God Punched a Hole in the Fabric

A few days before Christmas, as I recollect, I was sitting either in my office or in our crib upstairs when a picture popped into my head. The location of the image was Northampton. Overhead was something like a dark, heavy "fabric," almost vinyl in nature. I immediately took it to mean a spiritual blockade or stronghold of some kind. In the fabric a hole had been punched - similar to the picture above - and a brilliant shaft of light was steaming through.


At the same time as I saw the mental image, I had a clear, persisting sense that God had punched a hole through it and a shift had occurred. I took it to mean the darkness had been penetrated and thus, imagine/Northampton and all who bore Christ's name here would begin to see fruit from our labors, especially regarding changed lives, people opening to Jesus and joining our work. Remarkable was the quiet assurance of, "The fact of the matter is a Kingdom shift has taken place and God has breached the resistance." Things will begin to be different.

Now you need to know, I'm not often privy to this sort of thing. I tend to be cautious about triumphalist pronouncements from dreams, visions, senses and feelings. I do not deny God will and does communicate this way, but I've seen people bellow declarations with great fervor that never seem to materialize. So I take such stuff with a grain of salt without throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I err on the side of caution, I guess.

I know our longing for the immediate victory of God over troubling predicaments or horrific occurrences can be extremely powerful. We want to see his Kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We long for relief, justice and freedom, and for it to be set to rights. My prayers have, indeed,  been more fervent since I moved to the Paradise City. There is a "how long" element to them for sure.

Be that as it may, the image I saw and sense I experienced will remain with me for a while. I'll look for evidence and celebrate God's goodness if and when it confirms the picture. I will encourage others to do the same.

Recently, I've mentioned my experience to a few others and curiously enough they've confirmed having a similar sense. In one instance, the person initiated the topic before I said anything.

So have you experienced something like what I did in the last few months? Does it seem God is taking initiative to bless your faithful efforts to bring him glory in a new way?

I'd love to hear about it.

I think it well to end with since I became a Jesus-follower in 1972 the present days do seem a portend of the end of the Age in a way I've not been aware. I'm a student of history so I'm fully aware the world has gone through other turbulent periods when people felt the end of was near. I don't know it's near. Nor am I jumping to facile conclusions . . . just noticing and praying in different way. Trying to stay vigilant and "read the signs of the times," so I'm not caught unawares.