June 17, 2011 – The Helper

John 16:5-7 (NASB) 

The Holy Spirit Promised by Jesus

⁵ “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

When we receive the Holy Spirit, He leads, guides, comforts, convicts and intercedes for us.  We have many stories of feeling the leading of the Spirit that we will share over time through our posts, following is one such story that I felt led to share today.

The day that Hannah went to be with Jesus we had no idea what the day held for us.  Not knowing how large Hannah’s tumor had gotten and how uncontrolled the growth was, the doctors had allowed us to take Hannah home from the hospital for the weekend.  This was Hannah’s first time home in a month and we were getting ready to take her in for her appointment in the Oncology outpatient clinic.  We had packed for the hospital thinking they might readmit her, but thought she would be getting a blood transfusion and would possibly come back home for a few days. 

That morning friends came by to pick up Jacob for our Homeschool Co-op, and Hannah came out to say hi to her friends.  As Jacob was leaving the house and saying goodbye he suddenly turned around and ran to Hannah and gave her a huge bear hug.  Hannah was not feeling well and was extremely tired, so she was a little upset by that hug and yelled “Jacob!”, and he just said ever so sweetly with a big smile “Bye, Hannah” and quickly ran to the van.  None of us knew that this would be that last time he would see her in this life. 

A few weeks later Jacob started to ask why Hannah was mad at him.  He asked this a few times and we assured him that Hannah was not mad at him and how much she loves him and can’t wait to see him again in Heaven.  Then one day he asked why Hannah hated him, and it was heartbreaking to hear him ask that.  Again we assured him of Hannah’s love for him and that he was her best friend. 

The next day I was going through one of Hannah’s desk drawers finding all sorts of treasures when I came across the best “treasure” of all…it was a folded piece of brown construction paper.  I turned over the paper and on the front was written “I♥U Jacob” and it had a drawing of Hannah & Jacob holding hands.  Their hands and feet are hearts and there are hearts on their clothes, inside are lots of X’s and O’s.  We gave the card to Jacob and he found such comfort in it and didn’t ask why Hannah was mad at him anymore.  We don’t know when Hannah created this special card, but we do know it was made out of love and we know why it was created.

 There’s no doubt that the Holy Spirit led Jacob to give his sister that sweet goodbye hug.  There is also no doubt that the Spirit guided Hannah in making the precious card for him.  I also know that it was the Spirit that prompted my cleaning out that drawer at that time.  The helper is always with us and is always at work…He is real. 

If you don’t know Jesus and you haven’t received the Holy Spirit, all you have to do is believe and invite Him in.  It’s not by our works or by being good enough or by anything that we can do, it’s all about Jesus.  As we read in Romans 10:9-10 (NLT) ⁹ If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

Galatians 5:22-25 (NLT)

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!  ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. ²⁵ Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

Do you have a special story of the Holy Spirit leading  or comforting you? 

In Him,   Amy