One of those amazing moments

I was thinking back to college. I had this totally amazing moment in one of my Lit classes at UNC, but first you need background.

Norm! Well, Norm was the most pagan of the hedonist pagan professors that I knew. After this first class, I promised myself I'd NEVER take another class with him. Of course, he turned out to be the only one who taught Grammar. And then I had him for Linguistics. I had him more than any other prof...God knows why. (and I mean that literally)

Sitting in class one day, we were working on analyzing a piece of literature. All of a sudden, I totally understood the piece. OK, English major, what's so amazing about that? Well, the piece was referring to the book of Exodus when Moses hides in the cleft of the rock and gets to see the back of God. Your average English major probably doesn't know the Bible well enough to see that at all (unlike the folks of that time period). Even that really isn't the cool part.

All of a sudden I was speaking--I was explaining--and it really wasn't coming from me at all. It was coming direct from the Holy Spirit. I felt this move of The Spirit so clearly that I remember it even now...over 10 years later. *gulp* 10+ years? But I digress!

How do I know? And what does Norm have to do with it? Well, I know it was the Holy Spirit and not me because I was much less bold than I am now. And Norm did not make his classroom one that was open to Christians. He challenged my faith many, many times...indirectly through his attitudes and use of colorful language and situations as well as directly assaulting my faith through odd questions. So, how would I have come up with not only the words, but also the guts to explain it? I wouldn't.

Its one thing to be intelligent and Biblically literate. But its a whole entirely amazing thing all together to have the Spirit of the Living God working through you to affect a few people around you. I'll never know what affect that had on Norm or my classmates, but I know the affect it had on me--making me a woman who could be bold and be used for His glory.