Introduction
I’ve discovered that once you make real contact with God,
the story doesn’t necessarily end there. He’s with
you on a daily basis, sometimes even when you’re least expecting
it. This took some time to understand.
After Alpha, my life began to change. I saw people and situations
differently, and for circumstances, which before were a problem,
God provided the answers one step at a time.
How does He provide these answers? How exactly does this all
happen?
Well this isn’t the easiest thing to explain, and I would
have to say that it’s probably different for everyone. As
you read this, you need to be really honest with yourself. You
need to push away the world, and get right down to your deepest
self – what makes you happy, what makes you sad, what gives
you contentment, and what kind of peace are you looking for on
this earth? Forget money, and material considerations for a moment,
because they won’t get you beyond the end of your life here.
Open up your heart – what is your soul really yearning for?
Seek the truth, and simply ask God to show you a better way, then
start looking for any direction He may be giving you.
He speaks to me either through strong feelings, in that I almost
feel compelled to speak or act in a certain way, or more amazingly,
He places actual thoughts or words of knowledge in my head, and
I know they’re not my own thoughts, because I’m thinking
of something completely different at the time. Alternatively you
might experience a deep warmth, or a refreshing coolness, but
whatever it is, if you are honestly and earnestly seeking, you
will receive an answer, though perhaps not in a way you were expecting,
or when you were expecting it.
I have to say at this point, that my own path to faith has been
guided and supported by other church members, and all this followed
on from the Alpha course. Our journeys and experiences may have
been different, but God had acted in their lives, just as He did
in mine, and time and time again, when I needed particular advice,
someone just seemed to appear, who’d been through exactly
that same problem. The frequency with which this happened was
uncanny. At first these were just ‘coincidences’,
but finally I had to accept in my heart that this was God once
more at work.
You see, you have to remember that God is a supernatural being.
Nothing is impossible for Him, and when you are faced with the
reality of God in your life, YOU KNOW IT in your heart, though
doubtless some people refuse to see and refuse to believe, for
reasons known only to themselves and to God.
My own journey brought a wealth of new experiences, and has
so enriched my life that I could not go back to where I was before.
The Bible, which I remembered from Sunday school as being somewhat
boring, literally came to life when I began to read it, so much
so, that I could hardly put it down! ‘Poor sod!’ I
hear you say, but then, haven’t you been listening? Didn’t
I say that God was supernatural? Ask any devout Christian, and
I expect that they’ll confirm, that if you truly seek an
answer in the Bible, the Holy Spirit will help you find it. Of
course, you don’t have to take my word for it!
Here now are accounts of some of the things, which have happened
in my everyday life since becoming a Christian. They’re
all true. These articles were published in the church magazine,
and take me from the early stages of faith, to some deeper appreciation
of how God is working in my life.
The first story is somewhat simplistic, as I was amazed at how
God will just ‘do stuff’ for you, especially if you’re
a new Christian, just to underline the fact that He is there.
You may write off these small events as coincidences, if you wish
– believe me I’ve been there and done all that, in
the times when I had doubts about what was happening to me –
but when these ‘coincidences’ happened over and over
again, I could no longer doubt!
August 2006
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