DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
LIVING WATER CHRISTIAN FORUM
HTML https://livingwater.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Prayer, Praise, and Encouragement.
*****************************************************
#Post#: 11905--------------------------------------------------
O Happy Day
By: guest36 Date: March 3, 2020, 3:20 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I woke up this morning thinking that It might make an uplifting
thread if members were to tell of the date, circumstances, and
feelings of that Happy Day that fixed their Choice on Jesus as
their Lord and Saviour.
I say that with a heart so full of envy because I just can't
kick the thread open with my own experience.
Honestly folk I just can't remember a time when I did not
completely believe in God. And from that earliest time,
beginning with infant's Sunday school, bit by bit, i just kept
adding to that belief with all that I was taught about
Christianity until, at the age of about 15, I was taught and
accepted that I should be baptised publically by immersion
(preceded by a thorough pastoral examination to ensure that i
really was 'of the faith').
I would just love to have had a 'road to Damascus' conversion,
but it was not to be.
Hopefully you can therefore understand how much, with love and
envy, I would relish and cherish your 'Testimonies'.
HTML https://youtu.be/EfGDvDGE7zk
#Post#: 11907--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: mjrhealth Date: March 3, 2020, 4:15 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Mike Waters link=topic=780.msg11905#msg11905
date=1583227230]
I woke up this morning thinking that It might make an uplifting
thread if members were to tell of the date, circumstances, and
feelings of that Happy Day that fixed their Choice on Jesus as
their Lord and Saviour.
I say that with a heart so full of envy because I just can't
kick the thread open with my own experience.
Honestly folk I just can't remember a time when I did not
completely believe in God. And from that earliest time,
beginning with infant's Sunday school, bit by bit, i just kept
adding to that belief with all that I was taught about
Christianity until, at the age of about 15, I was taught and
accepted that I should be baptised publically by immersion
(preceded by a thorough pastoral examination to ensure that i
really was 'of the faith').
I would just love to have had a 'road to Damascus' conversion,
but it was not to be.
Hopefully you can therefore understand how much, with love and
envy, I would relish and cherish your 'Testimonies'.
HTML https://youtu.be/EfGDvDGE7zk
[/quote]
believe me Mike, they would be few and far between. mine started
with a whisper, was many years before I came a Christian. no
bright lights, and that is how it us.
#Post#: 11914--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: Pat Date: March 3, 2020, 6:25 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I can’t remember a time I didn’t believe in God either Mike. I
was ‘Christened’ in the Church of England as a baby and then
when I was old enough I was sent to Sunday School every week and
always won prizes for good attendance.
I wasn’t very enthusiastic about Sunday School though and
thought it boring. But what I did love were the kids mission
meeting our pastor neighbour used to take me to at his Mission
church. I loved them and the bible stories and songs and
learned bible verses and it was at one of those meetings that I
asked Jesus into my like at about ten years of age. Sadly though
I was not allowed to join that little church and had to carry on
in the CoE. At the appropriate age of eleven was confirmed and
then went regularly to church to take Communion until I was
about seventeen when I started to dwindle.
When it became public knowledge that Cliff Richard had become a
Christian I thought, ‘So what, so am I’ and couldn’t understand
the fuss and then I was married at age twenty in the church I
was confirmed in and stopped going apart from getting my two
girls ‘Christened’.
Later I divorced, re-married and had a son. When it came time
for him to be ‘Christened’ I was ashamed of my divorce and
didn’t want to meet the vicar who I thought would judge me so
Ray went to make the arrangements. It wasn’t that easy though
as the vicar ,John, wanted to talk to us properly so came for a
home visit.
He was lovely kind man and not judgemental at all. He talked us
through things and gave us a little booklet called ‘Journey Into
Life’ which explained that going to church didn’t make you a
Christian and that believing in God didn’t make you a Christian
and that you need to have a relationship with Jesus.
I read it avidly and said the ‘sinners’ prayer’ and thought no
more about it until the day of the Christening itself. When we
were required to stand and proclaim, ‘I repent of my sins, I
renounce evil, I turn to Christ’ I meant every word and from
then on the world has been a brighter place, I have had
contentment and peace of mind and know answer to prayer. I had
been taking Valium up till then, even during my pregnancy, but
since that day I haven’t ever needed them again.. And that
date, my second birthday, my Happy Day, was December 18th 1977.
Praise God for my new life in Christ Jesus.
#Post#: 11915--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: Joe Date: March 3, 2020, 6:41 am
---------------------------------------------------------
No “road to Damascus” experience for me.
I had a pretty shaky childhood with my parents separating when I
was 5. Very traumatic. I believe it was then that I started to
cry out to God. I never blamed God like I’ve heard some do. I
recognized early that I needed Him. When I was 7 or 8 I went to
a friends birthday party in a big state park down in Texas. A
big group of us walked miles of trails until we became lost. The
group decided which way they thought would lead us back to
civilization. I thought they were wrong so I went my way and
they went theirs. They were right. I spent hours wondering well
beyond the trails end. I crossed creeks and fields until I came
to a big stump. Crying I crawled up on that stump and prayed to
a God I barely knew. A very fervent prayer. After that I walked
another mile or so through thick woods and came to a road where
minutes later a man picked me up and took me to his home where
he called the authorities to come get me.
I found comfort in God that day and have always known since then
that am not alone no matter how lost I feel. Praise our loving
God.
#Post#: 11916--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: guest36 Date: March 3, 2020, 6:44 am
---------------------------------------------------------
As was the case with Pat, I too prayed the 'sinners prayer' as
directed by the Pastor who led the Sunday School before it
divided into the various age groups. And I distinctly remember
doing so.
