Hey, Everybody! I was thinking about something early this morning that turned my thoughts toward you. I’d just been going over my memory verses and started reflecting on the whole journey of faith. The ups and downs, the twists and turns. The pain and then sometimes the dullness that scared me twice as much as the pain. Then something would happen and revival would come and back in the saddle I’d go again. His Word would jump back off the page at me and I’d feel fully alive and wonder why I’d doubted. I rewound even further back to the years that I hoped so much that this God I’d been told about was real. I needed Him so badly. I found my heart believing and I deliberately placed my faith in Him. Then I thought about a specific season through which I went from hoping He was real to knowing He was real. Don’t get me wrong. I am still challenged to faith in many other matters and always will be, because “faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” and “without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:1,6) But I seldom sit around and wonder if God exists and still speaks and still acts. Like you, I still see as in a mirror darkly and I wonder why some things happen the way they do and how it will all work out and what some things in Scripture really mean. But “I know the One I have believed in.” (2 Timothy 1:12)
We have so many new believers and even a sizable population of seekers in this community. Praise God, we do! We need to question our effectiveness the moment we don’t. So many of them would probably like to ask us how we “know” this God is real. So I ask those of you today to whom this applies to share a season in which you became convinced to the marrow of your bones that this is FOR REAL.
Think it through and be deliberate in your testimony. Please limit your story to one meaty paragraph so that we can read as many as possible. I can hardly wait. Let’s testify, girlfriends.
I cannot praise God enough for that life-changing, faith-building yet totally gut-wrenching period of time in my life! I came to “KNOW” beyond any shadow of doubt that my God is REAL when He took our family through a 3 year battle with my oldest son. He struggled with OCD & anorexia to the point we were concerned for his life. It had started with an abusive incident in a Dentist office and quickly spiraled out of control as he made up his mind that no one would ever hurt him again and tried desperately to control what he could. Through countless days/weeks/months of hospitals, therapy, counseling and treatment centers, God made Himself so very real and personal to me! I held on to Christ’s words, “If you BELIEVE, you WILL see the glory of God!” Jn 11:40 Wow! I got to see God’s glory in so many ways and really “know whom I have believed!” Praise God! He healed my son, tested the genuiness of my faith and blessed our minstry as a Pastor’s family! To God be all the glory! Thank you Jesus!
Thank you for all these stories…it encourages me. I’m going through an INTENSE spiritual battle against fear and anxiety that has controlled most of my life. God has been with me every step of the way, confirming over and over the promise that by His power I will be free from this! He’s also given me other promises for my life that I’m standing on faith that will happen. Even when you are in the thick of battle…GOD is with you every step of the way. I’m learning WHO God is in ways I never knew (even though I still have a ways to go) and that I cannot do this without the power of Christ. I praise Him for who He is even when I’m struggling.
In 1983 I was 26 and very pregnant with my first. I had this nagging feeling that I was missing something in my life. A dear friend and neighbor’s six month old son had a seizure/episode and they were trying to find a plane to fly him to Houston. They called me, knowing my bank did have a small plane. Of course, being so hormonal and distraught, I had to leave work and go home. That evening, friends and neighbors gathered at their home for a prayer vigil while they were in Houston. I looked around at those dear friends, pastors, and I knew I did not have God in my life. That’s when I asked Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior, and there’s been no turning back. Life is still full of tragedies and comedies,ups and downs, illnesses and earthquakes, births and deaths, but I know I have my God to call on. He doesn’t make the bad things go away all the time, but I am confident that He is there to hold my hand.
I grew up “churched” with very Godly parents. Of course college came along and I thought I knew best and God did not need to bother with me for awhile. HE had much more pressing things to take care of. Therefore, I went my own way in the “sin” world. I should have been dead in my afflictions (and I mean literally dead). But,my very AWESOME GOD had other plans for me and saved me from myself. Yes, HE is very, very real to me!!!
Thanks so much for the encouragement.
When my marriage was destroyed by my own doing and many dark & ugly things came into play during that time. When I finally cried out to God to save me from the destruction that I had created along w/satan He reached down & carried me along through a long process of healing . The BEST part
though was that He healed my marriage & the love that we now share came from OUR HEAVENLY FATHER !!! This happened 9yrs ago & it still makes me sob w/bitter sweet tears @ times. GOD is soooo faithful ! LAM.3:22-23
God became “real” to me during a 6 week mission trip. I knew (in my head) that God loved me but did not really “KNOW” that God loved me (and not only me, but everyone in the world) until I was on the trip. As with many mission trips, I had been stripped of my “comfort zone” while in Eastern Europe with a group of people I hadn’t met until that trip. God showed me daily something about Him and His love for me. It was so exciting to see Him meet my specific prayer requests or needs/wants and I just KNEW they were from Him. After that trip, I told God that, even though I didn’t want to, I was willing to be a missionary. Two years after that I had the honor and joy to move to Ukraine on a church-planting team where God further refined me for the next 9 years. The best decision of my life (other than accepting Him in 1984.) It wasn’t always easy but it’s been the best thing that happened to me. It took Him taking me out of my comfort zone for Him to show me that He is real and that He loves unmeasurably!
