Back in the 1980’s, Sandi Patty and Larnelle Harris sang a duet unparalleled to any other, in my mind, anyway – “I’ve Just Seen Jesus”.  It moved me like no other piece of Christian music ever had at that time.  (See lyrics to the chorus at bottom of page.)  And I have ‘seen’ Jesus more than once in my life – and would like to share just two or three of those times with you and in no particular order.

Sometimes I walk into one of the rooms at the State-run Baby Orphanage that Love From Above supports in Romania – and the presence of Jesus is almost breathtaking.  I remember one of ‘my’ immobile babies, Delia (who may have been eight years old, around 28 pounds, had perhaps what is hypertonia (muscles that are stiff and rigid/chronically contracted), was blind and probably in a day-old dirty, smelly diaper) — I remember that when I began to minister to all the babies in that particular room singing softly, “I Love You, Lord”, or some other worshipful song, little Delia was lifting those stiff, boney arms straight to the Heavens.  It was if she could ‘see’ her Creator, her Sustainer, the Lover of her soul.  I felt that I had just ‘seen Jesus’ right along with her – that I was in His presence!

On a very long trip from Braşov, the city where I live in Romania to the northwest area of the country in a small, dirty van with three other ladies, a sick child and two drunk men, I was dumped off the van around 1:00a – the middle of the night being told that it was my ‘stop’. I could not believe what they were saying was true.  And when I tried to make the driver understand that I couldn’t get off practically in the middle of nowhere, he began to get very angry.  One of the passengers in broken English told me that this most certainly was my ‘stop’ and if I didn’t get off here, that the driver would continue on not stopping for another sixty-some kilometers.  I was bordering on panicking – but got off the van.

There I was standing on the side of a very narrow road with a deep ditch behind me – no lights in the distant vacant-looking couple of houses – and absolutely not knowing what to do.  Every few minutes a lorry (by U.S. standards, a small big-rig) would come around the corner by me. I would put my little flip-phone up to my ear as if I were talking with someone.  (Do you know what kind of women stand on the side of the road in a deserted place in Romania – and that those men know why she is there??)  I prayed as I had never prayed before, “Please, Lord – Please!! – surround me with Your protection.  Please let no harm come to me” (before the friends arrive who were supposed to be there earlier.  On time!).

Without knowing why, I lifted my face to the Heavens and was in such awe – gobsmacked! – by the thousands and thousands of stars that shone so brightly in the blackness of the sky.  I remember looking ‘up’ at Jesus and crying out, “You are not only there” (way out there in the Heavens) – “You are here, right in here!!” (pointing to my heart). I had just ‘seen Jesus’! He was there . . .

There have been many times I have ‘seen Jesus’, but the last one I will write about here concerns my rising early one morning many years ago.  My Dad had passed away not too long before, and I felt so alone.  I needed my Dad.  I needed his hug. Before my husband and three sons arose, I knelt at the pink couch in my nearly dark living room – just a couple of soft lights on from the night.  I buried my head in my hands and cried. Just cried.  I felt someone beside me and an arm around my shoulder.  I knew Who it was. He was so real that I actually leaned into Him feeling His tenderness towards my spirit.  I was filled with His love and compassion!  I had just ‘seen, experienced, been with Jesus’ . . .

After ‘seeing Jesus’ when I was twenty-eight years old, I have often told people of my story of coming to Him – and always have told them that ‘I was never the same again’.  My heart weeps, once again, as we approach Good Friday (as I am writing this) just thinking of what GOD did for us – gave His only Son – loved us with a love that I can’t possibly understand how much or what kind of love that is.  But then, as we approach, Resurrection Morning, my heart beats faster knowing once again that I will celebrate ‘having just seen Jesus – once again’ . . .

I’ve just seen Jesus
I tell you He’s alive
I’ve just seen Jesus
And I knew, He really saw me too
As if till now, I’d never lived
All that I’d done before
Won’t matter anymore
I’ve just seen Jesus
And I’ll never be the same again