Tell Us a Story...

...of a time when God was working in your life. Either leading you through or to something or perhaps working through you to bless/teach another person.

I don't know if this matches what the thread is about. But this instance made me think how God actively is a part of our lives.

You can take it as "God actively protecting me and guiding me" or you can take it as a coincidence. I personally view it as "God actively protecting and guiding me".


This happened about 10 years ago. One night while I was sleeping, I had the most vivid dream iv ever had. I had the dream that I was being chased by these men dressed in all black. Their faces I could not see because their faces were also black as their clothes. In my dream I keep running from these people. The fear in me at that point is incredibally real and I am fearing for my life. As I run and run, I climb a small shed and run on its roof. However, I slip and fall to the ground below. Now, these men surround me and are about to kill me. So in order to not see my attackers, I put my head to the ground and cover my head. Through the corner of my eyes I see on of the men getting ready to attack. In my mind I prepare myself and say to myself "ok this is it, I am gonna die".

As soon as I am about to get hit, I hear someone say "Stop". I look up and it is Mother Mary and Jesus. The relief and joy at that point overwhelm me and I start crying like a baby and put my head in Mother Mary's lap as she and Jesus stand by my side. As the men in dark clothing disappear, Jesus hand's me a very ancient looking bible. I accept the bible and with that Jesus and Mother Mary are gone.

I woke up literally still crying and as I sat awake in my bed, I couldn't stop crying. The dream was so real and vivid that my emotions were extremely real. Eventually I stopped crying and went back to bed. The next day I told my mom about the dream. She was just like Well it just tells us that God is watching over us. I sort of took the same outlook and got on with my life. I didn't think it had any deeper meaning or anything.

Then few days later. I was driving to college as I did every week. Driving the same road I took every week. I get to the train tracks I go past everyday. These were train tracks that did not have one of those stop arms on them. These were tracks that simply had the lights. So as I approach the tracks, I notice the car coming from the opposite side is stopped. I slow down thinking "why is that car stopped? the lights are not on yet that car is stopped"? So as I am thinking this and creeping towards the tracks just prob 6 inches from the tracks. I hit the breaks. As soon as I hit the breaks there is a train whizzing in front of me.

My car is so close to the tracks that my car is shaking from the air and sound coming off the Cargo Train. Of course that let me a bit shaken up. And I started to wonder, if I didn't randomly notice that car stopped, I would most likely been dead.

I also remembered the dream I head a few days before, where in the face of certain death Jesus and Mother Mary told my attackers to Stop.

Anyways, after that point I took that dream as a sign of the Train incident. To me that was God actively telling me that "hey I am your protector".

The End.

wow, thats so powerful, Wannabe. I got chills.

Thanks for sharing!

WOW! Thank you for sharing that!
I have also seen Mother Mary and Jesus when he was an infant but not in a dream. I saw her when I was around 8 years old and I knew then that Christ was always with me and watching me.
I think that always reminded me that even though a lot of bad things have happened in and to my family, we have always pulled through.

I could go on and on about people God has specifically brought into my life to keep me going at times.

I've met so many people over through internet through the years, since that was my escape, that kept me going at times when I felt hopeless.

One of my best friends I met through the internet, I've known her since I was about 16 so it's been about 13 years now. She convinced me that I should get my GED and that I was still smart, even when it felt everyone else gave up on me.

My Aunt always encouraged me through the years, since she dealt with depression of her own, and she has a very similar personality to me.

My other best friend, who is 82. One of the wisest people I've ever met. That was also a God thing. One of the first people to help me realize that all this depression was not entirely my fault, and it wasn't simply a matter of "trying harder". That I needed to get some medication so I could even begin to try.

I've shared a lot of my story this past year especially with a lot of people. I think it's helped encourage them to know that they're not alone and that other people go through some pretty hard struggles as Christians. A lot of people have this idea that if they admit they struggle with things, people will think they don't have enough faith, or that it will ruin their witness. So it comforts people to know that they are not the only ones who are struggling.

thanks for sharing that Kevin. I'm so glad to hear how He's worked in your life and now uses you to reach others

Bible college, probably by far one of the best years in my life, also made a huge difference in my faith.

I had a Christian upbringing in our house, and our home.  We were taught the stories of the Bible.  Went to Awana, and Youth Group etc.  So I knew the Bible fairly well.  But it just never really "connected".  Certain things didn't make sense, about why God did certain things, at certain times, and I knew the pieces of the puzzle, but no one could put them together for me.  

Bible college made a HUGE difference in that regard.  Finally someone was able to go through, and show me how all the pieces fit together, and wow suddenly the light bulb turns on and not only did it increase my faith, but it gave me more understanding of why God does things and how He does things.  It was such an encouragement to understand more of what was going on and the reasons why certain things happened.

Also it's amazing what you can learn about God in one year when you really put time and effort into studying it. I really need to get back into that mode.

Sometimes all it takes to make a difference in someone's life is time and willingness to be available.  I think that's one of the reasons I go out of my way to give my time to people if they need it, because I know that when I was depressed it meant a lot to me when someone would go out of their way to spend time with me.  

I've lost many hours of sleep these past two months staying up with people to talk to them, but I wouldn't trade it for that sleep knowing I helped get them through a rough day.