Becky in Indy
So much I could write but I’ll be brief!
I was blessed to be born in a Christian home and I accepted Jesus as my Savior at an early age. Marrying young, we sought to raise our family to love the Lord. My faith was severely tested with the death of our second child at age 15 months; our only son. God walked with us through the dark valley of death, but grief consumed me for many years. Through all the heartache God’s hand has always been upon us. Two beautiful daughters, precious friends and a home begin a long list of blessings, but there was always an emptiness and longing I could never fill.
During the last few years my personal relationship with Jesus has grown as never before. God provided a way for me to retire early from teaching and be a full time wife and mother to our youngest daughter as she entered Jr High. After years of battling the “Why’s” and “If only’s” and constantly running to keep busy, He brought me to place where I could “Be STILL and KNOW that He is God.” His Word came alive to me as never before. As I poured out my pain to Him in prayer and bible study, He filled me with His peace and joy!
Last fall brought the word you never want to hear a doctor say: CANCER. It was completely unexpected. As I sat in that chair two songs played in my mind: “I’d Rather Have Jesus” and “It Is Well with My Soul.” My Savior was right there with me! He had laid the firm foundation I would need to weather this storm. He was real to me in a way I’d never known before. My usual fears and worries were replaced with trust. I knew no matter the outcome, healing or heaven, it truly was well with my soul! Two surgeries later I am cancer free! So much more than that is the close walk with Jesus each day. No matter what the future holds, I KNOW the One who holds the future.
“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for HE HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME!” Psalm 13:5-6
Missi,
What a testimony…Great is our Lord and greatly to be praised!
I grew up in an atheist household, but God called me to Him when I was a child. It was a constant struggle to learn more (my family was unwilling to take me to church), and my new faith was constantly being challenged. I came to believe in a great, powerful God, but questioned a personal God who knew, loved, and cared about me. At 16, I unexpectedly had to have life-threatening brain surgery with less than a day’s notice. My parents, brothers, and I were terrified, but on the gurney in pre-op, I knew God HAD me. I started smiling and singing to my family, the nurses, etc. and when they wheeled me away, my only prayer was “God, please let me wake up with people who love me or let me wake up with you” and I knew that regardless of where I woke up, God had a grip on me. It’s been over 11 years now since that moment, and I can honestly say that I know God still has a loving grip on me… and each of you.
I thought about this and it did’nt take long.There have been many experiences but to see my daughter being born into this world 24 years ago and the tears I shed uncontrollably was all the proof I needed.
For me, it was a process of knowing God was real and not just wondering if He was. When nothing and no one else “worked,” I found myself seeking and searching for something real, something true, someONE real. I began to wonder and hope that maybe, just maybe, everything I read about in the Bible was true. I had not really grown up with faith and definitely not reading the Bible. I was a teenager the first time I ever read a Bible story. But two things in my life collided as a late teen/young 20-something: I dared to believe it was possible that there was more than what I had seen in my faithless world and I had great need. GREAT need. My life wasn’t working well at all. I needed help and I knew it. So I decided to pursue Him and all that He was with everything I could. (Probably because there really wasn’t much else left to pursue.) He was FAITHFUL to FIND ME, answer me, and meet me in my need to know Him. I now know that when we come to Him with real need and real hope, He satisfies our longings to know Him. But the reality is that it was a process and believing Him was sometimes painfully difficult because I had little information and even smaller faith. The only reason I didn’t fall away in the early years is because He was holding onto me. I know that now. He brought people into my life who continually confirmed His existence. They seemed to know Him and talk to Him and hear from Him. I wanted that and I decided to put all my “eggs in one basket” so to speak. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment when I knew He was real; when He Himself became as real or more real to me than everything I could see, but I know that it involved wanting to believe and seeking Truth at all costs. The weird and great thing is once the issue had been settled within myself, I began to see Him everywhere and wasn’t nearly as difficult. Now when I call to Him, He answers me. When I cry out with my deepest concerns, worries or fears, He comforts me. He changes me. His love fills me and satisfies me like nothing else on earth. I’m not searching anymore, He is my One thing, He is what sustains me. Knowing Him is no longer my burden, its my joy. My privilege. My pleasure. He is real. He is alive. He is with me. I may not always sense it, but I KNOW it.
Almost a year ago my Poppie (grandpa) was diagnosed with lung cancer at 71. He was healthy and clipping right along when he got his diagnosis. The diagnosis was bad and we were told he’d live another 6 months. Our world was rocked. Then the next week, my Pappaw (other grandpa) was diagnosed with bone cancer at 70. You need to know that my mom and dad’s parents are best friends. So these two diagnosis hit so many people in both families. All that to say, it was a really hard journey and we lost Poppie to Heaven in October 2010. (Pappaw is still fighting) There were times when I didn’t know how I was walking through it without the Lord. I kept telling people “it just feels like I’m constantly being hugged”. The peace and comfort and even joy was that real. I could literally feel it. The afternoon he passed away I was quoting an old memory verse Philippians 4:6 out loud, over and over as I walked into the hospital because I couldn’t do it without the Lord. It’s hard to put into words, but in Poppie’s journey and passing, I saw and felt and heard God in such a real way it’s brining me to tears now. THANK YOU LORD!
