The last few days have been a bit of a roller coaster. The first two nights of the conference in Iganga were great. I preached under a strong anointing, and the people responded well.
On the Friday night the Lord had led me to preach on the fire of God, and afterwards to pray for everyone. I really felt that the Holy Spirit wanted to move in power and do something very special.
When we arrived at the church it was to find that the power was off in the whole area, and some of the guys had gone off to find a generator. So we sat under the mango tree and waited. Now, sitting under a mango tree is very pleasant – but not when you really want to be in the meeting, worshipping the Lord and preparing for Him to move.
Finally the meeting got started, about an hour late. Obviously many of the people had heard about the blackout and thought that the meeting would be cancelled, as the congregation was about half the size of the previous nights. By the time I got up to speak I was feeling very tired (it was only late afternoon, so there was no apparent reason for this) and I struggled through the message. No spectacular move of God that I had hoped for. I prayed for everyone, and by faith believe that they received, but again nothing spectacular.
Yesterday I woke up feeling incredibly tired and aching all over. We were travelling back from Iganga to Kampala, where I was supposed to speak yesterday when we arrived, and this morning. First we went back to the Iganga church for breakfast and a presentation of a gift from the church – yet another new dress. Then it was the drive back, which with traffic jams stretched out to about five hours. By now I was feeling positively wretched – not only tired and achy, but feeling like I was either going to pass out or throw up, or both. There is no way I was going to be ok to even go to the meeting, much less speak at it. I hated to disappoint them, but I begged out and went to bed for what remained of the afternoon.
This morning I was ok, so I assumed that it was just some passing bug. But we had a healing meeting at home last night, and Linda told me today that they had prayed for me, so I’m sure that helped greatly.
I spoke at the morning service at Pastor David’s church today. The anointing was back and I know the Lord was speaking to hearts. At the end I gave an altar call for salvation. At first nobody responded, but then a young man came out with a friend who was obviously encouraging him. Another precious soul out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of Light. Praise the Lord! I have spent many years telling people I am not an evangelist, but that doesn’t change the thrill of seeing someone come to the Lord.
Two things here I find rather discomforting: the first is being constantly referred to as Apostle Lynn. Yes, I know my calling as an apostle and prophet, and have functioned in those offices for many years, but I’m still not totally comfortable with the word “apostle” being used as a title rather than a job description, at lease when it applies to me (but I have no problem referring to others as “Apostle So-and-so”). Maybe it’s just one of those “Just get over it, Lynnie” things. The second is the custom of those, particularly women, who want to honour someone kneeling before them. I’m nobody special, nobody should be kneeling to me. I know it’s part of their culture, but it makes me very uncomfortable.
Next week we were supposed to be going over to the western part of Uganda, but when we looked at the costs involved it was just beyond the budget. I have a small amount I can put in each fortnight toward on-ground expenses (basically what is left of my pension after I pay my tithe at home and pay my bills) but the cost for this would have well exceeded that amount. So instead I am going to be speaking every day at a week-long conference here in Kampala.