Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there the leprosy was gone, his skin smooth and healthy.
Mark 1:41-42

The year was 1989. I was a client of The Salvation Army, Bridge Program at Eden Park in Mount Barker, South Australia. The program was conducting a spiritual retreat, led by Brigadier Denis Gudgeon. I had recently had a spiritual experience when kneeling at the side of my bed in my room on the program I heard The Lord say to me “YOU DO NOT NEED TO LIVE LIKE THIS ANYMORE, FOLLOW ME AND I WILL LEAD YOU.” Now caught up in a battle of my pride and God’s prompting I attended the spiritual retreat, with no intention of getting involved.

At the end of the meeting an altar call was given and I found myself (without intention) at the front of the mercy seat, feelings of physical, mental and spiritual bankruptcy oozing through my veins. With nothing else to do I knelt and I prayed and I felt it “A TOUCH FROM THE LORD.”

The song they were singing said “Is your mind mixed up and are your thoughts in turmoil. Is there part of you that your heart deplores. Do you want some peace instead of inner conflict. If you want it, it’s yours” (sorry to TSA if I got some of the words wrong) Anyway I knelt broken and I prayed. When I arose after prayer I physically felt the power of The Holy Spirit enter my body and travel through my body from my head to my feet and I knew the “I’D BEEN CHANGED.”

I have felt His Power in my life many times since then. But the memory of that touch is as clear today as when it happened. The feeling warms my heart as I reflect on that day. The day love lifted me.

Today I know Jesus Christ is looking at me in tenderness and love. His arms outstretched welcoming me and helping me stay clean from mind altering substances so I might seek His will and follow His plan for me.