King James Version Isaiah 43:10
“Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am He.”
Don’t you love those times in your life, when like a breeze from the ocean shore, or a drink of cool water to a parched and thirsty land that invokes your very being and whispers your name and says “I AM HERE.”
Everyday experiences that become extraordinary encounters are given -just to you- to encourage and grow your faith. It is those encounters that draw you into the inner chamber of the “King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!” Small miracles that may not mean anything to someone else, but is just a perfect gift for you at the most perfect time! We serve a personal savior, one that knows the very depths of our inner being. How does He do that? Maybe because He said, “I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB.” Matthew 10:30 explains: “BUT THE VERY HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED.” Luke 12:7- FEAR NOT THEREFORE YOU ARE MORE VALUED THAN MANY SPARROWS.” There are several memorial stones in my life that are so special to me and I’m sure as a Christian there are many of your favorites that come to mind.
One of my first experiences was my senior year in high school shortly after I became a Christian. I had to do an oral report for my semester project and it counted for ½ my grade. I was horrified of public speaking! I would have done 10 written reports if I could but, no way was the teacher going to permit that, and little did I know that ‘THE TEACHER, THE HOLY SPIRIT” wanted me to learn about him. The night before the test I was reading the Bible when I came across this scripture that jumped off the page to me! 1 John 4:18- “THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE, BUT PERFECT LOVE CASTETH OUT FEAR.” For the first time in my life I felt as if Christ spoke directly to me through His word!! I know that may not seem like much to you, but what a blessing it was for a little girl in high school learning how to trust God! The next day I was so nervous, so excited, and so pumped to get that report over with that I went over the time limit for my report and caused another girl following me to have to shorten hers!! What a seed of confidence was planted in my life that day , a seed that still grows every time I attempt to do something that brings fear.
Another time early in my Christian faith was when we built our first house. We had not been in our new house one month when Larry and I were both laid off from our jobs. This was during the recession of the 1970’s. How were we going to make a new house payment with neither of us having a job? We applied for unemployment and I will never forget when we got Larry and my first check the combined amount was to the dollar of what Larry brought home from his payroll. Thankfully we had based our monthly bills on his check only. God showed us then and there He would never leave us or forsake us.
Time wouldn’t permit to share all those special moments that the sweet Lord draws us close and reveals himself to us, but there are a few more that come to mind. I will never forget my first plane ride. I’m sure everyone has a story to tell about that experience. To say that I was nervous won’t describe it at all! I prayed all week that first scripture I learned in high school “PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT ALL FEAR” and “I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST” and list goes on and on, but I will never forget the morning before our flight I flipped my little daily calendar and the title was this – “WHETHER THE HEIGHTS OR THE DEPTHS LO I WILL BE WITH YOU.” Needles to say I did a little dance right in the middle of my kitchen!!! Ain’t God Good!! Christ wants us to know and believe him and understand that I am He. He is our Father, our savior, our redeemer, our provider, our comforter, and our peace.
We had been married 14 years and had in for adoption for 7 years when a phone call comes one day and says we have a son for you if your interested. We had 6 days to get ready for that little bundle of joy. What a week that was getting the nursery ready, buying clothes, food, bottles, toys we were ecstatic to say the least. We picked our son up in Montgomery it was so surreal waiting all those years, it was as if we were watching a movie, but Larry and I was the actors. Balloons were flying on our mail box, family and friends were waiting to see him, what a day it was. After everyone had left and I rocked my little baby boy for the first time to sleep and I thought to myself this is a dream it’s not possible I’m now a mother! We put him in his crib. I slept on the couch in the next room, and Larry lay in the floor beside the crib he would not leave his side. Around 2:00am I hear Larry saying Diane, Diane, come here! I ran to the nursery, and he said do you see it, and I said see what? He said the light!! Above that baby’s bed was a little beam of light! We looked for a reflection shining through the window, but there was none, we only had one light in our yard and it was on the other side of the house. Where did it come from? There was no physical explanation, but in our heart we knew God’s presence shined down on us that night, and it was as if He said- This union as a family is of me!! Oh how I have clung to that experience these 30 years! He is the author of love, the giver of all things, the next breath we have comes from him. I haven’t told this experience but to a hand full of people down through the years because so many times people think you have went off your rocker! Personal God encounters are so precious how I yearn for more times of Christ revealing himself to me don’t you?
One of the sweetest encounters was when we stood by the bedside of my mom as a family and watched as we saw her take flight for her heavenly home, it appeared to us as she drew her last breath as if she said goodbye!! DEUT.-29:29 says this “THE SECRET THING BELONG UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD; BUT THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE REVEALED BELONG UNTO US AND TO OUR CHILDRED FOR EVER.”
My prayer today is the Lord will shine His face upon you and pour out a blessing you cannot contain!!
Diane Mann
Lean into Jesus Ministries
#dianemannblogs
