Moments of calling

Do you ever have visions? I've been having one off an on for the past couple of years. It involves mission work and the call to ministry.

I don't know where or how this will be. The image in my head is of being in a dusty place, full of children running among chickens. There is poverty and sickness. It could be in any third-world country, or it could be up the road, in a migrant-labor camp. I don't know. The picture is probably influenced by cultural ideas of mission work.

Last year's mission trip to Honduras confirmed the calling, though it was not the sort of mission I see. It was more of a visit than a mission. What I see is more permanent, ministering to the needs of a particular community. The thought keeps popping into my mind it would be good to take a paramedic course.

I don't know how any of this would be fulfilled, but I think the Holy Spirit is moving in this. After giving me a break to recover this past year, He's back into it. I saw that vision strongly during an Ascension Day service. I don't know if this will involve any kind of ordination. That seems so unlikely in this diocese, where I'm too old, too female, too liberal.

Saturday evening, I sat reflecting on an Alpha retreat I was involved in at my church -- leading the little group through a guided-image meditation, then praying with people who wanted, or wanted more, the Holy Spirit in their lives. As I sat reviewing, and thanking the Holy Spirit, He was there. It was an electric experience from my head to toe. I could feel the electricity moving through me and off me.

Wow! Hallelujah!

The Spirit reminded me He's here for me too, in the same way I prayed for the Spirit to be with the Alpha participants. He is a very present help. He will guide me through it, whatever form this calling takes.