite of self-assertion. It was about yielding and trusting Him and letting Him speak through dance. I have never felt so full, so satisfied than dancing in His Spirit!

So here I was, flying through the I-5, laughing and crying because I can feel God's ecstasy at how He's loving over me and how I'm taking it all in. Like He would be grinning ear to ear if I could see His face with my physical eyes.

At the close of Saturday. Memories of the drum circle.

My Ride around Redding

On the I-5.

Californian Country one last time.

These ladies are warriors.

I'm back in Singapore now. And it's taken me a while to blog this last entry because of how overwhelmed I'd been. The trip had ended, but I feel like a new thing has already started. I'm not sure how to conclude this blog or if it should be concluded at all. 

We'll see. :)