It's astounding how powerful the simple act of sharing one's own experience can be.
Recently I was somewhere where a bunch of people were sharing their stories of how they had learned to develop a relationship with God. There was one person who was really struggling, trying to figure it all out and getting more and more frustrated and angry that nothing was working. This person freely admitted not having a personal relationship with God. In the next breath the person talked about trying to dredge up the past and deal with it, yet the tone this person used was so resentful, hurt and bewildered that family members did not seem to understand and sympathize.
I could relate. Not long ago I had those very same reactions, flailing around in my own cesspool of long-standing resentments, grudges, and all the while wanting someone else to fix me. Yet in trying to unearth the past without giving the whole process over to God first, all I ended up doing was digging dirt all over myself; there was nowhere else to put it because the more I tried to put it on my family members, the more I got all over myself!! I wanted to speak up and say that without God in the picture - all that introspection and reliving old memories was for nothing.
But as I listened, I decided to unhook, to give even this uncomfortable experience over to God.
When the person was finished speaking, another person spoke up - and told a story of years of struggling to deal with all kinds of baggage without God and how that did NOT work, then how in desperation that willingness to consider that God might be part of the solution came to be - how there was now a growing relationship and reliance on Him, and how a transformation has slowly taken place ever since. The story was so powerful as we listened - some drinking it in because they'd never heard it, and some marveling in the miracle because we'd seen the 'before picture' and we've watched in gratitude and wonder as the transformation has taken place. All of us knew that God was present. The sense of His presence was almost tangible. It was a tremendously powerful moment.
I remember, many years ago when I first started going to the church I go to now, how my whole family thought I was such a traitor for leaving their denomination. One family member expressed her genuine concern that I was "seeking after experience." She said it like it was a bad thing. I remember being baffled by that. "Isn't that what the Christian life is?" I asked. "An experience with the living God?" And I watched her struggle for words ... words that never came. For, I realized shortly afterward, a person can dismiss advice, can argue belief, can disagree with opinion. But experience is irrefutable.
I've seen it happen over and over again. Just like the blind man Jesus healed (the one who was born blind) discovered, there is no defense against experience. "I was blind. Now I see."
It is what it is. And it is powerful.
Long after the effects of sermons, motivational talks and the like have worn off, someone's story will be remembered, looked to as an example of what God can do in a life. This kind of honesty has helped rescue more people simply by them coming to the conclusion that if God did this much for that person... maybe He'll do it for me. Another's experience can give strength and hope to those who have none; it must never be underestimated.
Recently I was somewhere where a bunch of people were sharing their stories of how they had learned to develop a relationship with God. There was one person who was really struggling, trying to figure it all out and getting more and more frustrated and angry that nothing was working. This person freely admitted not having a personal relationship with God. In the next breath the person talked about trying to dredge up the past and deal with it, yet the tone this person used was so resentful, hurt and bewildered that family members did not seem to understand and sympathize.
I could relate. Not long ago I had those very same reactions, flailing around in my own cesspool of long-standing resentments, grudges, and all the while wanting someone else to fix me. Yet in trying to unearth the past without giving the whole process over to God first, all I ended up doing was digging dirt all over myself; there was nowhere else to put it because the more I tried to put it on my family members, the more I got all over myself!! I wanted to speak up and say that without God in the picture - all that introspection and reliving old memories was for nothing.
When the person was finished speaking, another person spoke up - and told a story of years of struggling to deal with all kinds of baggage without God and how that did NOT work, then how in desperation that willingness to consider that God might be part of the solution came to be - how there was now a growing relationship and reliance on Him, and how a transformation has slowly taken place ever since. The story was so powerful as we listened - some drinking it in because they'd never heard it, and some marveling in the miracle because we'd seen the 'before picture' and we've watched in gratitude and wonder as the transformation has taken place. All of us knew that God was present. The sense of His presence was almost tangible. It was a tremendously powerful moment.
I remember, many years ago when I first started going to the church I go to now, how my whole family thought I was such a traitor for leaving their denomination. One family member expressed her genuine concern that I was "seeking after experience." She said it like it was a bad thing. I remember being baffled by that. "Isn't that what the Christian life is?" I asked. "An experience with the living God?" And I watched her struggle for words ... words that never came. For, I realized shortly afterward, a person can dismiss advice, can argue belief, can disagree with opinion. But experience is irrefutable.
I've seen it happen over and over again. Just like the blind man Jesus healed (the one who was born blind) discovered, there is no defense against experience. "I was blind. Now I see."
It is what it is. And it is powerful.
Long after the effects of sermons, motivational talks and the like have worn off, someone's story will be remembered, looked to as an example of what God can do in a life. This kind of honesty has helped rescue more people simply by them coming to the conclusion that if God did this much for that person... maybe He'll do it for me. Another's experience can give strength and hope to those who have none; it must never be underestimated.
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