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Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 7:03 am
by MissouriGuerrilla
I wanted to share with you my "come to Jesus" moment. Nothing big. No monumental event. Just coming back to God. I ordered one of the David Jeremiah study bibles last Christmas with a "How to Study the Bible" book and have perused them, looked over them and thumbed through them. My heart and time was wanting, but I just hadn't committed to them.
The last couple of days, I hit them hard. I am renewing what I have put off. My life is a shambles and, as you are all followers of Christ, I am not ashamed to say I am a broken, withered and tired man. I am finding comfort in God and his Son. I have needed the foundation and rock on which to stand and lean and I am finding it in abundance. Passage leads me to passage leads me to passage and, as the Bible does to a lot of people, the passages have led me right where I need to go. The word of God and Jesus supplying my want and making me plant my feet firmly on foundation.
I know, in my heart, I have had three signs that God or Jesus was talking to me. Not by voice, but three very non coincidental signs that couldn't be argued. I knew my prayers were being heard. Well, one wasn't a prayer. One was walking into my dark, black garage and feeling in despair and just talking. Just minutes later, my wife walked up to me with something we got in the mail. She had pulled out one particular piece and said "Here. You want this?" It was a pamphlet headlined "You Are Not Alone." The kicker....my wife didn't know I was in the garage nor heard my despair.
I am now setting one foot in front of the other. I can feel peace setting in.
Thanks for listening, AAPK.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:05 am
by cudgee
Good to see you opening up. One of the good things about here is being up able to open up and express your thoughts and what you are going through. Not being judged is a big part of that. Take care and look after yourself.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 12:15 pm
by Meridian_Mike
God is always there to comfort us in times of trouble. All we need to do is answer His calling.
David Jeremiah is one of my favorite teachers! I try to listen to his devotionals daily. He presents God's word in such a deep and inspiring way.
Take care my brother. God has a very specific purpose for your life. He will lead and guide you if you trust Him!
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 12:23 pm
by Ripster
MissouriGuerrilla wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 7:03 am
I wanted to share with you my "come to Jesus" moment. Nothing big. No monumental event. Just coming back to God. I ordered one of the David Jeremiah study bibles last Christmas with a "How to Study the Bible" book and have perused them, looked over them and thumbed through them. My heart and time was wanting, but I just hadn't committed to them.
The last couple of days, I hit them hard. I am renewing what I have put off. My life is a shambles and, as you are all followers of Christ, I am not ashamed to say I am a broken, withered and tired man. I am finding comfort in God and his Son. I have needed the foundation and rock on which to stand and lean and I am finding it in abundance. Passage leads me to passage leads me to passage and, as the Bible does to a lot of people, the passages have led me right where I need to go. The word of God and Jesus supplying my want and making me plant my feet firmly on foundation.
I know, in my heart, I have had three signs that God or Jesus was talking to me. Not by voice, but three very non coincidental signs that couldn't be argued. I knew my prayers were being heard. Well, one wasn't a prayer. One was walking into my dark, black garage and feeling in despair and just talking. Just minutes later, my wife walked up to me with something we got in the mail. She had pulled out one particular piece and said "Here. You want this?" It was a pamphlet headlined "You Are Not Alone." The kicker....my wife didn't know I was in the garage nor heard my despair.
I am now setting one foot in front of the other. I can feel peace setting in.
Thanks for listening, AAPK.
MG , Thank you for sharing part of your experience with us . Having been in a similar place years ago after being discharged from the Army can relate . Was a very lost soul , and needed a change . Keep setting one foot in front of the other as you’ve said ,and let the peace spread .
Will pray for your faith to be renewed and the strength to keep going . If you need someone to talk to shoot a pm and will send you my phone number
Hang in there Brother .
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 1:27 pm
by 1967redrider
Great reading this, thanks for posting.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 1:46 pm
by treefarmer
Missouri Guerrilla,
Thank you for sharing your heart with the Upper Room! As believers we all have issues keeping on the straight and narrow at times. Our daily walk is dependent on our staying in contact with our Savior by reading the Word, praying, meaningful music and as you are experiencing, following a trusted Bible teacher all the while not neglecting to worship with a local church. As evident in our lives as believers, God speaks to us many ways, His Spirit using many things to prompt or remind us what steps to take or what the proper response should be. It is our responsibility to make the proper choice, He allows us to choose the path be it right or wrong. We all make wrong choices from time to time but He is always there when we realize we’ve messed up again. He is our loving, forgiving and just Heavenly Father.