Even though this event was 24 years ago, it is as real and fresh in my mind as then. We were at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham where 2 days before my 14 year old daughter had been diagnosed with a particularly deadly form of leukemia. I had been unable to eat and pretty much in a fog since that conference. Dawn had to have surgery to place an access line for blood and chemo and it had not gone well. They couldn’t stop the bleeding, her temperature had gotten dangerously high and when she finally returned to the room to add insult to injury she had to have a spinal tap. Sitting cross legged on the floor supporting her as they did the spinal tap I remember praying, “Lord, I can’t do this!” Immediately there was a prescense so real I could literally feel arms around me and a voice in my heart saying, “I know you can’t, but I can.” In that moment I had the assurance that with Jesus I could do whatever I had to do to face the days ahead. I did not have the assurance that my daughter would survive, only that He would see us through and HE did. Even though there were 7 agonizing months ahead before He took Dawn home to be with Him there was never another moment when I felt I couldn’t go on. Nights, weeks without rest He helped me to use my skills as a nurse and my love as a mother to get through. He also gave my beautiful daughter the strength and grace to touch many lives during her battle. Sisters, HE IS REAL!
Oh Janice, this touches me deeply. I am so, so sorry you have been through such devastating loss and I am amazed by your steadfastness in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ and your willingness to testify to His greatness and kindness. Your story packs authenticity. Thank you for telling it.
I felt a rush in my head and knew I needed to get to the hospital. My husband was driving and my boys, ages 12 and 8, were in the backseat sobbing. I knew it wasn’t good and started to say The Lord’s Prayer. When I got to “Thy will be done” I stopped. I realized it would be His will for me to live or die. To remain whole or not. HIS will. Not mine. But I was not fearful. I continued to pray.
The next 12 hours or so, I recited the only verse I could remember. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” My aunt wrote that verse in the front of the bible she gave me when I was in high school. Later, my aunt and uncle came to visit me as I waited for surgery and they prayed for me. I felt a warm rush. It was from head to toe. I was no longer worried or concerned of what His will would be for me. I KNEW I was “covered”.
12 days later, I went home after a successful craniotomy on my 32nd birthday to repair a ruptured brain aneurysm. I suffered minor and expected setbacks from the rupture, but the Holy Spirit was there to fill me, calm me and I know the Lord was there to hold the surgeon’s hands as well as mine. Highest praise to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit….
I know all this is real because He has proven himself to me so personally. I have felt His hand on me in situations where my flesh wanted to REACT! Because I had been in a season of seeking Him for very specifics knowing I could not do this (loving in a very unlovable situation)He was so present IN a “confrontation” that I KNEW without a doubt He was doing something very BIG, and He wasn’t about to lift his restraining hand from me and mess up His Glory. It was an experience that sealed some truths about His words that He had been giving to me over the recent weeks at that time. But the results from not REACTING and acting out the calm truth that He so desired for the other to physically experience in this human realm of earth was a turning point in their life. A huge turning point (and in my life too). So this is just one reality that God is present, acting and so true to His word even though it may seem so opposed to what is logical to us. Since then I have felt His presence, but instead of His restraining Hand I heard His voice of warning. At that time the battle to choose love and truth instead of retaliation was a bit more heated! 🙂
What a profound question Beth. I know God is real, alive and working. I know that I receive signifigance and love, both of these, from God. Only He fills these holes, no human can do this. When I experience daily life, its misunderstandings, its comfortless moments–compared to what Jesus shows me through His Word, it confirms, comforts and solidifies my person. The Word gives me hope. It comforts my lost moments. It strengthens me.
My signifigance to God: “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, HE gave the right to become children of God-children born of God.” John 1:12-13 (Halleluia! Praise God!)
For me, believing He is real has occurred by experiencing His mercy. My mother and brother were killed in a car accident. I fell into a severe depression for several years. During this time, I made many bad choices. God showered His mercy on me in ways that are indescribable. In Luke there is a woman “who loved much because she was forgiven much”. Sometimes mistakes are salvation in themselves. It is thru His grace and mercy that He reveals Himself to me the most.
I am 29 years old and have been a Christian for a long time, my whole life really. My mom died one year ago, she was my best friend. She loved Jesus with all her heart, but until she died the reality of Heaven and eternity had never directly intersected with my world. All of a sudden it became vastly important that it all be true, because something very precious to me is either safe with Jesus, or lost forever.
Anyway I have been very afraid lately that it’s NOT true. I have been praying, and prayed literally 2 hours ago, that God would help me overcome my unbelief and help me to believe with all my heart that He is real, and that it’s all true. I have never left a comment on this blog before but I read it faithfully and I am thankful today for this post.
I went through something similar a few years ago. I asked for his help and he came through. I am praying for you.
Katie…He is real, it is true! I’m adding my prayer to yours that you would overcome your unbelief just like the father in Mark 9 and Me!
There is NO DENYING
I know God is real, because before I trusted in Jesus, I trusted in the Occult. And I was mentally and physically tormented by demons. At the bottom of the pit, I cried out to Jesus and he saved me from pit. And every time, I would be tormented I would stand on the Word of God and claim victory over the situation and finally the door to the occult was closed. I now walk in peace, with my Savior along side of me. Praise God!
