(By Anna Aquino) I was raised in a Lutheran Church in small town in Ohio. It was a great foundation. I was called into ministry through a divine encounter in the sixth grade. However, in those years, a nagging and sinking feeling began to concern me: Who was the Holy Spirit? We prayed. I knew the Trinity, but I had no idea who He was. It was my sister who got baptized in the Spirit first and came home with all these amazing stories. These were stories of signs, wonders and miracles happening today. By this point I was attending a Baptist youth group.
While something inside of me pricked with desire when I’d heard these stories another side of me thought she had gone off the spiritual deep end. Surely, she must be crazy. The stories of the Bible ended there, or did they? Something inside of me stirred and I began to search the Bible. Could she be right? Maybe she’d found a cult? But the more I tried to disprove her the more I found that there was more to the religion I had been raised in. While I maintained this incredible supernatural world wasn’t for me, I saw that it was scriptural. READ MORE
I’ve honestly, whole-heartedly tried several times to receive baptism of the holy spirit and just feel like its not real, a trick, or happens to others but not to me. You can’t tell me I’m not saved because He changed my life 10 years ago and I’ve never been the same. So to those who receive this blessing, I’m happy for you. However, it is just not real for me.