Treefarmer
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 2:54 pm
by FRJ
Welcome to Grace and the Rock of Ages.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:36 pm
by orvet
I will pray for you my friend and brother!
Feel free to PM me if you need someone to talk to & I will send you my phone number.
No matter how much we seem to have piled on our plate, the Lord is always there, right beside us. We just forget to look around and see He is working shoulder to shoulder with us, and He is doing the heavy lifting!
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:23 pm
by Reverand
Praying for you!
He has been waiting patiently for this time. Remember that God loves you, and allows us to stray away for a while. He does not want for us to, but He turns even our time straying into His glory.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:47 am
by Colonel26
Thank you for sharing this time with us, and I know that we will all keep you in our prayers. What you are experiencing is common to all whom the Lord calls to Himself. From personal experience, and the experiences of those recorded in scripture, when the Lord calls folks to Himself they all have the same experience (to one degree of intensity or another), brokenness and anguish. It’s the realization of our true nature, and the holiness of God.
Isaiah (ch. 6) was a prophet and yet in God’s presence he fell to the ground and called himself a man of unclean lips. Peter on the boat fell on his face and said, “depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man.”, and so on. What you are experiencing is the grace of God, though it may not seem like it.
Remember the words of Job - Job 5:17-18, “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.”
The binding up with grace doesn’t come without the bruising, and being made whole can’t happen until we are broken.
Prayers for you!
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:11 am
by Sharpnshinyknives
Add me to the list of people you can pm and get my phone number. Or send me a pm and I can give you my email.
What you are describing is something a lot of us have gone through and you can include me on that list. Most of us have to hit bottom before we start looking up. If you need suggested readings from the Word of God, just ask and I can help steer you to some passages that helped me through the tough times.
I appreciate your sharing and it helps to move us along to let others know that we are struggling. Hang onto His promises. Never has He let me down and He won’t let you down either.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 9:20 am
by MissouriGuerrilla
Unbelievable, folks. I am truly overwhelmed at the spiritual generosity that's been offered and the heaps of support and I can't thank you enough! I have slipped up already (cussing, quick to anger, frustration) after spending two hours with my study bible last night and hitting my knees late last night.
I pick myself up, apologize to God and his Son and go forward in prayer. It's hard to walk that line sometimes. But I believe I have an overall handle on it.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:43 am
by Meridian_Mike
Christians are not perfect my friend...... just forgiven.
When you follow Jesus, there will be times you will stumble and fall. We all do. Just make sure you get back up and continue the journey along God's narrow path.
Surround yourself with God's children and attend as many Christian events as you can. Soon enough, that "old man" inside you will start to die. The old things will pass away and all things will become new.
God bless you my brother.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2022 5:24 pm
by bighomer
God bless you, my friend.
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:46 pm
by Colonel26
MissouriGuerrilla wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 9:20 am
Unbelievable, folks. I am truly overwhelmed at the spiritual generosity that's been offered and the heaps of support and I can't thank you enough! I have slipped up already (cussing, quick to anger, frustration) after spending two hours with my study bible last night and hitting my knees late last night.
I pick myself up, apologize to God and his Son and go forward in prayer. It's hard to walk that line sometimes. But I believe I have an overall handle on it.
Go read Romans 7, the read Romans 8:1. Paul the Apostle looked at his own life and said….what I know I should do, I don’t. What I know I shouldn’t do, I slip and do it… At the end of the chapter he summed it up, “O wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
But in chapter 8 he starts, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…”
That’s Paul’s experience, my experience, and everyone who ever followed Christ too.
BTW, the closer you get to Christ, the more clearly you’ll see just how sinful you are and how holy and gracious He is!
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:51 pm
by MissouriGuerrilla
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 3:27 am
by orvet
Here is a link to a very short video that gives a great insight into what it takes to have real spiritual strength. It gives the goal and pathway to spiritual strength, not a formula to follow.
https://youtube.com/shorts/ws9h-OO8GdY?feature=share
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:21 pm
by 1967redrider
Re: Coming back around
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:36 pm
by MissouriGuerrilla
