trophyflashZeffra's Testimony - Part 4 - God called me by name and guided me (for a little while anyway).....................................................................................................................................Part 4: God called me by name and guided me (for a little while anyway) ..................................................................................................................................... Jumping to another subject. Now... I've read the Bible, cover to cover, beginning to end 4 times. (And I'm not saying that to brag) . But that was before my late teens / early adulthood. But, about the same time I asked God back into my life, I began searching in the Bible. (Keyword »searching«... not just »reading«, but searching ) . Asking God to guide me to something he wants to show me, every day. And, for 3 weeks, every time, the Bible opened up on passages to either answer me with something on a very personal level, or point me towards Revelations (the last book in the Bible) . Revelations, Revelations, Revelations. One day, while hanging out, I even heard a voice call my name. Not a physical voice, not my own head-voice nor an imaginary voice. It was a gentle, warm and clear voice. It came from the direction where the Bible was laying. On the sofa. So, I walked over and picked up the Bible, of course. This was exciting! Then the voice said »Corinthians 1« . And, once again, it was an answer to something personal. The voice spoke again the next day. I was asking God what my purpose was. What was His plan for my life? What was He gonna use me for? While closing my eyes to listen I tapped on my heart with the »Italian hand-gesture« . What I heard I will not say. It's private. But, at the time, it comforted me. Warmed my heart and made me smile. And then... silence. 1 week of silence. Oh how the anxiety kicked in. The longing to hear that voice again. To be guided again. Wondering:»Why the sudden silence?« I picked stuff to read in the meantime, and it usually referred to the End Days. But it was still silent and un-personal (by comparison anyway) to before... until an evening in November (2023). The thumbnail for a video (»Why God is silent«) (Or something like that) had popped up a few times for a couple of days, but it was only 3 or 4 days later that I decided to watch it. »God wants to take your faith to a new level« . That's the message I got from listening. Tears were streaming down my face. There was my answer, yet again. I wanted to share this to the preacher who posted that video, almost immediately after watching it, out of thankfulness. But, as a comment, it was quite long. And it failed. I took it as a sign to not post it there as a comment, but instead turn it into an animation (or something) and then share it. Days passed. Weeks passed. More videos came across my screen. More videos where my heart felt like:»I should share something here!« . Only for my mind to stop me and make me hesitate with clicking the »post comment« button... And ultimately, delete the comment before it ever got posted. Eventually, there were two videos from someone , where the strongest messages I got from them was: »Don't be afraid to share your testimony.« and »Your testimony could be the key to someone else's salvation.« I'm not really afraid of sharing, so that second statement hit me the hardest. THAT'S why I'm sharing this. And this isn’t even ALL of it! I could have talked about The time I saw Demon Lights as a child . Or about The time God saved me from falling into a river . Or about The time God touched me and made me laugh when everyone else was crying . Or about The time I yelled at God and He ALMOST struck me O.O;;N...not proud of that one =( Or about The time God covered our car with flowers .This happened fairly recently actually. Or about How God showed me which bible to get / read .This happened very recently! Or about The time God showed me and let me understand that He is the Creator !!!This happened super recently!!! Or about how my walk with Jesus is currently going… spoilers:I think he »called me higher« too soon… the struggle is real… and... what once comforted me, now makes me doubtful and uneasy... I still choose to trust in God's plan though. »His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.« But this is quite long and it's taken many writes and re-writes to get this much on paper. (Y'know - without adding TOO much detail... or leaving too much out) . It was only near the end of 2024 that I finished writing everything down into a text document on my computer. Or, everything so far . I don’t think any of our testimonies are truly finished until the day we die, because God will continue to work on us for as long as we are alive. If you want to read the other stories, follow the links. There's many other people, both men and women, who've been obedient and shared their testimonies. What they shared helped me in my walk with God. I'm grateful to God and happy for everyone He has saved. ^_^ Maybe my testimony, or at least part of it, can help someone else too. If it is His will, He will make sure that this reaches whoever it needs to reach, at the exact time they need to hear it.....................................................................................................................................The time God showed me and let me understand that He is The Creator.....................................................................................................................................The time God showed me and let me understand that He is The Creator ..................................................................................................................................... On the 25th of November 2024, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, my husband and I were in the middle of watching the movie: »Leap of Faith« (1992 comedy/drama) , when he got a phone-call from somebody that needed his help and advise with their truck. While he was on the phone, I took the opportunity to go outside and feed our 3 dogs and keep them company while they ate their very late breakfast. The weather was mild. Not too cold, considering it was technically winter. A gentle breeze was blowing and causing leaves to fall off the trees. »It would be cool if one of the leaves fell into my lap.« , I thought and smiled to myself. »But, God, you don’t have to do that.« A couple of minutes went by and, lo and behold, a leaf fell and landed straight into my lap. »Hehe, thank you God.« I looked up and smiled, then started studying the leaf while while reminiscing about the other time earlier this year where a similar situation had happened. (The Dogwood flowers on our car) . The leaf was elliptic in shape, thin, had a jagged toothed edge and felt coarse on the surface. Fuzzy but rough. While looking closely at it, another leaf fell into my lap. A different type of leaf. This one was round, maybe slightly oval in shape, thin, had a smooth edge and felt silky smooth to touch. Feeling the texture difference of the leaves between my fingers and observing the shape difference, my mind began to wonder:»Why bother having such different designs in the first place?« . I already believed that God created everything, but also believed that everything evolved over a long period of time. Afterall, it made sense that He would »automate« His creation to take care of itself after designing it and bringing it into existence.