I know He is real because of the tender way He talks to me! In my prayer time, especially after I have been studying his Word, writing, or intensely seeking Him, He speaks to my heart–it could be no one else. He has tenderly revealed where my heart still needs to change, so tenderly and lovingly that it could only be Him. And He directs my thoughts as I search to know Him more deeply–difficult to put into words, but the clarity, beauty, and tenderness is not of this world. He amazes me!!! I love Him!!!
There is NO DENYING the reality of God when you are in His Presence. Be it at home, or at a church service or conference. I am talking about when the Holy Spirit is so present that all you want to do is fall face down on the floor and just lay there and let Him cover you. When you want to fall on your knees and just cry Holy Holy Holy. You can’t make that up. You can’t fake that feeling. When you feel that…you KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT HE IS REAL.
Several years ago, I had left my church. Those people were not worshipping as they should, the youth ministry was weak and not what my children needed, and I had actually heard LEADERS of the church talking badly about me and my son in public! After several months of searching for a new, perfect church, God kept me up. Now, as a diabetic, I HAVE to sleep, so I took a big, fat (prescribed) sleeping pill and laid down again – only to find I was wide awake an hour later. I then got up and started praying, for the first time in a long time. God revealed to me that even though I left my church with good reason, I had not done a very important part: asked Him what He wanted me to do! He showed me a vision of myself standing in front of my entire church on a Sunday morning with a microphone, and repeating my story to them, asking for forgiveness and telling them I was back. I wrote it down. I told God if the opportunity ever arose for my big speech, I would certainly give it- in the back of my mind knowing that opportunity would surely never occur. The very next Sunday morning, there I sat at my old church, near the back, hoping to blend in. The preacher gets up to begin his message and instead says “the Holy Spirit has lead me to believe somebody here needs to say something. I am going to sit down and wait on that person to speak”. Are you kidding me? that had NEVER happened at that church before! So, of course, I got up and said my speech, exactly as I had envisioned, microphone and all. I felt so much better – and I knew then – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that God is REAL….really, really REAL and I thank him for the opportunity to serve where He has placed me and for the changes he has made in me and in my church since then.
I K-N-O-W my God is real because He has taught me in such a loving and patient manner to trust Him. Even in my sin, He loves me. I have been tested, getting spiritual muscle, through trials of various kinds. When I was pregnant with my youngest child, I had Lyme Disease. Was told that there’s a strong possibility he would be born with brain damage and all kinds of health issues. Through lots of tears and falling on my face, I said “Yes, LORD” – we will take this child because you shaped him. Nathaniel (name means a gift from God) is the name God chose for him. Of course I already loved him and prayed so much for him. He came into this world 10 lbs. 2-1/2 ozs. and not sick for the first year of his sweet life! That was 17 years ago. That’s one example of a trial that increased my faith and trust in Him. There have been many many others since that time and each time even though they’re hard, it’s when I feel closest to Him and He loves me so so much and I love Him more and more each day. Even if Nathaniel had been born with health issues God would have been glorified because of His infinite wisdom. Know that trials will come and trust the LORD. He is trustworthy above all.
There’s been more than one time God became very real and present to me, from a voice in the darkness of my bedroom as a 10 year old to my adult years. However, this one: In 2000, I went through a great valley that lasted almost a full year, the kind where you wonder if you will ever stop crying and if all the tears you have shed would fill up your bathtub and more, and you stare at the ceiling lying in bed far too much in the wee hours of the morning. About 7 months into it (July), when I was digging myself into a pit, I had a dream. I dreamt that I was on the Champs-Elysees in Paris looking down the avenue towards the Arc de Triomphe and it was fall — all the leaves on the trees were orange (I’ve been to Paris before). When I awakened, I called a friend of mine and told her that I had realized two things: (1) that I was going to be okay and (2) that all my life I had been looking to people to meet my needs when it was only God who could do it. She gasped and said, “Charlotte, that was the Holy Spirit! You need to take this class at church called “Breaking Free” next fall.” One of those mornings when I was staring up at my ceiling at 5 a.m. (August), I heard a voice say, “Get up and go work on the garden” (not an audible voice). So I did. Imagine me at 6 a.m. with a shovel and the wrong pair of shoes, mind you, focusing all my anger digging holes in my backyard. I was slinging the shovel at the ground! In September, “Breaking Free” became available at my church and as it turned out, a woman in my neighborhood was the teacher and to make sure I got into the class, I went to her house to hand in my check for the book and get my name on the list. Well . . . it all fit. By November, I fully understood this phrase “the peace that transcends all understanding” because I had it. I don’t live in that house anymore and I cried when I left it, because the garden was so beautiful and I knew that God and I had worked together on it. But there is a plaque I was given that I left there in the garden: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven. AMEN.
