TESTIMONY 15: I WAS ANOINTED AND MY DOG WAS POSSIBLY POSSESSED

I have a lot to share since my last post and I'm not sure where to begin lol! I suppose I should start from the first experience since this all actually really started since the anointing service at Hillsong Church, so here goes!

On 14 December 2014, our Pastor at Hillsong church (Pastor Phil) announced: "Today we are having our anointing service. Our church members are going to come around to everyone and anoint you with oil on your foreheads for the new year." I became really excited when I heard this lol because the word "anointing" had been standing out to me a lot before that service so in my head I was like Oh yeeeaah". As the church members went around to every single person in church I got a feeling that something good was about to happen. I then prayed to God "God, one true eternal God, if this is of you, and this is what you want for me, then please place my struggles in someone's mind and lead them to me. I want the right person to come to me." My struggle was thoughts that the enemy of God would place in my mind, negative thoughts about myself and about my life. Out of nowhere these thoughts of inadequacy would enter my mind "You are inferior. You are nothing. Everyone else is better than you. Your friends do not like you. You should be alone, distance yourself from them. Nobody likes you. You're ugly." etc and these thoughts stop me from doing so many big things in this world, that I know I am very capable of doing. After saying this prayer I waited until approached by one of the main leaders, "Have you been anointed?" she asked my mother who was next to me. "No, both of us haven't." "Okay I'll get to you soon." She proceeded in anointing and praying for the person sitting next to us. I thought to myself "Well, she must be the perfect person to anoint me, because she's a leader here and she must be the one that God placed my problem with, makes sense?" And just as I started getting excited lol another young lady on the other side of the pathway approached us and asked us if we had been anointed, and she made her way directly to me. "What is your name?" she asked "Sydney" I said as tears filled my eyes. She then anointed my forehead with oil and began to pray for me. Her prayer went something like this: "Father God, I ask that you remove any evil words spoken over Sydney and her life. I ask that you remove the strongholds the devil has placed in her mind." I began to cry even more at this point. "Protect her from the enemy, let her see the changes clearly. Remove these false beliefs so that they leave her for the new year and she can fulfil her purpose without them stopping her." At this point I was sniffing like a baby lol "Please bring people into her life, let her meet some good people for her life for this new year. In Jesus name. Amen." When she was done we smiled at each other and I grabbed her and hugged her, because she has no idea what a huge impact that made in my life. I felt free from partial captivity.

On this same night two "supernatural" incidents took place. The first was beautiful, the second was something out of a horror movie lol on my way home from Hillsong at about 8pm I got a call from my two best friends "Syd, we overslept and when we woke up it was too late for church! So upset we missed church!" "Ah, you guys missed an incredible service, you really were supposed to be here tonight." "Can we come over? Let us know when you're home. You can tell us about it." They came over and I explained everything. When it was time to leave, as they were pulling out of the driveway I looked up at the sky at a bright white star, the brightest in the sky. I looked back down at their car and waved goodbye and as I was waving, out of nowhere, this really bright orange/red light shot from the sky fast toward a tree and it was gone. My first thought was "That was definitely an alien ship, no doubt." lol I only saw a shooting star once in my entire life, in my backyard when I was really young. So to see this really felt like it meant something, and I felt like I was being watched in anticipation. I thought maybe I should walk to this tree, but doubt and fear sunk in and stopped me from walking alone in the dark. As I stood there starring at the tree I heard a voice "Sydney?" I turned around and it was my brother lol looking very confused. "Come here quickly! Come with me to this tree!" I asked him." Sebastian must have been scared out of his mind, because he didn't even reply lol he just went back to bed. I went to his room "Seby! Come with me quickly, I just saw a shooting star and I feel like I have to go to the tree it flew into." "Nope. Not going. No way." and so I ended up not going either. I can only imagine how weird that must have looked though hahahaha seeing your sister stand outside by the garage starring at the sky in the dark lol I wouldn't go with either. I then returned to my bedroom to write and read a little before sleeping.

