I've always been deeply religious. It being the thing which will affect me the longest, I find it important that my beliefs are correct. To me, Truth is not relative, but absolute, like science, so I've spent literally hundreds of hours (a significant portion of my sixteen years here) searching for the Truth about God and our world. But there was an experience I had that really sticks out to me.
One day when I was younger (night, really) I was out on our deck laying in a chair watching the lightning of a storm before it began to rain. Odd, but you should try it; it's very cool. So as I lay there, I began to feel a few sprinkles, and thought, "Hey God, it's starting to rain, so I'm going to head in. But if you could put a big lightning bolt right above me, but with muffled thunder 'cause I don't like the loud thunder, that'd be nice."
Not a few seconds later, a huge bolt of lightning came from one horizon to the other, branching out all the way around me, making a jet/tearing noise as it went. As I sat there amazed, I heard the thunder; muffled like a drumbeat where the hand is kept on the drum. I started to laugh in awe and possibly fear as I slowly got up to go inside. God is very real.
On another, more recent occasion, I was at the youth services for my church and it was sort of a quiet prayer time. While I was sitting there, varying between prayer and silent thought, I heard a voice.
I didn't hear it with my ears, but it was clear enough that that may not have any difference. It said, "Chris, I want you to go over there and tell her I love her". I checked to see if it was just an odd thought, but I couldn't replicate the voice. I somehow knew it was God, and somehow instantly knew who 'her' was. It was a girl I'd never seen before that night, who wasn't particularly good looking or anything, just average.
But I thought back (for some reason not thinking how amazing it was to be talking to God, at least not that I remember) "I can't just walk over to some girl I've never met and say, "... Nice shoes, and oh, by the way, God told me to tell you He loves you, so...bye" But again, I heard, "Chris, I want you to go tell her I love her." Again I said, "But... It'll be weird, you just can't do that!" (My arrogance then surprises me now) Again, but this time with a hint of annoyance, I heard, "Chris, I want you to go over there and tell her I love her".
That slight annoyance, coming from God was enough to get me to go. I walked over to her and her friends and sheepishly explained that I had been praying and felt that God wanted me to tell her that he loved her, probably did try to comment on something normal, like her shoes, and then left, never seeing her again (though I left my youth service at church soon after).
Together, these two things are the main part of my experience with God. Though (maybe? I can't remember very well) from the time of the lightning bolt experience to about a year and a half ago, for several years, I felt the continuous, praise and awe and love inducing presence of God. It didn't keep me from sinning, (not that really fought it) but convicted me when I did. I don't know why It/He left, and have been trying to figure that out since to try to get It/Him back. If you've ever had anything like this or better, PLEASE let me know!
Loading comments....
