What do you consider to be the most astonishing instances of God showing His love to you?
How often do you think about the many wonders He has performed to preserve your life and bring incredible blessings to you?
How much evidence of God’s love and mercy do you have in your life?
My first example would be how He brought me to a church camp at age 15, where a pastor explained the gospel to me and I accepted it. For several years, I was completely dedicated to living a Christian life and studying the Bible.
It blesses me to know that while many people resist, mock, or dismiss the gospel message, my young teenage heart embraced it immediately. Perhaps seeds were sown in my soul when I went to Sunday school as a child. My parents opposed my teenage devotion to Christ and the Bible, but I was stubborn about it. I cannot doubt my early sincerity and commitment. I hate how it got diluted and polluted later on, which I am ashamed to admit.
I drifted away from my initial zeal, thinking it was okay to indulge in a little of this and a little of that. The deceitfulness of sin led me deeper into darkness, while my faith flickered weakly, then finally was snuffed out. Thankfully, this was not the end of my story.
After many years of backsliding, I had a 2nd spiritual awakening.
I repented and returned to the faith of my youth. I read the Bible from cover to cover and started attending church again.
I told God that I needed a wife. I was tired of just dating. My first marriage was a disaster, due to the unfaithfulness of my wife, and I was bitter about it for a long time. But in the shambles of my ruined life, I knew I needed a permanent female companion in the bond of matrimony. I finally was willing to try again, even though at that time, I had nothing to offer any woman, except my loyal love and my renewed faith.
My second marriage is the Red Sea moment in my life, an event that I can refer to when I start to wonder if God really loves me.
The woman that God chose for me was delightful, beautiful, super intelligent, and deeply spiritual. High school valedictorian, senior class president, and prom queen. We met when I was assigned to be a Sunday school teacher at a Southern Baptist church and she was my assistant. We immediately fell in love. She was the primary blessing and chief ingredient of God’s rescue operation for me.
For 21 blissful years, she joyfully served me as my best friend, my sweetness, my completeness. I called her my perfect wife and she called me her wonderful husband. May every brother in Christ have such a wonderful, one in a million kind of woman as their better half. Becoming one flesh is a sacred reality that turns two individuals into a single powerful force.
If heaven is nothing but intense worship forever, that is fine with me.
God has saved me from drowning more than once, and I have come close to death many times. When I was 13, I had staph infection in my right hand. A black line started moving up my arm, headed for my heart to kill me. The hospital bandaged up my arm to prepare for amputation. At the last minute, an experimental medicine was used and it got rid of the staph infection, saving my life and my right arm.
So many other times I was in dangerous situations, but God protected me.
It is good to remember the times when fantastic, unexpected miracles suddenly occurred in our lives.
I think for some of us, God might let us come to the very edge of total destruction, so His rescue will be more spectacular, appreciated, and memorable.
I have told God that I will need an infinity of eternities to give Him the praise and gratitude that He deserves for what He has done in my life.
In the midst of debating Christian issues, arguing about biblical interpretations, and discussing theological concepts, let us not lose sight of the many ways God has had mercy on us, forgiven our sins, and restored our fellowship with Him.
They will know we are Christians by our love, not our disputation skills.
Keep in mind that God is examining our every thought, intention, attitude, and deed. Let us honor Him by how we behave ourselves, how we treat others, and how we worship God moment by moment in our hearts. That’s what will count at the final judgment.
What has God done for you during your short time on earth that makes you supremely grateful and happy?
How often do you think about the many wonders He has performed to preserve your life and bring incredible blessings to you?
How much evidence of God’s love and mercy do you have in your life?
My first example would be how He brought me to a church camp at age 15, where a pastor explained the gospel to me and I accepted it. For several years, I was completely dedicated to living a Christian life and studying the Bible.
It blesses me to know that while many people resist, mock, or dismiss the gospel message, my young teenage heart embraced it immediately. Perhaps seeds were sown in my soul when I went to Sunday school as a child. My parents opposed my teenage devotion to Christ and the Bible, but I was stubborn about it. I cannot doubt my early sincerity and commitment. I hate how it got diluted and polluted later on, which I am ashamed to admit.
I drifted away from my initial zeal, thinking it was okay to indulge in a little of this and a little of that. The deceitfulness of sin led me deeper into darkness, while my faith flickered weakly, then finally was snuffed out. Thankfully, this was not the end of my story.
After many years of backsliding, I had a 2nd spiritual awakening.
I repented and returned to the faith of my youth. I read the Bible from cover to cover and started attending church again.
I told God that I needed a wife. I was tired of just dating. My first marriage was a disaster, due to the unfaithfulness of my wife, and I was bitter about it for a long time. But in the shambles of my ruined life, I knew I needed a permanent female companion in the bond of matrimony. I finally was willing to try again, even though at that time, I had nothing to offer any woman, except my loyal love and my renewed faith.
My second marriage is the Red Sea moment in my life, an event that I can refer to when I start to wonder if God really loves me.
The woman that God chose for me was delightful, beautiful, super intelligent, and deeply spiritual. High school valedictorian, senior class president, and prom queen. We met when I was assigned to be a Sunday school teacher at a Southern Baptist church and she was my assistant. We immediately fell in love. She was the primary blessing and chief ingredient of God’s rescue operation for me.
For 21 blissful years, she joyfully served me as my best friend, my sweetness, my completeness. I called her my perfect wife and she called me her wonderful husband. May every brother in Christ have such a wonderful, one in a million kind of woman as their better half. Becoming one flesh is a sacred reality that turns two individuals into a single powerful force.
If heaven is nothing but intense worship forever, that is fine with me.
God has saved me from drowning more than once, and I have come close to death many times. When I was 13, I had staph infection in my right hand. A black line started moving up my arm, headed for my heart to kill me. The hospital bandaged up my arm to prepare for amputation. At the last minute, an experimental medicine was used and it got rid of the staph infection, saving my life and my right arm.
So many other times I was in dangerous situations, but God protected me.
It is good to remember the times when fantastic, unexpected miracles suddenly occurred in our lives.
I think for some of us, God might let us come to the very edge of total destruction, so His rescue will be more spectacular, appreciated, and memorable.
I have told God that I will need an infinity of eternities to give Him the praise and gratitude that He deserves for what He has done in my life.
In the midst of debating Christian issues, arguing about biblical interpretations, and discussing theological concepts, let us not lose sight of the many ways God has had mercy on us, forgiven our sins, and restored our fellowship with Him.
They will know we are Christians by our love, not our disputation skills.
Keep in mind that God is examining our every thought, intention, attitude, and deed. Let us honor Him by how we behave ourselves, how we treat others, and how we worship God moment by moment in our hearts. That’s what will count at the final judgment.
What has God done for you during your short time on earth that makes you supremely grateful and happy?