But since it was his regular exhortation I cannot pin point
dates.
#Post#: 11922--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: Nancy Date: March 3, 2020, 8:02 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Sorry Mike, wish I had an exciting RTD experience but, like
some, I couldn't give you an exact date. Born and raised
Catholic, Christening, First Holy Communion, Confirmation,
Relig. Instructions every Tues. Even though I had believed in
God at a very young age and never knew Him through the CC, when
I became a teenager , just went my own way. Lived a life of
bars and partying going nowhere fast! Pretty much my whole life
I wandered and wondered until, early in 1992, my best friend and
I had an "after the bars close" conversation and decided to give
our lives to the Lord...it has been bumby but, here I am in His
palm after all :)
#Post#: 11924--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: Pat Date: March 3, 2020, 8:25 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Willie T link=topic=780.msg11923#msg11923
date=1583245426]
Ok, what is "RTD"? I tried to LIU, but I CNF anything.
[/quote]
Road To Damascus?
#Post#: 11942--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: Helen Date: March 3, 2020, 3:08 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Well I do know the date, place , and time of day. And it was
very powerful.
Like other, I had been 'aware of' God since age 4 ...but that
was all.
My dad tried at age 7 and again at age 15 to tell me that he
would be on the inside and I would be on the outside if I didn't
choose God.
( I had no clue what he was saying , and I am sure he
didn't much either ::)
He did send a dear old pastor to me ( I was 22 at the time) who
invited me to his gospel service on the Sunday. Dave and I did
have a car , and could only just boast of a Fridge...( no vacuum
cleaner, telephone, washing machine or anything)
So I asked my brother who had a car.
That night August 23 1964 I 'saw the light' as the old guy
preached , my eyes were open, I saw the whole plan of salvation
..and Jesus the Bridge across which I could cross to God ...and
close the great gap between us.
Very late that night, I stood out in the dark ...looking into
the face of the moon and stars and a mighty Presence fell like a
glorious cloud over me.
That was my first 'knowledge' of the felt presence of God.
Hey, we'd have this walk all done and dusted , if God chose to
give us His felt presence all the way Home!!
But, in His wisdom it is only a very 'once in a while' thing...
that's why Paul tells us - " We walk by faith, not by sight..."
We have confidence and know that He holds our hand, felt or
not. [emoji4]
#Post#: 11969--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: Amadeus Date: March 3, 2020, 7:09 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I can give you one special day but then I can give you another
and another and another...
The first one was my earliest specific memory as a Catholic and
as a believer. I know that I was 6 years old. Since my 6th
birthday fell in December of 1949, my baptism by sprinkling was
probably in 1950 at that old California Mission Church. I knew
it was an important time although I really knew nothing as most
people know something about God. But I met God at my Catholic
baptism. No one in my home at the time served God, but they were
there and I was praying before and during my baptism, not out
loud. While I was praying and being baptism I felt the presence
of God. I knew He was real and I began to serve Him. I became a
devout a Catholic. There was no one to guide or teach me as no
one in my home was more than a very nominal Catholic. I began
attending mass every Sunday, walking to and from, with my older
brother [1½ yrs older]. He was the only other one in our home
who attended. Later when I was able to become an altar boy it
became more frequent than that. My brother stopped going to mass
when he started high school and I immersed myself more
completely into what I had with God deciding that eventually I
would enter the priesthood.
My second special day happened when I was 10 years old at my
grandmother's house, and the 3rd one was in 1976 when I received
the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the gift of an unknown tongue.
I won't detail those here. I never did become a priest.
#Post#: 11979--------------------------------------------------
Re: O Happy Day
By: Rita Date: March 4, 2020, 1:18 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I read through this thread last night , sorry to tired to post
and I have to go to work shortly.
Must admit I was concerned about your negatives Mike, and about
the thought that your conversions was not dramatic, like Paul’s.
It kind of brought to mind the prodigal son, how one son was so
way off that ‘ his coming home ‘ was celebrated , while the
other son had remained at home and felt outdone by ...........
All of our testimonies are special, whether they were dramatic
or a slow awakening. Usually dramatic testimonies happen because
someone life is so messed up, or they are so much in need ,that
they need God to work in a dramatic way. Yes, their testimonies
sound great, but their journeys were painful. There is just so
much to be grateful for if God didn’t need to pull you out of
the mud.
My testimony was not drastic either - it the one thing that
stuck in my mind was the knowledge that the God who created the
world, was actually interested in me - that gave me just so much
value because I didn’t feel very valuable inside. That was 36
years ago, my oldest had joined a local playgroup and they
prayed for the mums,I was their first ‘ answer to prayer ‘ - it
long before that God had led me and Jeff to Hayward’s Heath, led
the health visitors to link me up with a lady who didn’t know
anyone, she then moved to the same street as the church run
playgroup, and that was why I sent my son there. I was married
to a non believer, was pregnant when I got married, didn’t feel
very relevant or important - but behind the scenes God was
interested in my life - perhaps years and years ago when I was a
little girl who went to Sunday school perhaps someone had prayed
for me , or perhaps the girls brigade leaders ....... who knows,
but I came from a non Christian background. I was about 26 years
old when I came to faith- I was seeking for about 3months , then
came to faith listening to Ephesians chapter one , just fell to
my knees in tears as I realised in my heart that God was calling
me into his family .......
Rita.
*****************************************************
DIR Next Page