If you can make yourself sit where you are in time and look back over your years, your challenges, your accomplishments, your grieving moments – you will find God’s fingerprints over each of them. God has used the hardest times in my life to reveal just a glimpse of who He is. His unending love, His mercy, His provision, His joy – it all comes through those darkest hours, the stretching of our trust, the growth of our faith. I keep stones of remembrance as a reminder of the very real God who reached down from the heavens and orchestrated details and circumstance to show me He was with me through every trial. With me through unspeakable deaths, sure destruction of our livelihood, questionable health of our unborn son, through uncertainty, sheer agony and pain. He was there. Every time, every tear, every broken heartbeat was drenched in His very real love. For He was sure to give our seeking hearts His word of comfort and promise. He was sure to leave us marked, but not broken. He was sure to replace hurt and sure doom with a testimony of HIS faithfulness, love and provision. For as we breathe, and even when we have breath no more – OUR GOD IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE.
I had heard about God’s provision and would have given mental assent to it, but when I had planned to quit my job to be home with my 6 yr old my husband had just come out of Bible college and was working at a job in which he was bringing home around 250.00 a week, I found out I was pregnant. I was challenged to move what I believed in my head into my heart. as our insurance co. had denied coverage because my pregnancy was pre-existing. After much tearful prayer and seeking God we told our Dr. we did not choose to use Medicare even though we had no clue as to how we were going to pay for this child….when I got home from the dr. my husband told me that a fax came into his work (the very hour I was at the dr. telling him, in what little faith I had, that we would not use Medicare) and the fax stated that our insurance had lifted the pre-existing and would cover my pregnancy…God did indeed cover it and did so much more in other areas than we could ever ask or think. HOW REAL HE IS.!..and how I am learning that in so many other areas of my life. Wish I had space to share the entire detailed story…but to HIM BE THE GLORY FOREVER!
God is REAL…how I know? 18 months ago my husband suffered a massive stroke at the young age of 46. As I sat near his bedside and prayed to God to not take him from me, the miracle unfolded and he was given a second chance at what doctors thought was impossible considering his condition. It has been long and difficult months of recovery for his mental and physical impairments but I still have my best friend beside me. Our life has changed so much materially (lost job, selling home, etc.) but our faith has never been so strong and we are seeking God together. I am convinced God has a new plan for us and will use our story to reach out to others about how REAL He is. Every day I cling to the One who knows and loves me and that gives me peace and strength to get through the day…one day at a time.
I would love to testify specifics- but I would need far more than a paragraph to do it. So please know this… HE IS REAL. I crave the times that I can clearly feel Him- when His presence is so much that tears of unmeasurable joy stream down my face. He is no doubt always present, but sometimes I feel Him more clearly than others. When someone like me- who has walked where I have walked- now wants more than anything to walk hand-in-hand with Christ- believe me… HE IS REAL! No doubt that my walk this side of Heaven will not be perfect- but He is perfect- and I choose to keep my eyes on Him. My heart sings- and I literally want to burst into tears of joy as I write this… please reach out to Him and know, trust that He is real- and He is reaching for you too!!! I love You so much Lord!
The moment I knew God was real was when I started to experience His power during college. I had been saved for years, but never really saw Him move or work like He did during my college time. One particular semester, I struggled with anxiety and depression and was forced with the decision to either dwell in self pity or trust God. I chose the latter, and for several months it seemed my only prayer to God was, “I can’t do this. I need Your help.” I clung to Him during that time, and He did amazing things! Not only did He draw me closer to Him like never before, but He did so much more . . .things that only He could have done! Now, whenever I’m faced with things that seem “impossible,” I reflect back to that time and remember how He was faithful. He’s always been faithful. That’s why He is so real to me!
I am a 34 year old stay-at-home mom and I actually felt Jesus heal me of cancer last year. I knew His healing of me was real before I felt it because James 5:14-15 is truth. I had James 5:14-15 ministered to me the night before and I was claiming that I was cancer-free in Jesus’ name according to James 5:14-15 the whole day… then that night, in the middle of the night, I woke up because I felt this warm tingly sensation go from my toes, to my head, back down to my toes, and up to my head again. I knew it was Jesus healing my every cell in my body. I went to Mayo Clinic and they couldn’t find one cancer cell left! Praise Jesus for the stripes He bore to take my cancer away (Isaiah 53:5). I pray that anyone that reads this will believe in His healing for themselves. My pastor said that you do not have to feel a tingly sensation to get your healing, it was just a bonus that I got to feel it. Just thought I would share it with all of you because I just think it is so awesome that we can actually feel Jesus reach out and touch us in this day in 2011! Have a blessed day!
Thanks so much for this wonderful opportunity Beth. Reading all these testimonies is a wonderful blessing. Siestas, I have a praise and a prayer request. God has truly blessed my family. Oct. 2009 my husband’s work hours were cut from 47 hours a week to 38 hours a week (working only Mon.-Thurs.) I work part-time out of the home. In Sept. 2009 my work hours were cut from 20 hours a week to 15 hours a week. In Sept. 2010 my hours were cut again from 15 hours a week down to only 7.5 hours a week. I was so sick last summer I lost 10 pounds in 5 days and countinued to lose another 20 pounds (losing weight is the silver lining to being sick). My 12 year old son started doctoring in the fall and had surgery in Nov. He is still doctoring and found out last week he needs expensive medicine long term. Siestas, God has richly blessed my family through this time of stress and provided in ways only He can. Financially He has always provided for our needs. He even gave us a huge tax refund to pay for our past medical bills, medical bills that are still coming, and replace our broken refrigerator. My husband now works on Fridays at another job. My work hours for the next school year will probably be 20 hours a week and possibly even 25 hours a week (5 hours more than 2009!). Both my son and I are not seriously sick and have the problems diagnosed. God is sooo GOOD!