Even the guy at Hospice, tells me over and over how much he appreciates someone willing to take the time to come and visit him. He usually only sees nurses most of the time, and he likes it so much just to chat or visit with someone. All he wants is a little company now and then.

Ethnog wrote:

WOW! Thank you for sharing that!
I have also seen Mother Mary and Jesus when he was an infant but not in a dream. I saw her when I was around 8 years old and I knew then that Christ was always with me and watching me.
I think that always reminded me that even though a lot of bad things have happened in and to my family, we have always pulled through.

Yeah, I know some people get weird and say "Mother Mary, what are you catholic". But, the truth is that God and his Servants are with him. Like how the Apostles Saw Jesus speaking to Elijah.

Well people have asked me if I am Catholic because I make a cross when praying.

Ethnog wrote:

Well people have asked me if I am Catholic because I make a cross when praying.

I do that too. Not always when im praying. But if im doing a quick prayer, ill do the sign of the cross also sometimes.

Just out of curiousity, wannabe, do you come from a liturgical background?

little_tigress wrote:

Just out of curiousity, wannabe, do you come from a liturgical background?

not really.

ah OK, just wondered since I haven't run across many evangelicals who use terms like Mother Mary or cross themselves for prayer. I just thought it was interesting that you did

I could post the story of how I got Oakley again, but I don't feel up to typing it all out. I don't suppose Ethie or LT still has it from CF maybe?

If not, maybe I'll have enough patience to write it out on another day.

I think I've got it. lemme check.

That works, thanks.  I don't mind telling the story, just sometimes it seems like a lot of work to type them all up again

Maybe one day I'll get smart and just save all my stories / life experiences somewhere heh.

little_tigress wrote:

ah OK, just wondered since I haven't run across many evangelicals who use terms like Mother Mary or cross themselves for prayer. I just thought it was interesting that you did

Well I went to Catholic School as a kid. So Those terms are something I picked up from catechism and I guess they just stuck.

ohhh I see!

Pastor was talking today in church about how people are watching us, even when we don't notice.  It reminded me of when I went to go talk to my counselor / best friend, the 82 year old gentleman.  We were talking once, I don't remember what about.  But he stopped and said "You know Kevin, you've had quite an influence on people with your life even though you don't realize it." So I asked him what he meant.  

He then told me, that since I had been doing better, my depression had lessened, I was going out more and doing things.  Had a more positive outlook on life, and seemed to be focused on God, people were asking about me.  They were asking what had happened or changed in me so much, that I seemed like a completely different person now.  And after hearing about this gentlemen I went to go see for help, they decided to go as well.

He didn't name any names, but he told me that they were people I knew that came to go see him, because of the changes they saw in me.  He said there has been at least 20-30 people come see him specifically because of that.

Of course I take no credit for those changes, it's all because of God.  It's nothing I did.  But it does go to show you that even when we don't think people are watching us, they are.

That's awesome And it is true how our lives can effect those around us though we aren't always aware of it.
I learned that when I met someone a few years younger than me and noticed how her moods and thoughts were very easily influenced by everyone else's attitude. So I try to keep positive about things when I can.
Myself I would get really depressed being around a lot of negativity and once confronted someone about their attitude (I rarely ever confront anyone but it was really hurting me), and fortunately he listened to me and did his best to change his attitude.

Well my story is rather boring, a ton of bad choices, illegal substances, people I knew dying, bad women and one day waking up at the bottom with no where to look but up.

I have many stories that have changed my perception of the world, both seen and unseen. Even what changed me from being a ghost skeptic to believing in them because of my own experience. Which helped prove to me that there IS, something after this, which lead to me getting intellectual about the process of what is after this life.

Mostly when I say I believe in ghosts people look at me like I am crazy, but...I know what I saw, heard, what I experienced was not a man made prank... I grew up in a house of pranks, I was raised to be suspicious of all gestures, kind and otherwise by those pranks, while I am not impossible "to get"... it is rather difficult. Maybe, those experiences were simply God working things, such as illusions to draw me closer to him before I hit bottom and looked up.... but whatever it was.... was beyond human capabilities.

So a lot of you know that in December of last year I bought a house. But before that happened, I was determined to quit my job and move to Virginia where one of my siblings lived but also where I had always dreamed of living. My nature is very... determined... so to me it wasn't a question of if I could do that, it was more about how I was going to get it done.

Anyway, long story short, I went (with Mary) to Virginia for a weekend looking to scout out the area and get a feel for apartments and such. On the drive home, while Mary was napping, I was praying and thanking God for the weekend but during that time, I had such a sense of being told "NO! You should not move to Virginia" and I admit- I was angry. I've had one other time in my life where God spoke so clearly to me, but in that case, He was telling me to go. This time was so much harder because it felt like He was taking away a dream and not replacing it with a better alternative. It was just a no. I fought for a few weeks with this and in the end, I accepted that I needed to stay put.

So the end result was that I did stay. I'm in the same rough job, in the same area, and still missing out on a lot of my East Coast family's life. Heck, I could have been neighbors with Mary if I had moved to Virginia! But you know what- I'm where I should be. God sometimes tells us to go or to stay and maybe never lets us in on the "why" part of it but trusting in what He has planned is all that is asked of us.