Recently, I was invited to tell my story.
The story of how I discovered God.
Of course, I didn't discover God, but that is what people want to hear. The truth is God discovered me. No. That doesn't sound right. It would be better to say God 'recovered' me.
But at that moment, my nerves kicked in and I hesitated to answer...
There's no God-magic in my story, at least not in the beginning and nothing that should convince a cynic - but I think God likes it that way - He prefers to avoid Hollywood dramatics because He wants to communicate with our hearts, but it's not usually the starting point.
Truth be told, there really has been plenty of God-magic in my life. Some of it has been outstanding by anyone's standards. You know what I mean by God-magic don't you? The miraculous stuff. And, when I mention these things, I've seen people immediately respond to the God-magic stories positively with their own thoughts about about God, but then something else happens... their hearts seem to freeze over, the flow of enthusiasm stops, as if it would be dangerous to talk of going further.
God needs something else for us to really connect. I believe he needs you and me - with our simple normal lives. He needs our honesty and vulnerability. He needs our humour and our fragility. He needs tears, he needs anger, he needs desperation, he needs hope. These are the things that reach the heart.
In each one of us the story of God has already been woven into a tale to tell. Our job is to pick up on the highlights that point to a life much greater. They exist in every person and it's really something to get excited about.
Friendship
My story is simple. It describes how I knew I wasn't in the right place in life and how I looked for God and, when I started looking, I began to realise that God had been looking for me.
After that. It didn't take us long to become friends. And, yes, there really were some exciting bits: visions, healings, miraculous escapes, but to hear them, you'd really need to sit down and listen, and I'd need to hear you and you'd need to hear me.
Friendship, I believe, is the real miracle in any situation, especially when you realise how wasted and devastated our lives can be. Mother Teresa said it best:
'The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.'
So let's sit down, you can tell your story and I'll tell mine, and we'll let God do the magic.
The story of how I discovered God.
Of course, I didn't discover God, but that is what people want to hear. The truth is God discovered me. No. That doesn't sound right. It would be better to say God 'recovered' me.
But at that moment, my nerves kicked in and I hesitated to answer...
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| Miracles are only part of the story. Photo by Tomasz Harasim |
Truth be told, there really has been plenty of God-magic in my life. Some of it has been outstanding by anyone's standards. You know what I mean by God-magic don't you? The miraculous stuff. And, when I mention these things, I've seen people immediately respond to the God-magic stories positively with their own thoughts about about God, but then something else happens... their hearts seem to freeze over, the flow of enthusiasm stops, as if it would be dangerous to talk of going further.
God needs something else for us to really connect. I believe he needs you and me - with our simple normal lives. He needs our honesty and vulnerability. He needs our humour and our fragility. He needs tears, he needs anger, he needs desperation, he needs hope. These are the things that reach the heart.
In each one of us the story of God has already been woven into a tale to tell. Our job is to pick up on the highlights that point to a life much greater. They exist in every person and it's really something to get excited about.
Friendship
My story is simple. It describes how I knew I wasn't in the right place in life and how I looked for God and, when I started looking, I began to realise that God had been looking for me.
After that. It didn't take us long to become friends. And, yes, there really were some exciting bits: visions, healings, miraculous escapes, but to hear them, you'd really need to sit down and listen, and I'd need to hear you and you'd need to hear me.
Friendship, I believe, is the real miracle in any situation, especially when you realise how wasted and devastated our lives can be. Mother Teresa said it best:
'The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.'
So let's sit down, you can tell your story and I'll tell mine, and we'll let God do the magic.
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