Tell about one time in the past five years where you took a HUGE step of Faith in your journey with the Lord. What was the outcome?

Just short of five years ago I took the HUGEST step of faith in my life…

For as long as I can remember, it was as if I always knew there was something greater, and though I did not know Him, I believed that there must indeed be a god. Maybe that’s why I put it there, a “God Bless America” magnet on the back of my van. That magnet meant something to me, I cannot describe what or why, but when it was stolen (right out of the Wal-Mart parking lot) I was devastated. I wined over that thing for weeks. I know, it was just a magnet, but I felt like it was something more…

Having lived twenty-four years of a rather “colorful” past, life was spiraling to a hopeless halt and I began searching for something other than my seemingly pathetic existence. I had spoken with my Aunt a few times and mentioned my desire to maybe attend a church and my interest in finding out if god was really real. She sent me my first Bible as a birthday gift and I began to diligently follow the three-hundred-and-sixty-five day reading plan found in the back. I don’t remember what book I was reading from that snowy November evening, but I closed my Bible and began asking this god if he would please just give me a sign. A sign so that I would know if he was actually there, if he could hear me, if he really did care about me, and that he actually wanted me to follow after him.

The next morning when I walked out to my van one look at that “God Bless America” magnet smacked right there on the the hood, and I knew. God had answered. I went to church that following Sunday and it was as if the pastor knew I was sitting there. As he came to an end he extended an invitation to anyone who had not already done so, that in the privacy of his or her own heart they would accept Christ and place their trust in Him. After further attendance, I noticed that the invite is offered just about every Sunday. None the less, it was that particular Sunday; the day before my twenty fourth birthday, that I knew I was being called. Right then and there, in the privacy of my heart, I told God that I believed in Him, in Christ, that I wanted to step away from myself and place my faith and trust in Him; that I wanted to know Him. As I prayed, my heart was overwhelmed by something so indescribably amazing, as if I were experiencing some other emotion, one unknown to this world and greater than any word our vocabulary can define. For a moment, time stood still, and I met Him.

As I stood to leave, a woman, who I would not recognize today, came over and laid her hand on my shoulder. With a tender voice and gentle eyes she expressed to me how wonderful it was that I was there. In a strange and comforting way, it was as though she knew, and that was when I knew… my life would never be the same.

For God so loved the world, He gave his one Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

I stepped out of that sanctuary and into a new life, into a life of faith in Christ, into my journey with the Lord. The outcome… life. hope. freedom. family. love. did I mention life.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3