Here is my prayer request. My 10 year old son is really struggling in life. This weekend he told me the Bible is fiction. My heart is shattered and I am shaken to the core. O Mighty Father HELP ME!!!
Denise, the same God who has taken you through the trials you wrote about will bring your 10 year-old back to Himself! Jesus wants us to have faith like a child, but I am convinced that people who grow up believing in God from early childhood often need to be shaken. I did exactly what your son did, after receiving Christ so young that I cannot remember a day I didn’t believe in Him. But some hard things in life shook me to the core, and none of it made sense for a couple of years. God drew me back through loving believers and my own mother at 14. Do not be afraid! Keep open communication with your son to find out what has wounded him so, and believe that God is using this to shape his testimony. A childhood faith has to grow into an adult faith, and your trust is in a powerful God, not what your son believes at this moment. I pray God brings your son back to faith, but also that He increases your faith to see that this step in his journey is not the end of the story. It will be glorious! Believe God!
Praying for your son and for you and your family will be a privilege!
Thanks Ms. Beth for giving us a chance to testify
I can think of a time when I was not living a life pleasing to the Lord that if it wasn’t for a christian radio station here in town that I had just turned I am sure that I would have not been testifying today, thank God for counseling and a few others in my life I am able to say today that God is real and He alone pulled me out of the darkness and the mud and the pit and set my feet on solid ground. Lord thank You for saving me from myself and from my depression and anexity, and destruction, and for saving me from the dark dark days I had when I did not care about my life and You oh Lord changed that Praise You Jesus You are worthy of our Praise. Lord I pray that You would keep my feet on that solid ground.
Thank you Lord for Beth Moore and her being faithful to the calling you have on her life.
Carol
If questioned before, my stock answer would have been, “i’ve always known God was real”, while quaking in my boots at the nightmare that He may not be interested in me. Oh, how I lived in torture over this! Throughout the last year I have discovered that I have an anxiety disorder that rested securely in the doubt of God’s love and faithfulness to me personally. Praise God that through a little intervention and a lot of scripture He is showing me how much He adores me and takes an active role in my daily life! I feel so alive in Him these days…and I wholeheartedly believe it’s because I’ve committed myself to scripture memory. His word is alive and active! (Hebrews 4:12)
I grew up in church, had strong Christian parents and grandparents, and made a profession of faith on the last day of VBS when I was 6 1/2. I never doubted from that point on if God loved me. As I got older, into Jr. High and High School, I started letting other things come first in my life. As a junior in high school, after a revival sermon, I was really convicted and conflicted about my salvation. I knew I wasn’t living like God wanted me to live. I went home and spent a long time in God’s word and in prayer. God’s Spirit in me convinced me that I was already his child, but that I had not been living like it. I repented, and from then on attempted to live my life for Him. I’ve messed up plenty of times since then, but I have never doubted my salvation again.
Rom 8:16 For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children.
Kathy W.
Mansfield, TX
As a child I used to practice walking on gravel so that when we neighborhood kids were playing and running across the street to each others’ homes I could race across barefoot without flinching. Then I’d look at everyone else who was gingerly stepping on the stones and say, “Don’t be such wimps!” I tell you that to emphasize how strong I tried to be. As an adult who was diagnosed with depression, I learned that I am not strong on my own. When you awake and try to feel normal but can’t, it’s devastating. It’s like you’re in a canyon and all your effort is to climb to the top in order to feel normal, but just as you feel you’re getting close you slip back to the bottom. You begin to feel hopeless as this continues day after day. With my journal in hand, I began to pore over Scripture and cry out to Jesus to be my strength. Without a doubt He is the One who helps me get out of bed, praise Him, trust Him, and make the next step when I’m in a valley of depression. He comforts me and gives me hope. He is real. He knows. He cares. He understands. He walks with me. He acts. He is God Almighty, and He knows our names. I am so grateful.
The Lord is so real to me. I have many stories I could share but I will share this simple one. Our family is going through a great deal of pain because of divorce. My children, ages 12 and 15 have begun to ask “what has God done for me?” As my son left a basketball game one evening his cell phone fell out of his pocket – he didn’t notice until he got home. He was upset but trying to be cool about it. I told him to ask the Lord to find his cell phone. I said I would also pray that someone would find it and call “home.” The next day his dad received a call from the person who found the phone. This spoke volumes to my son; it spoke volumes to me – that my God cares about a cell phone enough to use it to speak His love to my son – who desperately needed to hear from Him. I love Him so much for His personal attention.
I learned God is real 9 months ago. I’ve been a believer a long time and knew He existed, prayed every day, confessed His Word, studyed His Word.. In fact I’m a graduate of a ministry school (June, 2010).
My husband and I had just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary in April of 2010 and in June of 2010, I found out my husband had an affair that began a month after we said “I do”. This affair produced a child. So not only did I have to deal with my husband having an affair I had to deal with the fact he also had a 1 year old son.
