The Holy Spirit: The Helper at My Side or Just a Coincidence?
My Spiritual Journey Begins
Copyright 2012 by Suzanne Sheffield
Sometimes our search for the truth leads us in mysterious ways.
In the 70's I was a young wife and mother of two toddlers, living in a small rural community in Sussex County, Delaware, where basically everyone belonged to the Volunteer Fire Company, Lion's Club, Ladies Auxillary, Garden Club, and attended the same Methodist Church.
Although we attended church every Sunday, and I believed in God and Jesus Christ, I was not taking anyone's word for anything, and was continuing my investigation into the paranormal, which I had been doing ever since I discovered my psychic ability at the age of 10.
One Sunday the sermon centered around The Holy Spirit, also known as The Helper, The Holy Ghost and The Comforter. I was particularly intrigued by John 14-16 when Jesus, at the Last Supper, speaks to the disciples:
JOHN 14:15-17: "If you love me you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter to be with you forever - the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you.
"JOHN 14:25, 26:"All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
JOHN 15:26:"When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me."
JOHN 16:7,8:"But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away.Unless I go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment."
JOHN 16:13-15: "But when he, the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it know to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."
Coincidence?
I began searching my Bible for passages about The Helper. My grandfather taught Sunday School, so I called my mother and asked if she knew the story behind The Helper - about how you can call on it for everyday help. She said she did not.
What happened during that phone call could be called either a miracle or an AMAZING coincidence.
During this phone call, we talked about the promise that The Helper was something or someone which could be called upon when needed for assistance with anything. In our discussion about miracles we talked about the prophet Elijah, who was taken up into heaven in a cloud, and never seen again. I was searching my little black Bible with the zipper for his name, and my mother was using a huge Family Bible. But we couldn't find his name.
"Mom, let's close our Bibles and ask The Helper to help us find Elijah."
We closed our Bibles and I said the prayer that one is supposed to use to invoke The Helper's assistance, meaning you always have to preface your request with "thank you": "Helper, thank you for helping us find Elijah in our Bibles. Amen" and then I said to my mother on the other end of the line: "Open your Bible" and we BOTH opened our Bibles to the same chapter and verse where the prophet Elijah was first mentioned in the Bible.
Now, we could debate this subject by saying it was The Library Angel, Harahel, or it was The Helper. The Library Angel, about which I write in another Hub, is responsible for people looking for information. For example, they go to the library looking for information and the book falls off the shelf or is sticking out from the shelf. That sort of thing.
Maybe it was a coincidence.
Years later, when I told this story to my sister, the lights in the room suddenly got brighter, then dimmed.
Another time after a telling of this story, the lightbulb in the light I was turning off, exploded.
But I digress...
Seriously?
Within a week after the Bible opening incident, my church's Bible Study group asked me if I would like to join them. The subject of their study? A book I had never heard of called (wait for it) The Helper, by Catherine Marshall.
The Helper is a story about the lessons Marshall learned by living them out. She offers forty inspirational "helps," or readings, that contain scripture, a prayer, and insight into the provocative third person of the Trinity. It also answers the questions:
- Who is The Helper?
- How do I experience The Helper's presence?
- How does The Helper meet everyday needs?
- What is The Helper's role and function in the Church?
Be Careful How You Phrase Your Helper Requests
According to my investigation into The Helper, you need only ask and you shall receive. What you need to know, after everything I've learned is: Be careful how you phrase your request.
For example:
When I was a Realtor, I was making breakfast, slowing stirring some scrambled eggs (a meditative state I've since learned) and thinking about a listing that had not sold and which I was about to lose if I didn't sell it. I said a silent prayer to The Helper: Thank you for making my listing sell. Amen. It sold that afternoon. But what I should have asked is: "Thank you for making my listing sell and CLOSE." because the sale fell through.
A more chilling example of an answered prayer is about a co-worker who told me a story about her son:
Her son had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd and was using drugs and getting into all kinds of trouble and so she prayed and turned the matter over to God because she couldn't figure out what to do. She asked God to take care of her son. What happened was that afternoon her son's car ran off the road and damaged the gas tank, and exploded, he was trapped in the car, with the doors locked and was burned alive while his sister looked on.
What Do You Think?
Do You Believe in The Helper?
Trouble Writing this Hub
,When I decided to write this article I found my childhood Bible easily enough. I opened up the concordance and began looking for the "H's" and Helper. I finally found The Helper. The pages of this Bible are very thin, and were stuck together the entire length of the page where The Helper was listed...
I thought to myself: I'm going to photograph this as evidence because these are the ONLY pages that are stuck together in the entire Bible.
Could not find my camera. It is usually in my purse. Checked my purse 3 times. Emailed my husband, my co-workers, can't find my camera. Finally, one last time, I look in my purse, and the camera is there where it was not anywhere before.
Here is the photo.
Was something trying to prevent me from taking the photograph? If so, was it an evil presence or just a coincidence? I'm curious to read your feedback.
If you believe in spirits you have to believe there are good and bad ones.
Update: The Helper Appears Again
While browsing Amazon for a book my husband had requested as a Christmas present, a book by Theresa Caputo "The Long Island Medium" popped up on the page where I was searching.
Unaware that she had written a book, and because I'm a fan of the show, I purchased the book, in which Caputo talks about The Helper or The Holy Spirit. She also talks about lights going on and off by virtue of Spirit communication. She talks about opening books and getting answers from Spirit.
It was just the book I needed.
Early one morning before anyone else was awake, I saw my husband's Bible beside his chair where he usually keeps it for his daily devotional. Before this particular morning, I had never opened it. But a small voice in the back of my head said: "open it".
I picked up the Bible, and opened it. It opened to the page where The Helper is first mentioned: John 14-16.
This could not be just a coincidence.
I answered my own question.