When I was sitting in bed on my laptop my dog (who never leaves my side) had his head down with his eyes facing me. His eyes were closed, but they were flickering fast, which I've never seen his eyes do before, and I've had him for a while now lol. I thought that maybe he was just having his first doggy nightmare lol but then he opened his eyes for a while and starred at me with white eyeballs then he closed them again. His eyes then started flickering again, moving really fast up and down. I touched his body to wake him, but he didn't move it just kept flickering. I shook him harder and he finally woke up, so I figured it was just a nightmare. I closed my eyes and started dozing off into a nightmare. I started feeling attacked, my mind was flooded with negative thoughts and the hugest headache came over me. I opened my eyes and on the left side of my face, standing on all fours was my dog Chaplin, starring down at me for the first time. This fully got me up lol So, not being sure if we can pray for animals, I said a prayer saying "Father God if this dog is possessed, please rebuke this demon." and I added "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus, leave my dogs body now" and I slept in peace. What is weird is that it happened again twice after this moment (on other days) and I managed to take a video of his eyes the third time it happened with my phone, but guess what, my phone will not play it. It plays all the other videos, but when I click play on that video it's just black. So since there are no witnesses (as there normally are) all I have is my words and experience, and I'm sharing it. Below is a picture of my dog that I'm talking about, Chaplin.

So as you can see for yourself, this is a cute dog lol we must never hate people or animals, only the evil spirits who influence them as Jesus Christ once cast demons out of a human and allowed then to go into animals (pigs) which then drowned immediately. So we, while remaining realistic, need to also remain vigilant. There is a saying that goes - rather safe than sorry. 

TESTIMONY 9: MY FIRST HOLY SPIRIT HIGH

I'm not really sure what to call what I experienced, so I've named it the Holy Spirit High lol because that's how it made me feel and that's where it comes from, up high. Before Sunday I had no idea that the Holy Spirit could be felt in such a real way. I always used to think it was just that little voice telling us to do good and be good, but it can be felt as a sensation too? It was warm and very, very relaxing. I hope this post helps encourage you to seek more on your journey with Christ, because not only will it increase your faith, but there is also far more gifts that come with the Holy Spirit that you yourself could obtain if willed. It might be different for everybody, but this is my story.

So, this all really started manifesting on Thursday afternoon when I arrived at a fashion show presentation for Spree. I walked into the area where all the models were sitting, gave a polite teeth-less smile as everyone stared at me and took a seat near the table so I could write on my laptop. I planned to do some reading first though and as I'm taking my book (To Heaven And Back) out of my bag, guess who I see on the chair to my right, Kelly - the girl who had a vision about me (Testimony 4). She noticed me a bit later and greeted while taking her Bible out of her bag. Not long after we were joined by another model that I had met before "Are you also a Christian?" she asked as she walked our way looking at Kelly's Bible. Now strangely enough the girl walking towards us at this moment, Michelle, had met me the exact same way. I was reading my Bible at Cape Town fashion week and the first thing she ever said to me was "I'm glad I'm not the only one that takes my Bible with me everywhere I go, mines in my bag." The three of us sat in a circle, or rather a triangle, and started chatting up a storm about God. 

The whole situation was a bit much for me at first and put me on a bit of a trip to be honest. What are the chances of us all being at the same show and the Bible once again bringing us together? The conversation just started getting even more weird from then on. Perth Australia had been standing out to me everywhere for quite some time now, I kept feeling like maybe I was supposed to go there and when Michelle was asked by Kelly where she would like to travel next she says "I would like to travel to Australia now." I had also been really urging to spend time with little children lately and Kelly says "You should spend time with children. Do you spend time with children?" the weirdest part of it all would probably be the fact that I had prayed to God to meet more Christian friends whom I could speak to about my journey without offending someone or making them feel uncomfortable, and there were Michelle and Kelly, people I could talk to openly about God. We each shared our story about how we were saved and chatted throughout the free time we had before the show. 

"You should come try out The Bay church this Sunday." Kelly said. "You can really feel the Holy Spirit strongly there!" I agreed to come "Sure, that would be great." I then shared with her a really bad spiritual experience I had quite recently which I'm not sharing out of respect for the person it involved, but basically I literally nearly died lol. She said she was worried and wanted to pray for me after the show. When the show was over I offered Kelly a lift home so she wouldn't have to take public transport and when we arrived at her place she said "Could you get out of the car, I would love to pray for you." "Oh yes, please do." We both got out of the car together. We were on the sidewalk of a street in Gardens, at night. The streetlights made everything feel even more surreal, like something out of a Harry Potter movie intro lol. Surrounded by complete darkness she said "Place your hands out in front of you with palms up ready to receive and close your eyes" She then placed her one hand on my head and the other on my shoulder. I can't really remember the exact words of her prayer but it went something like this; in her awesome American accent she said "Father God, I rebuke any curses on Sydney in the name of Jesus Christ, fill her with the Holy Spirit, let her mind be renewed.. "etc. I felt at peace while she was praying for me. Luckily the street was empty because an outsiders perspective would have marked us as complete weirdos lol

