By Chaplain Joy Le Page Smith, MA

We all have stories. Could you be ready to write yours? It is my turn to encourage you to perhaps briefly tell of how you came to have faith in God. Six years ago when I told Bandon Bowers, Editor of Today’s News-Herald about this new idea, he liked it. So a weekly column titled “By the Book” resulted. 

Don’t make it hard to write your story. Just put on paper when faith came to your life—showing one or more unforgettable consequences.  You could title it, “This is my story.” Your local newspaper may print it, or you could start your own blog, taking time to often share your journey, you hopes, your dreams. Or, share what most lights the road of your life. For me, that is Jesus and God’s Work which we call the Bible. As an example, here is our son, Tim Ellis’ story. He will be first in telling of his encounter with God:

“While growing up, my mother read the Bible to us as a family at breakfast. We attended church regularly and I was happy to participate. Then, at age 13, I decided I wanted to leave home and live with my biological father. My parents divorced when I was 7. Gary, my Stepdad, and mom did not want me to make that move. It was very painful for Mom, but no pleading or reasoning worked. Nothing against them, but—I was gone!

This was a time of drifting . . . away from home and hearth, but also from my faith. Jesus Christ had been my mainstay—even during the tragedy of my best buddy being accidentally hung at age 10. But, when I left home, I also left God behind. Still, truth be told, God didn’t leave me.

Now, as a man of 62—I think back on my life and am amazed at how Christ drew me back. One day, while standing by an enormous tree contemplating a disturbing challenge, I knew the “bad” situation I faced to be self-inflicted. It came to mind that I could ask God for courage and strength to get through it. I wanted to feel His presence in my life, again. So, I found myself pleading with God for help.

Soon after that, an opportunity came for me to take a weekend and attend a church camp. An inner urging toward experiencing God in my life, again, was beginning to gain even more attention. So, I hoped two days away would help me work with some questions . . . and get back into having a sense of life holding meaning and purpose. Had I made a mistake in deciding to do life on my own? Was “doing my own thing” what got me into the mess I was in?

So, I decided to go. There surely had to be something better than I’d been living. While there, during community prayer, I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. But, when I looked back to see who it was, there was no one there. At the close of the service the pastor asked people who wanted God in their lives to come forward for prayer. I found myself leaving my seat to join those who were moving toward the front.

How can I explain what was happening in my soul? There isn’t any way. But I will always remember that evening, while in prayer with the pastor. I was profoundly touched by an inexplicable Power. Consequently, my life was unforgettably impacted.

As I recommitted my soul to my Heavenly Father something major was restored within! I knew I was loved! Without a doubt life holds purpose and I could find peace in that.

In a moment’s time, I knew “God is real!” That truth was flooding my soul while standing at the altar. God was showing me—He was there for me.

A new challenge arose. A challenge of letting God take the lead in my life, so I could return to the faith of my earliest years. I took that challenge wholeheartedly.

Decades have passed since then. One of my greatest hopes, now, is for others who feel as overwhelmed as I did, way back then, to know that being in relationship with God truly is an amazing and exciting way to live out one’s life. God saw my inner longings—and when I reached out, He let me know, “Hey, guy, I’m here!” That was the “hand” I felt on my shoulder. His Holy Spirit, living within, has been guiding my life ever since. I’m sure this was and is—“meant to be.”

Thank you, Tim, for sharing you story! Will yours be next? If you send it to me at Jsmith.chaplain@gamil.com, I will be sure Brandon, editor of Today’s News-Herald gets it. 

About the author: Joy Le page Smith, MA is a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain. Visit Healing-with-Joy.com for Joy’s blog along with many helpful articles addressing life’s difficulties. Her books and blogs are read in up to 32 countries. See her children’s book on YouTube FREE at Healingwithjoy.blogspot.com

The Japanese art form called Kintsugi is one in which “the breaks and repairs of a vessel are treated as a part of the object’s history.” The artist uses a mixture of resin infused with powdered gold to repair a piece, resulting in far greater beauty.

Often in life wounds are received, through the hazardous situations or conditions that we must live through. Sometimes these are of our own doing through choices we make. Strangely enough, these experiences within our histories, the broken places, can make us truly “beautiful”—even more useful.

There was a time in my life when I was broken after suffering domestic violence. Hospitalized, I wondered how my life would go from then on. There were scares that took years to heal, the worst of which were emotional and unseen. Those were times of leaning on God and learning to let Him take the lead in my life. The words “wounded healer” were found within the spiritual books read. And, that is what I became.

What I found hardest to bear were those broken places that were caused by my going my own way versus following “the way” Jesus taught. But the most enthralling thing of life is to find all is forgiven when we ask. It takes time to really bring that truth “on home,” before I could accept it as my own, becoming truly able to see it as pertaining to me.

Looking back over my life, it is clear that some of the “derailing” times of my life that called for getting back on track, served me later within my work as a mental health counselor. When women spoke of mistakes over which they grieved and found hard to forgive, I had compassion for them. I had been in those moccasins. Without having known the shame and guilt of my failures, how could such feelings for others be truly felt? God does turn all experiences to good when we love Him and follow His call on our lives. In the process, He transforms us. That is promised in Romans 8:28. If we say we have no sin, we are liars! “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23)

You may say, “Where is God. How can I talk with God?” Many thousands of years ago, a mighty man named Job, discovered how God was speaking to him. Looking back on his troubles, Job said, “Look I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; when He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold,” (Job 23:9-10).

It is that “worked out gold” that brings those broken pieces together—and gives us a heart refined.