 I Remember The Day..., The Day I Found God |
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WizardofOwls  |
Posted: 05-May-2004, 08:24 PM
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Wanderer and Vagabond
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 5,142
Joined: 12-Mar-2004
Zodiac: Vine
Realm: Wytheville, Virginia
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Do you remember the day that you got saved? I do!
I was raised in church. My mom was a preacher's daughter and she made sure we got a firm foundation in church. However somehow it all just never clicked. Even though I knew all about the Bible and everything, I jsut never made that commitment. Then once, sometime in the 90s I got saved, but I just never took it seriously enough, and within just a few months, I ws back to my old ways, forgetting all about God
Flash forward to 2001. My wife had already been saved for about 5 years. She had been listening to Christian music and trying to witness to me, but I wasn't paying much attention. I was too caught up in doing my own thing to give God a second thought. But some of what she was saying was getting through...
Then November 3, 2001 arrived. It was a Saturday and I was at work. It was only a couple of months after 9/11 and the world was still in shock. I was on my lunch break and we were watching CNN on TV and this was the catalyst.
First a news story came on. They were talking about some people in government who were discussing the possiblity of requiring everyone to get citizen ID cards which would contain each person's fingerprints or retina scan.
The next story was about a dog that had gotten lost. Vets had implanted a computer chip under its skin that contained the name, address and telephone number of the dog's owner. This allowed the vets to contact the dog's owner and return the dog home.
Then a commercial came on. It was about a new credit card which had what they called a smart chip on it which contained the owner's credit information on it.
All of this got me to thinking about what the Bible says about the Mark of the Beast. How easy would it be to put all of our credit info and personal stats on a computer chip and implant it under the skin, say on the forehead or hand? Then they could scan your fingerprints while scanning the chip on your hand, or check your retina scans while checking the chip in your forehead! Doing this would eliminate the need for physical money - a cashless society. They would just credit your account. No identity theft. No counterfeiting.
Well, needless to say, I was thinking just how close we could be getting to the end times. The Rapture could be just around the corner and I wasn't ready. The more I thought about it, the more I just KNEW it was time! I HAD to get right with God before it was too late.
Now in tears, I went back to my department. I was working alone, so I didn't have to explain my tears to anyone. I went behind some equipment (even though I was alone, I still wanted to be sure that I was alone with God - this wasn't a spectator sport!) and I prayed to God to forgive me for my sins and make me a new creature.
I thank God for turning my life around and helping me to get my life back in order. In just two and a half years since I got saved, God has taken us from living in a third-hand trailer to a brand new double wide with land of our own, from two used cars on their last legs to two brand new vehicles! From a marriage that was about to fall apart to a renewed commitment and a peace that I'd only dreamed about before!
Well, that's it. Thanks for listening. So how about you? What were the circumstances when God found you? I'd love to hear about it if you're willing to share!
God bless you all!
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Slàn agus beannachd,
Allen R. Alderman
'S i Alba tìr mo chridhe. 'S i Gàidhlig cànan m' anama.
Scotland is the land of my heart. Gaelic is the language of my soul.
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| tsargent62 |
Posted: 06-May-2004, 10:50 AM
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Lord Socknoggle
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 1,994
Joined: 17-Nov-2003
Zodiac: Birch
Realm: Lake Orion, Michigan
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I posted this on the Answers to Prayers thread, but it is important enough to I am happy to repeat it.
This was a profound religeous experience for me.
I was brought up a Christian and believed in God. I went through the youth classes at my church and happily became a full member. But when I went to college I had a class on Western Civilization. We talked about the roots of religeon and it made me, for the first time in my life, doubt my own faith. Eventially I even doubted the very existance of God and declared myself agnostic.
Well, one day I met young Mormon girl and she convinced me to talk to some missionaries. I had always been fascinated by their church, since I didn't know anything about it, so I thought it might be interesting. After talking to them I started thinking about God and if he really existed.
I was working at a foundry doing outdoor maintenance at the time. One day I was on the roof of the plant working. I looked around, saw I was alone and thought, "Why not?" So I got down on my knees and asked, "God, are you there?" Immediately I surrounded by warmth and a feeling of absolute, pure joy. I was like the prodigal son, being joyously welcomed home by his father. I've never felt so much love in my life. I was immersed in it. I have no doubt that God was as happy as I was that day, because he definitely showed it. I will never forget how that felt. I can feel it again as I write this.
