Grace Community Fellowship

This post isn’t designed to be the deepest, most analytical post ever written. It’s just something I have to write about. It’s about a situation that touched me deeply:

I had the opportunity to meet a young couple who had undergone a terrible tragedy. I don’t want to get into specifics, but if you heard the story, you would be heart broken as I was. You would think to yourself, “If that happened to me, I would be a mess.” The next logical question would be: “Why isn’t this person defeated?” The answer, of course, is that Jesus has power to heal the broken hearted and to give us strength in our time of need.

Some people can see miracles and not be convinced. They could see fire fall from heaven and explain it away. But, when you go through a situation that should destroy you and come out shining on the other side, they have to know why. They have to ask, “what does this person have that I don’t.” They can’t explain away your experience, no matter how hard they try.

2 Timothy 4:2 says “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction.” This scripture tells us that we are to be prepared to preach in season and out of season. In other words, you need to have something ready to tell the world when they ask you about Jesus.

You don’t have to have a theological degree to be prepared to preach in season and out of season. You don’t have to be a great preacher or teacher. All you need is your testimony.

What has God done for you anyway?

God has delivered me from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I came back to the church after having been gone for years. While I was gone, I spent 8 years in the military. I went to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and came home with some issues. I had nightmares. I couldn’t be around large groups of people. In June of last year I was diagnosed with PTSD and placed on medication.

For a while, I battled with some of the things that I had seen and done. I couldn’t reconcile the Grace of God with the savage reality of combat. I was really having some problems with my faith. Even worse, my family was suffering because I had withdrawn in an attempt to spare them from seeing me in my condition. My life was a wreck.

All the while Jesus was gently bidding me come back into his presence. I toyed with the idea, but I was hung up on the thought that a truly benevolent God wouldn’t have allowed me to have been involved with those situations in the first place.

Then, one night, I made my way down the isle and asked God to renew my mind and restore me to his favor. If He could do that, I thought, then I would know that Jesus was alive. In an instant, I was healed. In the weeks and months since, I haven’t had a bad dream. I haven’t had a flashback. I haven’t thought about combat. I haven’t been startled by a loud noise. I haven’t taken any medication. I’ve been completely delivered.

I’ve been healed, and I dare anybody to tell me that it didn’t happen. It was instantaneous. There was no process involved. There was no need to revisit the issue. Pastor Greg placed his hands on me and imparted a miracle. It’s as simple as that.

Nobody will ever tell me that Jesus doesn’t do miracles.

What kind of testimony are you packing?