Holy Spirit – Spiritual Journey ~ Episode 203
A spiritual journey is personal and it is different for each one of us, and it begins with faith and a large dose of the Holy Spirit. God promised He would not leave us orphans and the infilling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was this gift to us and it continues today.
Many Christians remember the exact date when they “came to the Lord,” had a “Come to Jesus moment,” or accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Today I will share part of my spiritual journey with you and how you can walk with the Lord daily.
I wrote a short book about my spiritual journey entitled “One More Child,” which is available on Amazon. This wasn’t an easy book to write and yet, I felt called to share my story in case it would help others.
Everyone’s journey toward God is different. Some are more exciting than others, my story is one that is mediocre in the sense that I didn’t come from a place of great sin or loss, but I believe that those of us who come to the Lord in a deeper way find that for us the transformation is no less astounding. I was born a cradle Catholic in a family that loved God. We served an Almighty God and my parents were great believers. In our home, we had a family with several Bibles a few were in Italian and some in English. Coming from an Italian family that is no surprise.
Having been brought up with faith, the real test is leaving home and carrying on with this faith in our young teen and then later adult lives. I ask my kids and young people that I have taught at church – is your faith yours or your parent’s faith? It is interesting to hear the different responses. If we do not make it our own faith it will not be sustained and some of us, even adults still struggle with our faith.
As a young child, I often spoke to God, in a conversational sense more than in a way that was holy. As an eight-year, old I asked God to move a mountain as we were driving down the road, because of the scripture about having faith more than mustard sees – Matthew 17:20 states: [Listen to the audio.]
As you can imagine, that didn’t work. And that is when doubt seeped in. What happens when our faith is tested? For many of us it is a time of reflection and contemplation. For an eight-year-old, it leads to disappointment.
When I was a child I received Baptism and professed my faith at the time of Confirmation. Fast forward into my adulthood and I found that going it alone was not so great – I was relying on myself and when things failed there was nowhere to go and no one else to point to, but when I realized I needed to rekindle my childhood relationship with God and place it on a new and deeper level, that is when faith began to blossom, and just in time.
I truly accepted the Lord during a time in college when a friend reached out to me about salvation. I believed I was saved since I had always followed the Lord, but I felt that accepting the Lord in front of someone else was a testimony to this faith. The scriptures tell us whoever is in Christ is a new creation – 2 Corinthians 5:17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! Jesus wants to make us a new creation through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is His power over us to bless our lives. We become spirit-filled and then the fruits of the spirit among them love, peace and joy come into our lives.
Yet, religion without a relationship is hollow, it is to have knowledge with no heart. A relationship with the maker of heaven and earth is the key. The relationship is meant to bring us closer to God. Faith should be demonstrated, taught, and it is truly our inheritance, yet it must become our own, and our relationship with the Lord is at the front and center. Getting there is a journey.
When I finally re-gave my life back to God and prayed for God’s will in my life that is when things began to turn around. When I began to think seriously about marriage I prayed to the Lord to provide and in this prayer, I shared with the Lord that if I was to remain single that was fine as well –and I meant it. It gave me a sense of peace and freedom.
I learned that wanting control in life was a lost cause, our lives are not always controllable, our actions and choices yes, and we must make wise decisions, but sometimes things just happen and bad things happen to good people. There are questions in this life we can not answer. My spiritual journey has hit some roadblocks where I felt stagnant but then continued to persevere.
Do I wish I could spend more time with God? Yes. Do I always do that? No. The choice and decision to spend time with God in contemplation is one way I have learned to get closer to the Almighty.
My spiritual journey has had many ups and downs. There were times I struggled or I was upset with the Lord, as I believed He had given me more than I could handle. During these times, I wallowed in self-pity until I was able to realize the greater truth and the lesson in my struggles. The truth was I could not do life alone without God and I did not want to. I wanted to travel the road well worn, but that path did not take me toward God but away from Him and instead of happiness all I felt was dissatisfaction. The Narrow Gate Matthew 7:14-14.
The narrow gate leads to the way, the truth, and the life which is found in the love of God. Jesus picked up His cross not for His sins but for ours. When we follow the Lord we expect everything to go well, after all, we are Christians, and as the song says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” But, what happens when things are not wonderful and glorious?
Walking with the Lord is wonderful but it is a journey. As I work on my journey, I pray you will work on your own journey and I invite you to join me! The challenge this week is to spend time with God and grow closer and write down your story about your personal spiritual journey. I pray you are blessed.
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