Since then, I have no more doubt. I know that Jesus is a real person who died for the remission of my sins. I know that Holy Ghost whispers in my ear to help me do the right thing. And I know that God, our Father, created everything and above all, that he loves me. And I love Him.
God bless you all.
Todd
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| Roisin-Teagan |
Posted: 08-May-2004, 10:54 AM
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a ragamuffin of Eireann
Group: Ireland
Posts: 735
Joined: 25-Jul-2003
Zodiac: Elder
Realm: South Louisiana
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Wizardofowls and Todd, your testimonies of how God captured your heart are beautiful. It seems God uses the most simple things to get our attention, like commercials or news broadcast on television or a girl talking about Jesus. My story is slightly different:
Since I was about 4 years of age I was raised in church. I use to attend Sunday School every week and Children's Church. I loved it. It is there I learned about the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. I remember almost every Sunday getting up in front of Children's Church (which was the old church santuary) and singing "Jesus Loves Me" or "Jesus Loves the Little Children" before all the other children. These were my favorite songs. I remember making all my friends who came to play get on their knees and thank Jesus for their candy bar or PBJ before they ate it. I can remember going up to every altar call to recieve Jesus as my Savior and Lord. It gave me such peace. I also remember as a 4 year old coming in from playing outside and finding my mother on her knees at her bedside praying. I would lay my head down next to hers and we would be nose to nose, then I would kiss her and go back to my play. I remember most of the great stories from the Sunday School lessons and many great hymns. But the day I really met Jesus was the summer of 1977, I was eight. I was all alone in my mom's bedroom and in her bed ready to go to sleep. I had a heavy burden on my heart, a secret of shame...I was being sexually abused by a family member. I can remembering crying out to Jesus to help me and save me, to come into my heart and be my Savior. This unbelievable warmth came over me and a fire like warmth radiated throughout my heart. Tears of joy washed over my face and a release of the heavy burden lifted. It was like I was in a bubble of warm liquid love. God was raining down His love on me and in me. It was first time I ever felt God in me. I had a spiritual encounter with the living God. No preacher was leading me, no Sunday school teacher was pushing me into it, my mom wasn't making me say a sinner's prayer of repentance---It was just God and me. I came face to face with His love and forgivness. And since that time, He has never left me. I've been on a wonderful journey with the Lord. He has surprised me over and over of how much He loves me and how accepted I am in the Father. I've learned to trust Him and He has stamped eternity on my eyes. Jesus has shown me that secret place where only He and I can go. I've been to the Holy of Holies of God's presence and it's left me wanting more---It has left me running after my affection, following hard after Jesus my only hope of glory.
This quote from a song best sums up where I am in my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ:
'Now I walk alongside my Father---without fear of what may come tomorrow, because I know that even in death I'm alive, because You are inside of me,' ---Jason Morant.
Peace,
Roisin
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Roisin-Teagan
"There, in that hand, on that shoulder under that chin---all of its lightness delicately balanced and its strings skillfully bowed---it becomes a voice."---Rich Mullins
"At 18, if you have oversized aspirations, the whole world sees you as a dreamer. At 40, you get the reputation for being a visionary." ---Rich Mullins
"God gives the gifts where He finds the vessel empty enough to receive them."---C.S. Lewis
Éire go Brách!
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| Aragorn |
Posted: 10-May-2004, 12:55 PM
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Celtic Guardian
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 535
Joined: 06-May-2004
Zodiac: Ivy
Realm: Middle Earth
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How God found me.
by a ragamuffin,
I grew up in a Christian home, my mom was the Christian and my dad was ok with it. On my mom's side of the family, they were all Christian, well most of them anyway. Two of my uncles were pastors and my grandpa was too. So we lived in a pretty strict Christian household. I asked Jesus into my life at an early age around twelve I think and life continued on. I became rebellious and started to hang around some bad people. We broke into this school and trashed it, I almost went to jail, I think it would have been better then going home to my dad. I continued to rebel and hang around with my "friends" not wanting to have any part of God. I still went to church but I was just going through the motions to please my mom.
