A couple years ago I went through some things that made me believe God must really hate me! I felt like I had nowhere to turn. I couldn’t turn to the church we were part of because they were the ones trying to frame me! And that’s also the reason I felt like God must hate me, because I saw what they were doing as God doing it.
We started attending a different church. I just felt like I had to get my children to church on Sunday morning, but I did not trust anyone from this church. For the past two and a half years I have longed every day to be part of a church, but I just couldn’t see myself getting close enough to anyone to actually really get to know anyone. I had almost lost faith. I had wandered so far from the cross.
So moving forward. Back in July 2023, Felix, the pastor of this congregation mentioned one Sunday morning that there was a men’s seminar up in Wisconsin that he would highly recommend for anyone that is struggling in life, or just longing for a deeper walk with the Lord. Anyway, immediately I felt like I wanted to go, so up my hand goes before I even realized what I had done. I made plans to go without really thinking it through! When I really thought about it, I was suddenly trying to come up with a good reason not to go, but I couldn’t think of one.
The day came. I and a couple of other brothers traveled together to this event. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I wanted to see if there was something I could learn about how to be a better father to my children. The first day as I walked into the conference room where the meeting was held, I suddenly almost lost control of my emotions. I felt the presence of a mighty God, His gentle Holy Spirit nudging me to believe that I was loved! I left two days later feeling completely different about life! The Holy Spirit again is alive and well in me! He restored again in me the will to live! I have certainly not been the same person since then.
I just want to tell ya’ll what God wants to do for you! Please believe and understand how much God loves you! Allow the Holy Spirit access to your heart. Let Him give you joy and peace within! We don’t know how many days we have left here on earth, but let’s make them the best days of our life! Let’s make our calling and election sure!
John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved!” I think that’s the most exciting news a person could ever hear!
Joseph Yoder