It was the second or third time I had attended the Cantonuovo meetings when an event was organised by a Christian church in Pescara, which invited Maurizio Tiezzi to present his book *La vita in 4D*, as well as Maurizio, Angela and their band for a worship concert immediately after the meeting.
I decided to go. There were lots of people there, including many of my friends from Cantonuovo. At the end of the presentation and the teachings, Maurizio was invited by the organisers to lead a moment of prayer and to lay hands on those who wished to be immersed in the Holy Spirit.
Many people had queued up to go to him. But I got up because I wanted to go to a shop I’d spotted on my way in to buy something I’d been looking for for a while and which I wanted to send to refugee children through a charity. As I was moving off, a brother of mine from Cantonuovo, making room for me, said, ‘Are you leaving?’.
That sentence froze me there, in the middle of the aisle, unable to go forwards or backwards, neither towards the exit nor towards Maurizio. It was as if my feet were glued to the floor and I had no will of my own. I asked, ‘Jesus, tell me what to do, give me a sign.’ At that moment, the queue of people had cleared and Maurizio looked at me, spreading his arms as if to say, ‘Come on in!’ It was the sign I felt was Jesus’s answer. And I went to Him with an open heart, with a ‘Yes’ that came from deep within, in complete surrender to Him.
He laid his hands on me without touching me, and I felt filled with peace and joy. Then I felt an immense power, an extraordinary force that pushed me backwards, which I could not resist. I fell, completely surrendered to it, and found myself in the arms of someone standing ready behind me to catch me, who laid me gently on the ground.
I was at peace, in joy, in complete surrender to the Holy Spirit and His power. This experience had a profound effect on me. The Lord had held my feet back so that I would not leave that gathering, and then He had called me to Him to give me His embrace and fill me with His power.
That moment has remained and will always remain in my heart. It had been my first profound encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Lord that would guide my life.
I learnt more and more to recognise it and to deepen my relationship with Him, allowing myself to be guided by it in so many situations when His voice, through my heart and through a firm and calm awareness, shows me the right path to follow, the behaviour or choice to make, thus guiding my life in both small and great matters. Thank you, Lord!