Testimony on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit con't
(by Angie Lake)

visit them in the hospital, pray the rosary, pray, pray, pray and pray a lot!  This is not necessarily a bad way to understand how we work out our faith, yet it is a child’s understanding and when we are adults we need to understand our faith as adults, with spiritual maturity.  The understanding I had seemed like a lot of work to me and I was certainly willing – yet in the back of my mind the certainty of not really being worthy no matter what I did, was still in my heart.  I guess I never really accepted that I was personally loved by God.  Oh, I knew He loved the whole world – but I thought I had to be worthy to deserve His love.

Life went on and there were many ups and downs in my life.  Even though for a while I became a CEO (Christmas and Easter Only) Catholic, I loved God and continued my faith even though I was thin in my religious practice of my faith in my years after High School.  In 1978 after having suffered with a very painful disease for 5 years that the doctors considered incurable, God healed me through the laying on of hands.  This healing/cure brought me to a point in my faith where I really hungered for God and wanted to know this wonderful God who healed me so miraculously!  I began attending a bible study, took the Basic Catechist Course and wanted more of God.  After reading a book about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of praying in tongues and all the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers, I knew I wanted all of God that I could get! I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and my life has never been the same again, it has been changed for the good because I have come to know the power and presence of God in my life!  This Baptism of the Holy Spirit is simply a yielding of our lives to God and when we do say “Yes” to God and make an invitation to God to ask Him to release the Holy Spirit in us, He does.  If we then become docile to the Holy Spirit, we will be changed!  We will be transformed because we will be walking not in our own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Many are fascinated with the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit and if you are like me – you will want them all!  I came to discover that when I was willing to humble myself and receive the