Another near fainting Spell.

Today at Church, when the service was almost done and we were all kneeling, I again felt very warm. So, I unzipped my coat a little bit. Then I took off my scarf, and then I was still sweltering. It was so sudden. And in fact at the time I think I was thanking God for healing me because my sinuses and throat again feel normal. Then, I could feel myself grow pale and my eyesight became blotchy. I looked at Veronika and told her in Russian that I felt very hot… as if I might faint. So She asked if I wanted to go outside and I said yes. We left the church and I said I needed to lay down in the car. She guided me there. I am fairly confident that I looked drunk… at any rate, we made it to the car, she got it unlocked and I lay down there in the back seat. She waited around a bit and then went back into the church once I assured her that all was well. No sooner did she leave that she came back because the service was over. Yupp. Strange things are afoot within this tent of mine (for those of you who don’t know… that is frequently what I call my body, particularly when it is reminding me of how temporal it is). We have been playing with some ideas. Mama has thrown out the hypothesis that perhaps my body is reacting to all the pills I used to take the last time I was here… I find this hypothesis unlikely… but possible. I wondered if perhaps I am dehydrated…. Veronika find that unlikely because I do drink quite a lot of chai…. Mama has considered that perhaps it is just because I have been sick, and indeed I did have some sinus issues and those are known to cause light-headedness. I comically offered the possibilitiy that I have become narcoleptic and not so comically mentioned that perhaps I have developed diabetes. But in short, Veronika and the whole family was quite concerned. Veronika is concerned about what my happen if I go out on my own somewhere and have a “fainting spell.” I am not so concerned. I can handle crap situations pretty well, and God always enjoys helping me. Perhaps it is nothing to be worried about. Since I was fairly young I have experienced light-headedness which I attributed to low blood pressure, and am swift to lay down and take care of business. Were it not for the fact that I had in fact fainted a few months earlier I would have kept kneeling and assumed it would pass, as I have occasionally done in the past. Veronika would like me to get it check out as soon as I get to St. Pete and see what their Student health program is like, and Mama suggested I get a blood analysis.
But enough about that.
I am still sleeping loads. As I said I feel better. I prayed very specifically for healing yester and I fully believe the Lord answered my, and all of your prayers in one beautiful and swift moment and since then it has been getting better rapidly.
I am working on reading Alcoholic Empire it is about Imperial Russia and its relationship to Alcoholism. It is quite interesting, but I haven’t been able to maintain an attention span. :( So, I did a lot of stumbling upon today  and I ate 3 sirki! Yea!!!
Yesterday the Lord was awesome (as per usual), and really knocked down my giant of pride by using Breaking Free as His refining tool. I feel very empowered by the Lord in this area and know I must constantly be on my guard, but I no longer feel like it will inevitably rule my life for all eternity. Today Great Aunt Vera went to church with us, and my other Aunt is over too. I discussed with them the differences between “Baptists” and Catholics. From personal experience and from what I have heard from my sources in Russia, there seems to be this strange stigma against Baptists and in fact all Protestants who are often lumped into the category of “Baptist.” Yeah. I have heard things like they worship the moon, and my friends from St. Pete heard they offer blood sacrifices, but whatever rumor you hear, you may be sure we are a cult and a nasty one at that. So for the purpose of this conversation I strongly stressed the similarities between Catholicism and Protestantism. The main differences I outlined were that we don’t pray to the saints and that our pastors can marry.
Actually, I don’t think I told you guys… NO, I didn’t. A couple of days ago Babushka and I had a lengthy religious discussion. We discussed what the priest said last Sunday about praying that we would only have one faith. And so it got us on the topic of the differences between Catholics and Protestants. Actually, it brought us to the topic of why I am not Catholic. She took the sermon as meaning that everyone will be Catholic soon if all goes well, which might have been how it was presented, how should I know? So, I told he that I don’t believe it is right to pray to saint, and that I only pray to God and Jesus. She said I should pray to Mary, and I said that doesn’t make since because she was just a person, a person blessed by God, and a person who knew Jesus, but just a person. She said she was mother to Jesus, I said yes… and no. Yes she was mother to Jesus, but he existed before she did and I quoted John as best I could in Russian “in the beginning was word…” etc. so, she of course agreed to that and then I said, that I know God loves her, but he also loves me, so he will listen to me just as much as he did her, so I don’t need to pray to her when I can just pray to God. She tried a few times to explain why I should pray to her, but she never seemed to say much more than just that I should. So I said that if I don’t understand, and I don’t believe it is good, how can I pray to her? And she agreed. Then I said that I am also not catholic because eI don’t think the Pope is always right and that he too is just a person. She still said that everyone needs to become catholic, but we couldn’t resolve how people like me could become catholic if we don’t believe in the Pope, or in Praying to Mary. She said he Catholic church is the first Church and that we all came from it (thus we should go back to it). I tried to take us a step back. I ran and got my Bible. Then I started at this distant point, saying that Judaism was the first true religion and that Jesus was a Jew. She of course agreed. Then I said that the foundation of the Catholic Church was after the Bible was written, and that we should all try to be like the Bible. I made it clear to her that I didn’t think Baptists completely got it right, and that I didn’t think Catholics completely got it right, but I also don’t think either of them got it all wrong. Then I said that all we know about the first Church, is what is in the Bible and that is what we should all try to be like. I then read (rather slowly and with some help from Babushka) Acts 5:32-35 to her and said that is what we know of the first church. And I said that what is written there cannot be said of her church (fully), and cannot be said of my church (fully) either. And that this is one way we know we are not right. She seemed interested in this notion and it gave her pause. But the conversation ended with me joyously proclaiming (whether in the Spirit or not… but I certainly hope so) that since then we have one God, and One Bible, we also have one Faith. That if Baptist love Catholic and Catholics love Baptists and we know we have one God, then we truly will be one. And that we already did what the Priest has told us to pray for. Glory to God!