When she was done praying we hugged goodbye and the next time I saw her was on Sunday morning, at the Bay Community church in Muizenberg, where "it" happened. Just like at the event I met Kelly at (in Testimony 4) again, I went alone. It was just me, her, her boyfriend and his mother, whom I met for the first time that day. At first everything seemed very normal inside the church. It was a small hall area, with chairs and a small stage with a band, until the pastor announced that we should all just praise God and let the Holy Spirit do it's thing. As everyone was praising and praying, I said a prayer that I for some reason was just drawn to saying at that moment, I said "Father God, fill me with the Holy Spirit. I want to be filled with your Holy Spirit God, I want peace and love and joy. This is what I want right now right here Father God." After saying Amen I just stood there quietly with my tingling hands up in the air. All of a sudden I got this weird feeling, it was warm but it wasn't coming from the outside, it was coming from the inside.

The warmth was in my stomach. It seemed to be spreading throughout my body. I started feeling a bit dizzy and I felt just, a different, sensation in my head area. I started panicking very slightly and thought 'should I tap Kelly on the arm and tell her? What if I'm about to faint or something?' but immediately another thought in my head said 'just relax and trust in God. God is with you, just be calm, this is you and God Sydney.' I then looked straight to the front and there was a little boy with a dummy in his mouth being held by his mother or grandmother. Her back was facing me, but the boy was looking at me above her shoulder. He made me feel calm. He stared for a while, long enough for me to start thinking 'why is he looking at me for so long, does he see something?' I felt so relaxed as he stared though, he had such beautiful piercing blue eyes and little threads of blonde hair on his head. I started feeling really happy lol I felt like laughing, but didn't want to seem weird so I allowed my stomach to shake with laughter but nothing came out of my mouth. I couldn't keep my smile in though lol and I just stood there swaying from side to side with my hands still in the air, smiling lol in a way I felt like I was drunk, but we didn't have any communion? Not that the little bit of wine would have made me drunk lol I just mean, this was all very natural - supernatural. 

The sensation then slowly started fading away, but I still felt happy after. I think it was mostly just excitement, because this was such a new feeling I had never felt before. 'What the heck was that?' I asked myself  'the Holy Spirit? It feels so good?' People then all started praying, some in English, others praying in tongues. Part of me was always skeptical about praying in tongues, I always wondered whether it was good or evil, but the other part of me really wanted to at that very moment, because I couldn't find the right words to pray in English. The pastor then asked that we pray for the person next to us and Kelly started praying for me as we held eachother, again I didn't really know what to say for her. The only thing I could get out of my mouth was "thank you father God that Kelly and I met" like a 5 year old prayer lol.... Kelly then said "I feel like God wants you to speak to Him, could you try and speak in tongues?" "What, right now?" I asked. "Yes, just try, right now, it will come from your stomach." "Okay..." I said with no confidence, but nothing. I just couldn't do it, I felt like I wanted to but my mind kept feeling that if I had to speak it would be something I was making up, so I kept quiet. 

When the service was over, still seated, I told Kelly what had happened to me and she became excited. She told me that she saw a white light around my mouth and that she felt it meant that I was trying to speak to God and that God wanted me to speak in spirit, but I stopped myself. I then told her that I had in fact been wanting to speak in tongues before she asked me to while we were praying. I immediately decided I would be coming back to that Church and that I would be getting baptized again there. "I'm going to bring my parents with next time." I said. And while we were still sitting having this conversation there were three people in front of me casually doing some sort of healing/rebuke? They were three elderly people, two women and a man. As I looked at the man who was shouting "I rebuke any power satan has over you, the son of God is more powerful than you satan!" with his and the other woman's hands over the woman in the middle, who was half falling to the ground, I thought to myself, now this is my kinda church lol I'm not sure where God will lead me to next, and which church will end up being my home, but for now I think I'll be attending both this church and Hillsong, because I love praising and dancing at Hillsong, it's like a praise party... but I definitely want to feel what I felt there again. That being said, I'm sure it can be felt anywhere if I really opened myself up to it. I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Thanks be to God for not giving up on me, a sinner, and I can't wait to officially be Born Again :)