What's Your Story?

[CoryT]

On the sister site of my blog, I'm posting the following item:

At a close friend's wedding, I met her grandfather. He told me that he met God personally, and that God had spared him from an early death in order to tell everyone he met what he saw in that encounter. To meet this man and hear his story, there is no doubt that he is sincere, that he is rational and sane, and that he truly believes that he had an encounter with God.

It is my sincere belief that Marshall Brain would blow this story off as a hallucination, or something similar. Why? Because it contradicts the point of his final proof--that Jesus doesn't appear to anyone today. This is simply false--Jesus can and does appear to a select few people in each generation.

In the first few chapters of The Purpose Driven Church, pastor Rick Warren emphatically states several times that God "spoke to him." By reading the story of the early beginnings of Saddleback Church, there is no doubt that Rick Warren was moved by something special to build the largest church in the United States. Rick Warren, like my friend's grandfather, had a personal encounter with God.

No doubt Marshall Brain would dismiss this as well, even though the story of Saddleback Church's beginning would have too many coincidences to be anything but divine intervention.

My own wedding came together in less than a month. Most weddings take a year or more to plan. We were able to have the wedding of my wife's dreams, planned an executed within a month. Now maybe everything that came together did so by coincidence, but that is an awful lot of coincidences. My wife and I began our marriage with a personal encounter with God.

Despite having fertility problems and being ill during ovulation, my wife and I were able to conceive our daughter on the first try. Could this also be a coincidence? Sure, but an awful lot of things had to work in our favor in order for that to be mere coincidence. I believe that it is another personal encounter with God.

Jesus may not physically manifest himself in our presence and speak to us, but he makes himself known in other ways, as I have illustrated above. We encounter him through the circumstances and people in our lives. We see his work through the church.

What I would like to see from the believers on this site are some additional examples of God working in your life. Reading testimonials like these enriches everyone's life, and Lord knows I could use some uplifting stories in light of the ministry projects I've taken on lately. So let's hear 'em, believers!

[Diogenes]

 

[Humbernyui]

Wish you a good role model for her in this way.

[Boots]

Despite having fertility problems and being ill during ovulation, my wife and I were able to conceive our daughter on the first try. Could this also be a coincidence? Sure, but an awful lot of things had to work in our favor in order for that to be mere coincidence. I believe that it is another personal encounter with God.

Sssssooooo.....happy coincidence = personal encounter with God.  Check.

[mummy]

Not convinced there are enough Christians on this site to make this thread work. I'm guessing probably about 5% of us if that?
My  story is that God 3 years healed me of 23 years of clinical depression - now I am in a very difficult family situation withh my 19 year old son wrongly imprisoned. Do I blame God? no. I thank God that he is giving us the strength as a family to get through this and fight for our son's release. I would have gone under had I still suffered with depression

[rickymooston]

Not convinced there are enough Christians on this site to make this thread work.
I'm guessing probably about 5% of us if that?I'm guessing probably about 5% of us if that?

For a while, there were.

My  story is that God 3 years healed me of 23 years of clinical depression - now I am in a very difficult family situation withh my 19 year old son wrongly imprisoned. Do I blame God? no. I thank God that he is giving us the strength as a family to get through this and fight for our son's release. I would have gone under had I still suffered with depression

Sounds awful. How do you know by the way that your son was innocent...?

[Foxy Freedom]

My  story is that God 3 years healed me of 23 years of clinical depression - now I am in a very difficult family situation withh my 19 year old son wrongly imprisoned. Do I blame God? no. I thank God that he is giving us the strength as a family to get through this and fight for our son's release. I would have gone under had I still suffered with depression

Scripture says that the hairs on our head are numbered and that a sparrow cannot fall the ground apart from the Father. Its says that He has declared the end from the beginning, and that every day of our lives were written before we were even born. These passages are sufficient for me to believe that God does in fact omniscient.

[Boots]

Not convinced there are enough Christians on this site to make this thread work. I'm guessing probably about 5% of us if that?
My  story is that God 3 years healed me of 23 years of clinical depression - now I am in a very difficult family situation withh my 19 year old son wrongly imprisoned. Do I blame God? no. I thank God that he is giving us the strength as a family to get through this and fight for our son's release. I would have gone under had I still suffered with depression

Hey mummy.  You have my symapthy for a very difficult situation.  I would not wish such a situation on anyone, and I sincerely hope for a positive outcome for you and yours, and in a timely fashion.

your post brings up a question.  I truly do NOT mean to sound smarmy with this question, but I can't think of another way to word it.  you give God the credit for the good stuff, but you don't blame God for the bad stuff.  This appears to be "having it both ways."  Can you explain this apparent contradiction to a nonbeliever such as me?