My husband filed for divorce and moved out in July. During this time I sought counsel from my Pastor and never once did I speak anything contrary to the word of God regarding our marraige. I prayed for my husband, confessed for our marriage to be restored, and believed God for healing & restoration.
During this time when my husband was out of the house, he also took his finances with him. I believed God for real for the first time as Jehovah Jireh. Not only was every single bill paid in full and on time, my/our rent was lowered by landlord! You see I couldn’t afford to pay the entire rent and I felt led by Holy Spirit to tell my landlord this and let him know I’d have to move when the lease was up (Sept). He asked me if he lowered the rent to what I could afford, would I stay.. Praise God! He lowered the rent. I have more tesimonies just like this of His provision during this time in the desert but I’m already over my one paragraph limit.
To make a long tesimony short, my husband came back home in Oct of 2010, we have been going to counseling with our Pastor, we were awarded joint legal custody of his son and get to see him every wed and every other weekend. We still have a few rough days but with the help of our GREAT God, we have been able to endure and get through it.
God is real my friends, I have no doubt. He has not only restored and healed our marriage, it’s a marriage that is better than I ever hoped or dreamed possible.
your testimony really blessed me. You are an amazing beloved daughter of our King.You are a beautiful testimony to God’s faithfulness. Thank you for not giving up.
We have been through many troubles (must keep it short! haha). This is what the Lord has done..2Cor. 1:3-4
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”
I was like the Israelites in Ex 20:18-20. God was calling them near yet I was afraid – I wanted someone else to go for me. The pain was too deep, the darkness too intense. I just wanted out of the pain and darkness – so like the Israelites, I remained at a distance.
Over time and IN THE MIDST of the pain still, I surrendered to His unfailing love and chose to believe He is good though everything around me said that was impossible. Psalm 23:5 became real to me “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”. The table was there all along – I just wanted out of the situations and therefore didn’t see it. When I chose to trust, He led me to the table filled with beautiful gifts worth every tear, pain..worth it all. The best was more of Him – after all “He is our exceedingly great reward!!” Other gifts were compassion and understanding that can only be given in the midst. There were soo many others.
The Lord now has us ministering to many “in the midst”. We try to lead them through the pain to Jesus. I am not a fan of those who receive a victory gift from the Lord and say – just do this and this and victory will come. He is our victory and He decides how best to minister to His hurting children – we just lead them to Him – the Father of all comfort and are blown away everytime by His faithfulness and love. Sometimes like me, there is wonder, how can God be here?? the pain is too deep.. the darkness too intense. But I am here to testify, I have seen over and over, when we press through the pain to Him, we are more than conquerors through His love!! Romans 8:38-39
” I am convinced that neither death nor life,neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of the God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” AMEN!!!
Just read that you asked for one paragraph – epic fail!! haha sorry!!
Real: existing, true, apparent. I know God is real because I am breathing, and if you think of the way the human body is made, that is a miracle. I know God is real because birds can fly. I know God is real when my child laughs, that deep belly laugh that takes your breath away. I know God is real because I have a song in my heart and joy in my soul. I know God is real because of the color of the sky and the wind blowing, the trees blooming, and the sun peeking through the clouds. God is real and so is grace, meaning that even though I don’t deserve it, I’ve got it. Thank you for making me think of this meaning. Without God, I am nothing. That’s real. =)
God has recently met me in an hour of deepest need. I was struck down by evil and totally weakened. I called out to Jesus – Please intervene now! And He did. Now I am grafted to his Word. I am in it and depending on it throughout the day. It is my life blood. I know how important it is to stay in the shadow of his wing and that he loves my weakness so He can be strong for me.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned and struck down but not destroyed. I Cor 4: 7-9
There is no other place to be – home sweet home with Jesus even while on earth.
It is II Cor 4: 7-9!
It’s difficult to choose just one example of God’s revealing Himself to me, but this is probably the most dramatic: While driving on the Pacific Coast Highway in Calif., we did a double-roll over as we tried to manage an unexpected hairpin turn. Traveled across all lanes of traffic and landed in the berm (and not in the ocean) right-side up without hitting any oncoming cars. Top of car crushed. Husband protected. Me in ICU with brain bleed, thousands of miles from home in Ohio. Neurosurgeon on standby. Prayer chains going like crazy. Next morning’s scan showed bleeding stopped and being re-absorbed. Released 24 hrs after being admitted. God’s provision over and over while I gained strength for the trip home and as we traveled. Recovery required retirement from 25 years of elementary school teaching. Grieving this on my way to physical therapy, God told me that my job now was to testify of His faithfulness. Just then, the song “Testify” by Avalon came on the radio. I promised Him that that would be my theme song. As the song ended, I looked at the car ahead of me in traffic, and the license plate read as follows: SONG 4 U.