This made babushka smile, but probably not for the same reasons I was smiling and the conversation ending with Babushka telling me I will become Catholic…. Maybe I’ll marry a catholic man she said.
Anyways, so based on these two conversations (the one with Babushka and the one with Veronika that I wrote about in a different blog), we had this third conversation with my aunt, Babushka, Veronika and me in which my aunt asked what baptists (thus all protestants remember) believe. So I only mentioned a few points: we don’t pray to the saints and that our pastors can marry. Then I again mentioned we have the same Bible and the same God. My aunt told me that we have a different Bible, but both Veronika and Babushka backed me saying that they had seen my Bible and it was the same as theirs. From there the conversation wandered all over the place including whether Cherith’s was in a Church, and many other strange rabbit holes. (btw Cher and Ferg when Veronika and Lyuda saw your wedding pictures they were amazed and said it was just like the movies :D I thought that was cute!)
About these theological discussions: I realize I am probably less educated than most of you reading this blog on the matters of theology. If I have said something you feel if fundamentally wrong, please tell me in love and show the scripture to help me understand. Despite all of the time the Lord has given me to prepare for the ministry He informed me that He has planned for me, so very long ago (wow… was I really called to the ministry 7 or more years ago????), I have squandered a lot of time that I could have spent in the Word and in preparation. I also am stubborn and no the brightest crayon in the box. In short my style lends towards more of a fly by the seat of your pants type ministry… which is EXTREMELY UNFORTUNATE. I do spend time in the Word daily (although I occasionally let a day go… once a month or two ): ). But I tend to devote little to no time to specific theological study, and tend to let such things just come up whether in RUF, Bible study, Church, Bible readings, of conversations and dig into the scripture and theology of it as needed or as is interesting. In short, I probably say stupid things, correct me if you can, pray for the hearts of those who talk to me, pray for wisdom for me, and pray that I am led by the Spirit when I speak, and shut my mouth when I ought (a chronic problem for me). I will try to be diligent to pray the same. 
So yes…. I have little more to say for now, sorry that this blog post wasn’t organized… I was going to say very well, but I actually gave no thought to the organization of it so I should say at all. But I would like to leave you with a wonderful prayer the Lord blessed me with Yesterday also from the Valley of Vision:
“Morning”
COMPASSIONATE LORD,
Thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day,
Vain will be its gift unless I grow in grace,
increase in knowledge,
ripen for spiritual harvest.
Let me this day know thee as thou art,
love the supremely,
serve the wholly,
admire thee fully.
Through grace let my will respond to thee,
Knowing that power to obey is not in me, but
that thy free love alone enables me to serve thee.
Here then is my empty heart,
overflow it with thy choicest gifts;
Here is my blind understanding,
chase away its mists of ignorance.
O ever watchful Shepherd,
lead, guide, tend me this day;
Without thy restraining rod I err and stray;
Hedge up my path lest I wander into unwholesome pleasure,
and drink its poisonous streams;
Direct my feet that I be not entangled in Satan’s secret snares,
nor fall into his hidden traps.
Defend me from assailing foes,
from evil circumstances,
from myself.
My adversaries are part and parcel of my nature;
They cling to me as my very skin;
I cannot escape their contact.
In my rising up and sitting down they barnacle me;
They entice with constant baits;
My enemy is within the citadel;
Come with almighty power and cast him out, pierce him to death,
and abolish in me every particle of carnal life this day.

I was blessed to pray it again as I wrote it and I hope and pray it blesses and enriches you too!
Plus I didn’t know barnacle could be a verb, and that is pretty cool.