An event that "enhanced" or strengthened your faith?

[NJ_Teddybear]

I am gonna be up front here with everyone. I am what you might call agnostic. I am just not sure what to believe about the concept of God or actually anything of a spiritual nature. I do see that spirituality has worked wonders for so many of you.

My questions are as follows. Have you ever had an event... ie.. a vision, perhaps seeing an angel or something to that effect, maybe a NDE or even some type of miracle that you just KNOW was of a spiritual nature that you know couldn't have just come from with you?

I know I probably sound like a fool here but I have seen and read so many examples of people whose faith was strengthened or bolstered by some kind of "event" or revelation. I was just curious if this has happened to you and if you could possibly explain a little.

Thanks so much for listening.

DAVID

(Thinking of changing screename to Lost_TeddyBear)

[billiegirl]

David--

My wonderful father passed away this past March after a long, hard struggle with cancer. We were extremely close and his death has been really hard for me. I am the oldest child of four and was always a "daddy's girl." Since his death, on two occasions, I have felt my daddy's presence. Once was during a dream when I know that he sat by my side and told me not to worry, that he was happy and there was no more pain for him. I woke up crying. The second time was when I went to the cemetery to take him flowers. It had been perfectly calm and suddenly a light breeze came up and I know that I felt my dad's kiss on my cheek. Since then, I feel more at peace with his death.

I do have a lot of faith and I know that one day soon I will see my daddy again. I feel that my Dad just wanted me to know that he was ok and that even though he misses us, we will all be together again.

Having faith in anything is difficult. Especially things you can't see or touch. I think that it all starts with believing in and having faith in yourself. Good luck.

[Princess Di]

My husband left me in August after 27 years of marriage...I turned to the church and have no regrets! I always went as a child, but really never once we got married....I never realized the void I had in my life until I started going again.....

[ixtapacheryl]

Some friends from the UK joined us on our cruise 11/27/2006. Their son - age 35 committed suicide in Egypt during a holiday in September. He was alone and didn't want his family to accompany him on this vacation. He also lived in the UK. I guess he had tried to commit suicide 3 other times in the past but was unsuccessful.

They didn't want to come on the cruise but their other friends convinced them it would be good for them to get away.

She said that the first night on the cruise - she was sleeping in her room and her husband was in his bed. She woke up and felt the side of her bed indented and she felt her son bend down and kiss her. In the morning when she woke up she told her husband what had happened and he asked what time she experienced this. She told him and he immediately said the same thing had happened to him and when he had sat on his dad's bed to give him a kiss his dad told him to visit his mother. Sure enough he did .... and it was within minutes that he did.

Hey we are all going on 'blind' faith. Maybe we will be doubly blessed because we can't see.....

[Peskie]

Numerous things....

one thing that sticks in my mind though is my mother when she had a brain anuerysm. We weren't sure whether she was going to make it or not and right after surgery, she kept asking me to open the door. She kept pointing to the right of me and saying to open the door, that she heard her brother and my dad talking and she wanted to see them. She said she could see her dad and her other brother and they said the others were there and she wanted to see them but couldn't reach the door.

Scared me, but reassured me at the same time.

[landis]

One things that seems to be common when our faith is strengthened the most is that it is when some trial hits us. You know a lot of people ask why a loving God would allow bad things to happen to people. But I find that when something hard or bad happens, that is when you grow. These are the times when we who are His children and have accepted Jesus as our Savior feel that God is the closest to us and that He will help us through anything. This year has been extremely hard due to my son completely turning from what he has been taught his whole life. I have not seen him very much. Even though it has been very hard for me and I have had a lot of pain and tears, I have never felt closer to my God. I know that in life we WILL have trials. But I also know that there is a better place where I will go when I leave this world. I would rather walk with God through this life than without Him. I know the difference because I walked the first 31 years by myself and I had no hope, no meaning and no lasting joy or happiness. Now, no matter what happens, I have the joy that can only be explained by walking with Him. I hope you choose to let Him do that for you too. Just try asking, what have you got to lose?

[Peskie]

I agree with landis!!

I've seen that myself.

Somehow a trial I went through a little over a year ago drew me to the conclusion that I needed to fast. Without the trial, I'd have never discovered the peace behind fasting.

I also ended up being able to help somebody else because of that and I'd have never been prepared for it.

Without that trial, without the time of fasting and without that time of preparation, I also wouldn't have been able to come up with another realization in my life and been able to develop.

I know this is a little vague, it's not something that I'm comfortable talking the specifics of, but the journey has been ABSOLUTELY amazing!

[TexasKitKat]

I have had many experiences of a spiritual nature. One of the most outstanding was a vision I had about 15 years ago. I was at a Bible conference in a large auditorium. At one point near the end of the evening's service there was a call to the audience to come down to the front if you wanted prayer.

