Hi Ben,
I remember you and I talking about this quite awhile back. Not sure if you remember but you asked me to pray for you about this. Anyways, just wanted to let you know I remember that before I share what happened to me.
As with many things, for years I struggled trying to understand tongues in particular. I had doubts but I wasn't doubting God, I was doubting his ability to bestow such a gift on me without understanding it. It wasn't until I got over myself (aka stopped leaning to my own understanding) and just decided to trust God on it. I just trusted that if such a gift was necessary at any time, God was more than able to perform it in me despite my ignorance. After that, I had multiple experiences. I will just share a couple in hopes that it will be uplifting to others.
Gift of tongues/interpretation
The Lord sent me to a household but did not tell me why. I spent time mostly just helping around the house but also ministering whenever the Lord instructed. I was still not sure why I was there though. Then one day the spirit of the Lord came on me strongly while I was caring for the 1 1/2 year old in the house. I began to speak to him in tongues. His eyes lit up and he looked at me and started babbling back to me. It continued for a short time before I was given the interpretation. When this happened, I switched to speaking in English. During the conversation I learned from the child that something was wrong with his mother. I asked for specifics but he nodded no and continued babbling. After my discussion, I knew that I was there because of her specifically. Later I found out that she had a couple of secrets. One... she was a drug addict and none of her friends or family suspected. Two... she had hepatitis. I told her that God was more than able to heal her of both. She had her doubts and did not want to talk about it. I told her that God would heal her of the hepatitis as and that if she then would trust in him and repent of her ways, God would free her from her addiction. She ended up not wanting me back to the house. She avoided me now that I knew about her drug addiction. Many months later she called me to tell me that the doctors were baffled cause she showed no signs of hepatitis. She soon after checked herself into rehab.
I never knew God would use the gift of tongues and interpretation in that way. No man had ever taught me that. It wasn't up to me and my understanding. It was God doing the work in a willing vessel. So I can only boast in knowing him, not in anything I have done.
Interpretation
A couple of years later a friend of mine and I decided to check out a Puerto Rican church in my area. I lived in a Latin neighborhood. The decision was really out of obedience on both of our parts. We went only to discover that the message was not in English. They asked if I would need an interpreter and my friend was a bit surprised when I said "no". She responded saying, "Well, I know a bit of Spanish. I can help him a bit if he needs it."
The message began and I just closed my eyes and spoke in tongues softly. Soon after, I was able to understand the context of a paragraph... and then a sentence... and then even specific words. I leaned over to my friend and whispered, "The preacher is talking about a woman that they knew that got healed of cancer, right?" She looked at me, grinned, and said, "Yes... is God interpreting for you?" I smiled and said "Yes". I turned back to the preacher who paused for a moment, looked at me, tilted her head as if she was listening to someone, then smiled at me and continues. It was a really cool experience.
God is awesome.
