I was saved by God suddenly, as a bolt out of the blue, one day while out hiking up in the High Sierra at age 48. He told me I had been misapprehending everything, my life was a picture of futility, and besides I was breaking His law by ignoring Him. I understood implicitly, I was utterly convicted, and so I knelt and prayed for the first time in my life to a God who I KNEW was there and hearing my prayer.
‘I hear you,’ I said to Him. I immediately felt a profound sense of relief and peace as though a burden had been lifted and my cares resolved.
All my life up to that point I had been an agnostic and not at all interested in God. I had not been on any sort of spiritual quest and there was no prior event or encounter I can point to. It really came out of nowhere as a complete surprise but the experience was clear and unmistakable.
I returned to S.F. from the trip and picked up a copy of ‘Mere Christianity’ that had been gathering dust on my bookshelf for years. I had never even opened it previously. I read it straight through and the Holy Spirit gave it to me to know that what it described was the true living God.
‘Wow, I’m a Christian!’ I said. I was genuinely surprised. Who knew? So I started going to church, reading the Bible, and praying. Everything changed at that point and I’ve never gone back to that previous life.
I’ve since heard many other people’s testimony and I know there are many, many ways that people come to a saving faith in Jesus. In my case it was a flat-out gift from God, so plainly so that I could never claim any part of it no matter how much I might want to.
L8R