Welcome!
Posted By Joe on January 9, 2009
Welcome to the May He Increase blog. My background and the the blog's purpose may be found here.
I was saved by God's grace on Sunday, November 21, 1999, at a church service. Prior to that date, I spent about 12 years wandering about, far from God. I was raised Roman Catholic. I was baptized as an infant,attended a Catholic elementary school where I received my First Communion as well as my Confirmation. I then went through four years of Catholic high school. Towards the end of those four years, I started questioning everything that I was raised to believe in. Instead of looking to God for answers, I made the decision to look everywhere else. In essence, I became the prodigal son (Luke 15:13-14). Going to college didn't help, at least not from the perspective of finding God. No, college only served to enforce my agnosticism and disdain for the things of the Lord. Yes, by the time I graduated in 1995, I was set on a path of destruction and despair.
Then I met the woman who would become my wife and her family. Of course, I didn't know it then, but I can see the plan of God now. Through their encouragement, I started attending a small, non-denominational, family church. It look a while, but on that Sunday, a few days before Thanksgiving in 1999, I found myself sobbing uncontrollably. It was as though the walls around my heart started crumbling, as it says in Ezekiel 36:26,
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
God did give me a new heart that Sunday, and while the road has never been easy since then, I cannot live my life without Him any longer. I've been changed, and I am a new creation in Christ. My goal is to glorify God through this blog, encourage those that may be struggling in their faith, and to demonstrate God's love for those that are lost. May He increase!
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Dearest Joe,
I was so moved by your insight and your words on the blog. The hand of God is obvious in your life. I too have a similar testimony. I had been saved at 12 in 1973 and became a "crusader" in my immediate family trying to convert anyone who would listen, only to turn away from God as a young adult. Not really turn away, I never stopped believing, I just wanted to live my own life without any strings. I'd check in with Him every few years when He got me out of a jam; then it was "Thanks Lord, see 'ya". I came back briefly in 1989 and was water baptized and received the gift of tongues only to really stray far off the path for the next 11 years!! In 2000 at 39 I was diagnosed with pre-cervical cancer and realized it was probably time to stop running. At this time I also made a bargin with God. If He'd heal me I'd obediently walk through any door He opened. So I accepted an invitation to a Pentacostal church with friends for Easter Sunday 2000. The church was crowded to the brim with visitors and twice a year members like me. We were the last ones in the door before they started turning folks away to the overflow room. They had set up metal folding chairs in the eisle, and I was the last one by the door. But I didn't care; the music was playing and someone was praying in a way I had never heard. It was with total abandoned. As if he was the only person in the room and his very life depended on God hearing him. I knew I was home!!! For the next few years that church became my Church home and taught me for the first time how to pray and the meaning and purpose of the Holy Spirit in my life. How my faith was a lifestyle and not just something I did on Sunday's. And for the first time the hurts and wounds of my past started to be healed and melt away. More than any other type of therapy or friends or relationships; the lessons I learned in that church saved my life. Don't get me wrong, although everyone was warm and welcoming and the preaching was the best I'd ever heard then or since, I'm not so much crediting the people, more the teaching and my willingness to hear from God. And that's just what happened. I sought after God with a hunger and thirst like never before and He met me right where I was. In my dispair over a failed relationship 6 months later I heard the audible sound of His voice and my life would never be the same. This God I had believed in all my life and loved since childhood, the God of the universe was taking the time to tell me the simpliest of messages " Stop trusting man and Trust Me." Again I thought I would never be the same.I had heard the sound of God's voice. It was a still small voice, but powerful enough to be heard above all the loud music and singing and through my tears. And so it went for the next 3 years. I sought after Him and He revealed more of Himself to me. During prayer when I found myself on the floor with many more going up to the alter, I felt His hand on my cheek supporting my face so it wouldn't touch the carpet. And I heard His voice again call me "My Daughter, My Daughter don't you know I've been with you the whole way. I was with you so you wouldn't lose your mind as a child." Nothing seemed to matter after that. Most of the people who had hurt me in my life thought I had forgiven them. But really I was too busy with God to even think of them and their transgressions anymore.
He healed me of any cancer and gave me a painless surgery. At every opportunity He wanted to show me that if I really trusted Him, He would supply all my needs and He did.
Joe, many times I have wondered why God loves me so much and why He has chosen me. I have known there was an anointing on my life from way back and that's probably why I ran for so long. But I keep going knowing that whatever He has planned for me will be more fantastic than anything I ever could have imagined for myself. So it is with you. This blog is a wonderful thing you're doing and I feel honored that you included me in your list. I will keep you in prayer and I hope you do me. Don't be surprised if the enemy comes in and in a big way. That's just how he is. But our God is mighty in battle and no weapons formed against you shall prosper!!!
much love , in His name
Chrissy
Chrissy!
Thank you so much for your comments. I recently saw a pastor on TBN, I think it was Jentezen Franklin. He made an observation that stuck with me. He said that God gently woos you and then once you accept His invitation for salvation and relationship, He wants you to chase after Him. Well, that's what I'm trying to do. Yes, I turned to Him in repentance in 1999, but in the last few years, I have to admit, I haven't chased after Him with the same vigor I did in the beginning. I don't want to be like the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4. I don't want Jesus to tell me: "you have left your first love."
2008 was a difficult year for our family, not just my immediate, but our entire family. We are intent to making 2009 the year of change. And yes, Satan is going to come at us with everything he's got. We'll be holding on to Philippians 4:6-7:
May He Increase!