Built on Rock or Sand?

To all that have shared their experience(s) with the risen Lord--- Thank you !!!

I also have a story to share, and this story is on going yet, in 1979 I came home to an empty house and found myself in a divorce action after 22 years of marriage. I can not  tell you how devastated I was with pain and anguish. The evil one (Sleu Foot) can magnify one’s inadequacies at such a time and render him worthless. I thought the God that had gotten me out of so many previous situations had failed me, little did I know His pain of rejection when He hung on the cross. This had to be the most testing time of my so called ‘Catholic Christian’ life. The storm that batters down the house that is not built on rock had my name written all over it.

Praise the Lord for those who have experienced the Power of God in their lives!

A coach friend of mine knew of my misery and introduced me to a man, Tony 1, who had experienced a similar situation and was ministering to men hurting from the pains of divorce. He invited me to a “Charismatic Prayer Meeting” at a Catholic girls school. I got there before he did and the prayer meeting had already begun. I sat in the back, exactly as the devil instructed me, and evaluated these people as a bunch of “crazy” folks acting like fools and even wondered if this meeting was really a catholic gathering. I saw an altar prepared for mass and in the front row there were two priests. If it wasn’t for me promising Tony 1 that I would meet him there and also the fact that I wanted to go to communion, I would have left. I thank God again for that desire within me because Tony 1 came a bit later than I expected. After the mass the prayer teams prayed over me and I didn’t experience anything sensational other than I knew they knew something about this Jesus and God that I didn’t know. They talked to Him as if He were right there with us and I had always imagined Him up there looking down at us ready to drop a hammer on us when we messed up.

To shorten this story to a 3 minute testimony, I went through a 7 week “ Life in the Spirit Seminar” at the suggestion of Tony 1. I participated faithfully in all that was requested of me in each session and began to read the Bible with more interest and zeal. When it came to the session where we were asked , "do you want to be prayed over for the rekindling of the Holy Spirit that you received at your baptism and confirmation?", I responded positively. However, when I departed that room that night I was feeling very cheated. I didn’t feel any different upon leaving than when I got there. I did recall that one of the ladies that prayed over me said to me, “if you really want this renewal (fanning into flame) of the Spirit, you will get it, because Jesus wants this for you more than you can imagine.” I hung onto that statement daily for two weeks, never feeling any similarity of the things others had expressed in their testimonies.

It was at a Saturday morning breakfast for Christian men that my “Macho Man pride” was melted with the liquid Love of God. After three men shared their
testimonies that morning I went up for prayer with tears streaming down my face and when one of the speakers laid his hands upon my head the surge of God’s love came through me in such a manner that I thought I was two foot off the floor and my athletic concept of power streamed through my mind…I could have run through the entire Dallas Cowboy football team without being tackled. I went home that morning Praising God and wanting to tell everyone about this Jesus that I had met. As many of you will attest, not everyone is ready to hear about Jesus are they?

Well I will try to close by telling you what Jesus told me, “We know that in all things God works for  good with those who love Him, those whom He has called according to His purpose. Those whom God had already chosen He also set apart to become like His Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers. And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those He called, He put right with himself, and He shared His glory with them.”  Each day is the only day that I have to share Jesus with someone. Never be ashamed to tell your testimony to others. If they don’t have a testimony introduce them to Jesus! If you have not met Jesus, let me introduce you to Him. I thank God for internet because now I can witness to every continent through this computer.

How Great is Our God? He is Awesome!! Only He can write straight with crooked lines!

Tony  (not because they stenciled me To NY when they put me on the boat but because I was born on the feast day of St Anthony of the desert).

God Bless you all and keep up the Gospel of your life.

Tony 2

http://freespace.virgin.net/anthony.de_souza/tonyv/tvpage.htm

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