When God called me into His kingdom at the age of 20 I needed someone very real. Shortly after knowing there was more and asking God for everything He had for me I experienced a season of sheer joy with very regular manifestations of His presence, of Him speaking directly to my heart, and of a Him very directly doing miraculous works only He could do. Not long into this I experienced a nasty sinus infection that left me feeling miserable and there was nothing in me rejoicing. I couldn’t fathom how the apostles could sincerely rejoice in their suffering and persecution. I was very driven by feelings. I soon entered a season of intense difficulty. I went from exuberant hearing, seeing, and feeling God to spiritual silence other than the words “Praise Him and give Him thanks.” This went on for a period of two years while our finances and health were devastated and my heart was utterly broken. It appeared this period was coming to an end and I desperately wanted another child and it looked like the time was right. I was delighted when, after two years of seemingly everything that could go wrong did go wrong, I quickly became pregnant. Two months in I started bleeding. Ultrasound showed either the dates were off or my baby had died. I had to wait two weeks for another ultrasound and during that time I prayed with sincere faith that my Heavenly Father would minister life to the baby inside my body. When the second ultrasound came and showed my baby had died my immediate response was to praise Him and give Him thanks. It was real; it was powerful. That was one of the most profound experiences I have had. Through a very difficult season He made my faith and joy real and firm and not dependent on circumstances. That is one of the biggest miracles I have ever experienced.
I am a woman who really thinks (although on the flip side, it doesn’t always appear to be this way:. Like most of us women, sometimes that means over thinking. This has been the case for my faith since God began to stir within me the desire to know Him more.
I was raised as a Baptist Pastor’s daughter, a blessing of all blessings, and thoroughly covered by prayer and privileged to see the Spirit living in and through my parent’s throughout my upbringing. Yet there came a day where as my youth group days were over and though the good times, yes, had rolled, I was a “grown up,” in Bible College nonetheless, and now reading my Bible introspectively and with all intentionality to live it out; something to be taken with all seriousness if really read with an open heart and mind.
The thought of Jesus, this deity in flesh, often posed within me thoughts of impossibility and I envied the faith of those who just “took Jesus at His Word.” Yet even as now, when my human mind falters, I kept my hand to the plow, prayed faithfully and continued reading the inspired words that kept preaching off the page that it is not by human wisdom that I could attain this salvation but by the faith like that of a child by which the “eyes of our hearts and minds are enlightened to know the depth of God’s love” (Eph.), as “God reveals it to us through His Spirit” (1 Cor.), and to be preached not with “persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” whereby our faith is then not in the wisdom of men but by the power of God.”
And thereby I have been kept; sealed by the Holy Spirit, continuing in faith, prayer and dedication and(ESPECIALLY) when I do not FEEL it. So now let the WORD speak for itself; AMEN.
I have no doubt that our God is real and he loves us. I was married for nearly 15 years and after my divorce I asked God daily to forgive me. I never dreamt I would be a divorced woman. I made a vow and I broke it. How could God forgive me? On December 24, 2006, one year and 3 days after my divorce was final, at midnight mass, the lights came down in the church as I knelt to pray. I was suddenly enveloped in a warmth I had never felt before or since. In my head I heard, “Quit asking, you are forgiven.” On the day before we celebrated His birth he brought me my greatest gift – perfect knowledge of his forgiveness. Our God is so gracious – he meets us where we are and envelopes with his love and mercy.
I can assure you I still struggle at times forgiving myself, but it is though times I go on bended knee before my Savior because he has already forgiven me.
Jesus Christ became real to me on June 16, 1991.I realized I was lost and desperate and wanted to know what was true. Then hearing that Jesus was THE Truth and how He gave His life for me caused me to put my faith in Him. There are many times he continued to show me just how real He is! However, just last week He showed Himself again. All week He had been reminding me of something and in our service at church I realized I needed to make things right with a person I love dearly. God made it clear it was causing a root of bitterness. I confessed this to close friends at the alter. They prayed for me and I prayed knowing I just had to talk to the person as soon as possible. I did not have a clue HOW on earth that would happen. So I trusted God that He would show me how and when. That very evening “out of the blue” God brought the person to me! He arranged it so we were alone and could talk. By faith I opened my mouth and the words came out that God wanted to come out. This was such an act of God and I am so thankful and have such peace! Oh yes He is REAL!
I know that my Redeemer lives!
I can’t believe so many millions reject Jesus. He is so precious to me. Memorizing these verses with this blog community and you ,Beth, has brought it even closer to me. My husband is not well but God has shown that He is near in Sooo many ways. We have had answers to prayer and He gives such peace!!
This is my blog- not the first I listed.
Adult child of both parents alcoholics.God delivered me with them witnessing out of That Pit by calling my name. His word, our relationship – is life!!!!
I was a hurting, doubting 16 year old girl. Feeling unloved, unwanted, hating myself and doing everything in my power to live out the ugliness I felt. It all came crashing down one night and I lay in my bed and somewhere deep inside I started crying out the name of Jesus. The name of a man I had told friends was just a name used to abuse other people. I was saved at such a young age and then ripped away from an abusive church home and knew nothing else, only that night my heart taught my mind, “You want Him because deep down you know Him. He loves you and He is the only one who can fix this.” And fix it He did even though it’s been years of gradual progress He has redeemed me over and over! Even when your mind can’t connect to all the rhetoric you might have been taught listen to the cry of your soul, that need for justice, love and mercy is born from a God who knows you and wants you desperately!