(Like a programmer) . But I didn’t understand it... From an evolution point of view, if things really started as micro organisms in the ocean and took millions and billions of years to evolve into plants, then into small water animals, then fish, then reptiles that somehow end up on land, which evolved into dinosaurs, then into feathery birds and all other kinds animals with fur, skin and scales. Why bother with so many forms? As far as animals go, wouldn’t 2 forms be sufficient? One perfect predator and one perfect prey? Okay, so maybe a few more that would »evolve« or »adapt« to the different climates and seasons, but hundreds and thousands of species?? That didn’t make sense. Somehow, the thought entered into my mind that:»Well, I like designing and creating different characters, that each are different species, have different colors and textures and personalities... as do many other artists with their hundreds of fan characters and original characters...« . Then something clicked. All these different species. All these different lifeforms. All these different designs, shapes, sizes and colors... It had to have been created by a CREATOR! God loved to design and create so many different things, both animals and plants and everything else! That made sense! »Thank you for finally making me understand!« I praised God. I brought the two leaves inside and washed them with soap to get rid of any potential germs. While showing and telling my husband about this sudden revelation or epiphany, I got very emotional. Tears wanting to well up, throat tightening up, that sort of thing. It was just so incredible and overwhelming to finally feel like I actually fully understood this! And anxious and frustrated that I might not be able to convey this to him. That he might not understand the same way that I understood it. But, he nodded and said it was cool. »Yep. Whether God created everything or creation is part of Creator, doesn’t matter. We must respect it. People gotta believe in something. It’s good, as long as they don’t hurt anybody.« , he concluded. »Now, come on, let’s watch the movie« . Hehe... I tried to compose myself as fast as possible to keep him from waiting, but it was difficult. It took a couple of minutes. (Like mentioned before, I was very emotional) . His beliefs are noble and he does his best to help people, even if they hate his guts. Smart and selfless. Not many people are that way. The only reason I can’t believe the way he does, is when it comes to worship . Doesn’t it make more sense to thank and pray to a superior being who lives outside the constraints of time and space? Someone who is like a good father who loves us and wants to do what’s best for us? That’s just my conclusion though.....................................................................................................................................The time I yelled at God and He ALMOST struck me....................................................................................................................................The time I yelled at God and He ALMOST struck me ..................................................................................................................................... So, not exactly sure when, but it was during a year where I was home alone keeping an eye on the house, while my mom, step-dad and brother were all out working, driving a big truck.(So, before God called me back) . They’d come home once in a while for about a week and then be gone for months at a time. During this time, I developed a habit of thinking out loud and talking to myself.(As most people who are alone for extended periods of time do) . Anyway, one night, I was rather dissatisfied with how my body looked, so I complained out loud. Asking why I was cursed to look the way I did. It quickly turned from questions into accusations and rage against God. I yelled and yelled at Him for 10 minutes straight, and eventually I could FEEL that He was about to strike me! O.O;; Best way I can describe it is that it felt… electric. Like the static build-up of a lightning strike if it’s too close. Except this feeling was both inside, outside and around my body. But at the same time the “static” build up, a fear I’ve never known before welled up in me as well. I shot one more insult and complaint Gods way before the static and fear became SO strong, that it caused me, within a split-second, to fearfully curl up into a ball on the floor and whimper:"I'm sorry!" It was within that very last split-second when I apologized that God instantly stayed his hand.(Merciful is He!) . You can bet that I was extra careful when talking to God after that!....................................................................................................................................The time God touched me and made me laugh when everyone else was crying.....................................................................................................................................The time God touched me and made me laugh when everyone else was crying ..................................................................................................................................... Just wanted to share this little story of how God reached my heart one time... when I didn't want Him to. Sounds weird, right? Why would anyone NOT want to feel God's touch? The mighty one who created absolutely everything, He wants to reach out and you don't want Him to, are you CRAZY?! Well, it went down like this. One evening, a small group of young pre-teen girls were gathered in this one lady's house. We were having our own little church meeting of sorts. Talking about God, reading some Bible verses... and singing songs. The lady had a tiny guitar and started playing and singing a kind of sad worship song. All the other girls in this group got tears streaming down their faces. Quiet sniffles occasionally overlapping the sounds from the guitar. God's presence was strong with all us that evening. I could feel my throat tighten up too. Tears wanting to well up. But I refused to cry. "God's made everyone else cry. I don't wanna cry. God's NOT gonna make ME cry!" I thought. The song ended, the sniffles continued. And then. I felt a tug on the corner of my lips. The briefest smile. And then, suddenly, I burst out laughing! Laughing and laughing and unable to control myself. Stumbling across the little living-room because I just couldn't sit still. Didn't even notice any of the other girls at that point, but I'm sure they must have looked at me like:“What’s going on with that weirdo?” . Almost knocked over a plant before, my best friend at the time, smiled and said:"Ok, sit down, you... you laugh-bug." XD I finally stopped laughing and sat back down on the floor... embarrassed. Don't remember much else from that evening, but that moment got forever stuck in my memories. It was like God was saying:"Oh yeah? You don't wanna cry, huh?" and decided to touch my soul with His finger and infused me with laughter instead. I can just imagine Him smirking as he did that. X3 This moment always reminds me that God has a great sense of humor. Hehe X3 So, it's not that I didn't want God to touch me, per se. It's just that I didn't want Him to touch me in the form of crying , that's all. So, if you wanna take anything away from this. A moral for the story, if you will. It's that God can and will reach you. Even in ways you don't expect. Or perhaps especially in ways that you don't expect. And that's a good thing =D So don't fight Him. Let Him flow and do his thing. I guarantee you'll love it. Because He loves you ❤ ^_^....................................................................................................................................