The Plain Speaking of Truth in Love

For the last few weeks, our church has been doing a study on what it means to be a "people of the spirit." Many of us are not operating in the spirit out of fear of being insincere or because we have been hurt in the past by others who thought they were operating in the spirit, but were not. This last Sunday, Chris focused specifically on prophecy - what it is and what it is not.
Prophecy is not just a foretelling of the future. I have countless youth camp experiences during which some one told me that God told them I would be a missionary, etc. I do not have that calling on my life. Mark has shared that during his grandfather's battle with cancer, many people told him and his other family members that his grandfather would be healed. He was not, and no one had any accountability for saying these things.
While I do feel that as a spirit filled Christian I should allow the Holy Spirit to operate in my life in these ways, I'm uncomfortable doing so for fear of being wrong. How do you know if that urge you feel is you or the Holy Spirit? You don't and there is no way to know. So, you must operate in faith with a knowledge of a broader definition of prophecy.
Chris, Stephen and Mark have defined prophecy as "the plain speaking of truth in love." This does not mean telling the future (which can be a part of prophecy), but simply being willing to share with one another what God is doing with us and how we see God working/not being allowed to work in another's life.
Jill, a friend of ours at church, allowed the Holy Spirit to work through her in such a way this past Sunday night. Cecil was sitting with us during worship service and asked if we could take communion together. Of course we did. This is always a special time for us to teach Cecil about the sacrament and to pray together. A few minutes later, Jill came to me and said, "Thank you for loving Cecil." It was simple, but it affected me profoundly. I spend a considerable amount of time praying and worrying about whether we will be able to adopt Cecil, what his future will look like, how he will be able to handle the pain he's already experienced and has yet to see. But, through Jill's plain speaking of the truth in love to me, I realized that all that matters is that I love Cecil with all my heart and the rest is in God's hands.