Ok… no-ones listening, so I’m going to be really honest with you. Lean closer ‘cos I’m whispering…. Whenever people talked about ‘soaking’ events, I had an automatic ‘I’m washing my hair that night’ response.

I wasn’t interested. I just didn’t get it. I pictured all these people lying on the floor listening to whale music. It didn’t appeal in the slightest. My assumption was that this was hippy, ‘new-age’ nonsense for people called Marjorie who, in their youth had had an alarmingly irregular relationship with soap. So when a close friend starting raving about certain CD’s he was listening to of this genre, I was quietly dubious and even slightly ‘out-loud’ sceptical. But God was doing something in me at the same time that made me curious to know more.

Without any provocation, one day this friend gave me some soaking CD’s to listen to. He seemed really confident I’d love them. Part of me began to suspect he might be right. So I put one on with an expectant heart. I sat and dutifully waited. At first, nothing happened. Zilch. Nada. But then something definitely happened. And I didn’t try to MAKE it happen.
The music itself was stunningly beautiful (Julian and Melissa Wiggins’ CD ‘Breathless.’) But that wasn’t what made me feel suddenly so tenderhearted.

Let me try and explain.

When I was younger I went to a ‘Weight Watchers’ group. One of the women there was seriously massive. We are talking impressive tonnage. She used to arrive and shout to me to save her two chairs: ‘one for each cheek.’

A big lady with a bigger personality and even bigger pants. She was fabulous and I adored her. Before she sat down anywhere, she had to check very carefully that the chair/s could hold her weight. Perching on delicate bar stools was not an option for Karen. Reinforced steel of park bench size was more her thing.

And so it is with God. He is similarly heavy. He checks beforehand what will take the weight of His presence. And you see, this music did. It was not just music. It carried with it the weight of Father. As I listened, I felt I was gently ambushed by His spirit. It was a totally new sensation and prayer experience for me. Within minutes I felt turned inside out. Crying and smiling, in that ‘both together’ way deep prayer brings, I texted my friend the words, ‘Now I get what you meant!’ He replied instantly, ‘I knew you would!’

For the next few days I immersed myself in the music and heard Father speak to me in new ways. I soaked up all I could, emptied it out on others and came back for more. Far from being the self-referencial, naval-gazing exercise I’d feared, I found it gave me incredible new insight and prophetic words for those around me; stranger and friend alike.

I asked my husband to move some of the furniture. I found an old mattrass and I lay for hours when the children had gone to bed, waiting, listening and watching for God. He always came.

That was 8 months ago.
I haven’t stopped and I’m not planning to.

For the soaking novices or sceptics out there, Julie True (julietrue.com) is very helpful. She says, ‘Soaking can encompass many things. It’s a time to quiet the soul, but to be awakened in the spirit to hear the heart of God in that moment, and to interact with Him in a very personal way.’

So that’s why I need soaking.

I couldn’t do without it now.
Do me a favour?
Don’t pretend you know about it.
See for yourself.

(There are four soaking CD’s available by Julian and Melissa Wiggins and many other Soaking or ‘Presence’ CD’s at Worshipwithintegrity.com)