WoW... I clicked on that link thinking it was going to be an argument for born again but what i read made me cry cos ive had such a terrible day...
I think some people on this forum feel like im challenging their beliefs but what i wanted was what u wrote there, an example of a born again moment...
I was supposed to get my license back on Thursday the 21st, next week... I had lost it for 20 months and was sent to jail to do some time.
I get my license i have to do course on speeding and such, 3 days, last Tuesday, today and next Tuesday, cost $800...
So i went last Tuesday, its on the other side of town and took me 90 minutes to get there...
But today i found that my local train line was closed, u know how ther getting rid of all the railway crossings... So i had to catch a bus that they replaced the train with. This resulted in me being late by literally 7 minutes... I walked in the door at 10.07am Well... She had said previously that she doesn't tolerate late comers and will dismiss them... And so i was dismissed...
$800, 20 months no license and all the things that come with it such as limited job opportunities, time in prison, all the planning i had made, converting this van into a camper, the excitement... All gone in a blink of an eye. Cos i was 7 minutes late... Oh man i felt such fury that i hadn't felt in a long time... First i spoke to trhe receptionists very aggressively, the teacher was going to call me after 1.30pm they told me... I was so livid, i had such evil thoughts of revenge...
Caught the train back into the city and there was steam rising from my head, so many people wearing face masks, it was like some one was screwing a bolt into my head... As i got off the train i went on a rant about everyone being such weak sheep wearing masks, the whole carriage coped it...
Seeing the city so dead and people wearing masks everywhere just stoked my anger... I went into a store (JB hi-fi)
Employee - U must wear a mask
Me - I don't do masks... And walked right in... Had an argument with them about masks and social distancing
Then went I into a store to buy lunch... Was loud and obnoxious again...
I did somehow manage to pull out some empathy towards a homeless guy.
I bought some food to share with him and we spoke for about 30 minutes.
I went home but i was still feeling so angry... She rang me eventually and i was really obnoxious towards her, using foul language...
I started to calm down and then i read your testimony... I felt such shame, i knew what i had to do, so i sent her an apologetic text...
Half an hour later i received a call from their office and they offered me a refund. A reward perhaps. I apologized to that lady as well. I know that resentment is so damaging to my spirit and soul that i won't go to bed with it, especially towards family...
An old friend, Lisa had a close relationship with her dad. They had an argument one day, nothing major but a day or two later he died unexpectedly, umpiring a cricket match, about 50yo... Poor Lisa became so hung up on the fact that he left on bad terms, he last words towards him were horrible, it really scared her mentally, so much so that she was never the same girl, tried to commit suicide several times...
I think my born again moment came when my ex left me... I had rejected any notion of a God and blindly followed the evil one all the way up to the cliff... I had a suicide plan... But something clicked... All this bad in my life wasn't just a coincidence, it was evil... For the first time i could see Satan, i could see what he had done to me over the past 15 years... Oh my goodness, Satan is actually real and my reaction was to flee from him and search for God...
U know in the Catholic church they have the first Communion and then Confirmation at about age 14. Its just a hand full of questions to confirm at mass but the first question isn't do u believe in God, no... The first question is "Do u reject Satan and all his evil ways" I do... Its quite a profound way to begin, the acknowledgement of evil and the promise to reject it... And thats exactly what i did without even thinking about it when i first encountered the evil one...
I went in search of God, he was like a star in the sky at first, so far away, i was walking in the dark, deep behind enemy lines, being stalked constantly by evil... The light at the end of the tunnel got bigger and brighter, when i reached God i fell into tears for i had lived a life of a fool, i had rejected God, questioned him, criticized him, u name it... That was a deep confession, really deep... From then i just started to think differently. I feel like i had the Holy Spirit from the start but had gagged it and put it in my pocket, acting only on the will of the devil... But now i had this second voice in my head, the Holy Spirit... I didn't even know what born again was back then, the Catholic or the Protestant view... Looking back now it is definitely a turning point for me
Ahhh, being born of water and spirit. Maybe the water are the tears, hmm just a thought
About 5 months later i was thrown in jail... First 2 nights, solitary, under the city courthouse. Its known as "The yellow submarine"..
The evil one tormented me like he never had... He broke me... Then i got moved to the assessment prison where there is everyone; murderers, robbers, rapists, all of them in one mosh pit. And me, in jail for driving offences. I knew i had to pull myself together and i prayed for the strength to get me thought it cos i knew that Satan was going to be everywhere, trying to tempt and torment using every possible method, inmates, guards, temptation of smokes, drugs, feelings of evil...
God's presence in jail is hard to explain... He is seemingly everywhere, so easy to find.
U said His awaiting the slightest reason, the most meager of excuses, to forgive, to show mercy, and to pardon... Thats exactly what i found. His there, just waiting for someone to repent...
Sure enough i was tempted the very next morning as one of my room mates went ballistic cos i had been snoring all night. He picked up a chair and fainted to hit me with it, he fainted a punch and a kick as well... If i had reacted i think i would of got in trouble but i was able to remain calm... Every action i made in prison i did by asking myself "what would Jesus have done". I was impervious to the attack of the evil one like never before, It was just like i was standing behind God as he smashed Satan...
Anyway, sorry for writing a book, hope it wasn't too boring