I continued to go through the motions all throughout school and on into regular life. I thought the world had more to offer with it's pleasures then God did. I got married when I was 20 and everything was fine for a year and then I joined the Army. For the first year into my 5 year commitment everything was fine, we moved to upstate NY for my first duty station. Slowly our marriage began to disintegrate, I was looking at other women and partying, I became reclusive and we did not talk much about things. We had our first child then and on the way to sign out on leave my car was broad sided by a semi. I was hurt pretty bad but by the hand of God I was not killed. Even this did not straighten me out, I was still stuck in my own little world. Well, a year later with my marriage a mess and it looked like we were on the outs I was given orders for Korea, this was 1992 by the way. Woah, this threw a rinkle in everything because Korea was an unaccompanied tour, so I had to go it alone. My wife said it was a very good thing because she was ready to leave me.
So, off to korea I go. A strange land no support or family and a serious amount of culture shock basically slapped me hard. God had it all planned out is the only way I can figure it because I sure didn't. Little did I know what was in store for me. So I got to my unit and was issued all the equipment I needed and was sent out into the field right away. With everything that happened to me in the last 8 months I had enough, God did not need to hit me over the head with a 2x4 again. On a stary night in the middle of winter out on guard duty with eyes filled with tears, I gave up my life to God and told him he can have my life back because I had really messed it up and He was the only one who could fix it.
From that night on it has been a spiritual sojourn. I walk with God and He talks to me. Oh, it has been really tough and it continues to be so but I know he is my strength and my joy. I have been through the desert and I have been high on the mountain and I have come to realize He is always with me and it is I who walks away from Him. When I was in the desert it was I who had left Him, the world has so many entisements and it looks really good but it will not last and you are left empty and broken.
I know now that God has a plan for my life and he predestined my steps. I also know he places people in our paths to help keep us there and many times he has used me to do the same for others.
Just a little peek into who I am and how I got here. By the grace of God go I-
Thank you all for being here.....
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What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
--Robert Louis Stevenson
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| MacEoghainn |
Posted: 15-May-2004, 08:19 AM
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Fear-leanmhainn an Rìgh
Group: Founder
Posts: 2,961
Joined: 18-Jan-2004
Zodiac: Hazel
Realm: Cape Coral, Florida, USA, Planet Earth
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I posted a similar response in the thread "What Made You Who You Are" but at the risk of repeating myself I'll post this here (I've expanded my comments a little bit  ).
How I came to the Lord (he sent someone looking for me)
I was a junior in High School happily sliding my way down the "Road to Perdition" when one Thursday evening some guys I knew at school came to my house and asked if they could talk to me (by knew I mean I was aware of their existence, but they weren't friends of mine [actually, they were the best friends I ever had ]). We went across the street from my house and sat at a picnic table outside the public library. It was then they proceeded to tell me about Jesus and what he had done for me.
John 3 (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 10 (KJV)
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I was shocked to find that this gift from God all made perfect sense and wondered to myself why nobody had ever told me about this before. It was then and there, sitting on that picnic table, I accepted Jesus Christ has my personal Savior.
Mark 16 (KJV)
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
I followed Jesus' example and was Baptized about a year later on Aug 27th, 1972 (3 days after my 17th birthday, I call the 27th my rebirthday )
Romans 6 (KJV)
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
I won't lie to you, my walk with the Lord hasn't always been a bowl of cherries. There have been more than a few bumps and detours along the way. As Paul wrote:
Romans 7 (KJV)
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
I have to remind myself daily (I?m in awe and wonder of this free gift) that I am under grace. There is nothing I can do, nor have ever done, to deserve the gift of eternal life.
Ephesians 2 (KJV)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
This next quote may actually belong in the thread on Christian Music but whenever I hear this song (an updated look at the great Hymn "Amazing Grace") it helps remind me what a wonderful gift Grace is.
Grace Like Rain
Todd Agnew
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see so clearly
Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing Your praise
Than when we first begun
Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away
Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away
A Prayer:
Thank you Lord Jesus for your sacrifice (for me) on Calvary's Tree!! I am not, and never will be, worthy of this gift, but I accept it gladly. I lay all my sins at your feet and ask your forgiveness for my failings.
Amen 
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MacEAKA Steve EwingI know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. Job 19:25 "Non sibi sed patriae!" Reviresco (I grow strong again) Clan MacEwen motto Audaciter (Audacity) My Ewing Family Motto (descendants of Baron William Ewing of Glasgow, born about 1630) "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln "Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." from "Epitoma Rei Militaris," by Vegetius 
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