My friends and I were seated way up in the nosebleed section and I made my way down to the floor so I could walk to the front. When I reached the main floor, I was drawn to a sight in the middle of the arena. A VERY large rope was suspended in the middle of the arena and dangled about 2/3 of the way down from the 30-50+ ft. ceiling. It was slowly going up like it was being rolled up to be put in storage. I looked up toward the top and the whole ceiling area was dark and I couldn't see the top end of the rope...it just went on up into the darkness. Anyway, I heard a voice inside me say "You don't have to be strong enough to climb the rope. Just hang on to the bottom of it and 'I' will pull you up." It was such a word of encouragement to me from the Lord. (It was very personalized for me too, because back in high school one of my big humiliations was that I was never strong enough to climb the rope in gym class and had to try for days on end in front of the class before the teacher finally figured out that it just wasn't going to happen.)

Well, anyway, I turned my attention back to the front of the auditoriuam and made my way down there for prayer. Later, as I walked back toward my seat I noticed the rope was gone so I looked up toward the ceiling expecting it to be coiled up somewhere in the "scaffolding" I assumed was up above for lights and such. To my utter shock, I could see the entire ceiling of the room quite clearly now and it was one seamless, smooth surface with no scaffold, lights, rope, etc. in sight. There is absolutely no way this could have been removed in the few minutes that had passed.

I asked my friends if anybody else had seen the rope and couldn't find anyone who had. To this day I am certain the whole experience was for my eyes only.

I could tell you of dozens of experiences I've had that could only be God encounters...but hopefully, this one will encourage you that God is real and He cares for each of us individually.

[buffedstuff]

Originally Posted by NJ_Teddybear

I am gonna be up front here with everyone. I am what you might call agnostic. I am just not sure what to believe about the concept of God or actually anything of a spiritual nature. I do see that spirituality has worked wonders for so many of you.

My questions are as follows. Have you ever had an event... ie.. a vision, perhaps seeing an angel or something to that effect, maybe a NDE or even some type of miracle that you just KNOW was of a spiritual nature that you know couldn't have just come from with you?

I know I probably sound like a fool here but I have seen and read so many examples of people whose faith was strengthened or bolstered by some kind of "event" or revelation. I was just curious if this has happened to you and if you could possibly explain a little.

Thanks so much for listening.

DAVID

(Thinking of changing screename to Lost_TeddyBear)

I had everything that should have made me happy, money, nice job, wonderful family, but I felt empty lost and no purpose, it was like I was made for more. You can only buy so many clothes or go on so many vacations, or laugh at some many parties. I had to know if their was a method to the madness. I didn't need religion I needed a relationship. If there was a G-d I had to know. So one day all alone I said G-d if you are real, come into my life and let me know. Now I know there really is a masterplan...I have purpose, and vision. I wish you well on your journey. may you find what you need

[JanMarie3]

Originally Posted by landis

I would rather walk with God through this life than without Him. I know the difference because I walked the first 31 years by myself and I had no hope, no meaning and no lasting joy or happiness. Now, no matter what happens, I have the joy that can only be explained by walking with Him. I hope you choose to let Him do that for you too. Just try asking, what have you got to lose?

This is ME! I lost for almost 30 years and finding Jesus was such a simple thing, he had been there all along. I didn't believe in God, so I had to pray to God to help me to become a believer.

I have had God give me advice on my DD, while I was at the end of my rope with her.....I asked God to please tell me what to do, to mend the little rift we were having and I am sure he said "tell her you are sorry", I could not believe this at first, but after I told her I was sorry, the rest of the day was blissful. I have had other occasions like this, God is always there and he always listens.

[maggieb43]

My sister's huband (vice-president of a large company) was gunned down (along w/ 3 other people) by a disturbed man who worked for him. He was 40,a fantastic guy (people, over a THOUSAND, stood out in the rain in a long line for hours outside the funeral parlor to pay their respects), father of 2 kids, my sister was crazy in love with him. He and I were close, I once told him I loved him like my blood brothers. The day he died were going to a hockey game together that nite...

Anyway, I had suffered depression for years and this just about sent me over the edge. Several days after it happened I was at my sister's and I felt a breakdown coming on. I ran to the bathroom and was hysterical when I realized I was making things worse when all I really wanted to do was help my sister and her kids (10 and 11). I sat on the toilet and prayed for strength and a feeling of strength, calm and peace came over me. After that, I was able to keep it together and really be of assistance. Both my mother and sister said I was amazing during that time, they couldn't believe it. Look, I know that God gave me that strength sure as I know my own name...you may say that strength was inside me all along, and maybe it was, but it wasn't until I asked God to help that I was able to find it...