Journey2God
Member
First off, I grew up in a loving, supportive and healthy family however God was not a part of it. My mother attended church as a child, but we never did growing up and while we knew and believed there was a God, that was all. As I entered college I already had two years of drinking and drugs under my belt and it only got worse when I went to college. I had a bright future playing baseball and threw it away one bottle and one line at a time. Three run ins with the law, an arrest, and 12 weeks in rehab later I ended up meeting my now wife of nearly 5 years and 6 months into our relationship we were given the news that we were pregnant. I now have two beautiful girls (5 and 2) and couldn't be happier. She was my initial savior...
I began going to church last April, after turning 28 and being persuaded by my wife, and had an experience not too long ago that really opened my eyes and made me believe. Up until this moment, my belief was very slowly building and the understanding that someone would die for "dumb ol me" still escaped me.
A little back story, growing up I suffered from reoccurring dreams/nightmares quite often. The one dream/nightmare that lasted the longest and was the most frequent was hard to explain to anyone I would tell. There was pitch black all around and a tiny figure in the distance with a light of some sort behind it. The image would very slowly get closer and closer and as best I could tell it was a face of someone/something. By the time the face got close enough to tell what it was I would wake up almost in a panic.
The image wasn't disturbing, I was more so curious as to what it was. What was very strange was the feeling I would have, physically, every time I had this dream. It's as if my body was light as a feather. I couldn't feel anything and something was off. It was like waves of energy (I guess) flowing through me and I always believed it was just adrenaline rushing through me because of the strange dream.
Fast forward to last August, now just 4 months into my journey I sat with my wife and after taking communion I prayed that God would talk to me and make his presence felt, give me a sign. As our pastor wound up his message and we all bowed our heads in prayer, he stopped in the middle of his prayer and said he felt that there was someone in the room that needed to turn his/her life over to our Lord and he asked that whoever was ready to surrender and give everything to Him, by raising their hand.
Still very timid and self conscious, yet almost as if it was a reflex, my hand went up and I opened my palm. The second I opened my hand and reached up high the feeling that I got as a child during my dreams was intensified 10x and I began to sob in my chair.
I never knew what the feeling was, but now I truly believe it was God looking down on me and blessing me. The road I took (my own choice) was littered with sin, lies and deceit. When I felt His presence rush over my body it was as if I was home in His arms.
Since then I've been baptized, attended men's bible study, began a blog to spread His word and have found this forum to learn more. It's an addiction that I am able to look at myself in the mirror and be proud of. God is good and I am so blessed to have what I believe was an encounter with the Mighty One.
Thanks for listening.
I began going to church last April, after turning 28 and being persuaded by my wife, and had an experience not too long ago that really opened my eyes and made me believe. Up until this moment, my belief was very slowly building and the understanding that someone would die for "dumb ol me" still escaped me.
A little back story, growing up I suffered from reoccurring dreams/nightmares quite often. The one dream/nightmare that lasted the longest and was the most frequent was hard to explain to anyone I would tell. There was pitch black all around and a tiny figure in the distance with a light of some sort behind it. The image would very slowly get closer and closer and as best I could tell it was a face of someone/something. By the time the face got close enough to tell what it was I would wake up almost in a panic.
The image wasn't disturbing, I was more so curious as to what it was. What was very strange was the feeling I would have, physically, every time I had this dream. It's as if my body was light as a feather. I couldn't feel anything and something was off. It was like waves of energy (I guess) flowing through me and I always believed it was just adrenaline rushing through me because of the strange dream.
Fast forward to last August, now just 4 months into my journey I sat with my wife and after taking communion I prayed that God would talk to me and make his presence felt, give me a sign. As our pastor wound up his message and we all bowed our heads in prayer, he stopped in the middle of his prayer and said he felt that there was someone in the room that needed to turn his/her life over to our Lord and he asked that whoever was ready to surrender and give everything to Him, by raising their hand.
Still very timid and self conscious, yet almost as if it was a reflex, my hand went up and I opened my palm. The second I opened my hand and reached up high the feeling that I got as a child during my dreams was intensified 10x and I began to sob in my chair.
I never knew what the feeling was, but now I truly believe it was God looking down on me and blessing me. The road I took (my own choice) was littered with sin, lies and deceit. When I felt His presence rush over my body it was as if I was home in His arms.
Since then I've been baptized, attended men's bible study, began a blog to spread His word and have found this forum to learn more. It's an addiction that I am able to look at myself in the mirror and be proud of. God is good and I am so blessed to have what I believe was an encounter with the Mighty One.
Thanks for listening.
