Share Your Blessings: What Has God Done for You? (page 3)

BurnTheShips

I consider you a thoughtful atheist, LeavingWT.

BTS

leavingwt

I consider you a thoughtful atheist, LeavingWT.

I'll take that as a compliment.

However, I must say that I don't necessarily consider myself to be an atheist. Rather, as a person on a journey, having discovered that I had previously accepted CERTAIN things without thoroughly investigating them. I'm open to new discoveries and threads like this one are helpful.

While not having all (or many) of the answers, I can focus on being the best neighbor/husband/father that I can be. I'm comfortable with the possibility that I won't be able to answer certain questions to my own satisfaction.

leftbelow

I will make this one personal being as I have temporally put the telling of my story on hold.

Earlier this year my marriage was in shambles (due to my bitterness over the WT). I was withdrawn and very lonely. I prayed harder then I have ever prayed before and didn't even know what I was praying for I just knew I had to have a change in my life. I was drifting toward either being agnostic or atheist. But I had always believed in God and I knew I had to give it one more try.

Someone at my wifes work told her about the Church she attended and my wife knew I needed something and I could never go back to being a JW. So she suggested WE (this was big because she was still trying to be a Witness) go together to this girls Church. It was uncomfortable at first but when the young (he is only 29) Pastor of this church came out I felt like for the first time in a long time I was hearing the word of God. He openly encouraged people to ask the tough questions about God and religion. And I ask soem tough ones no one seemed to mind. It was amazing.

I was home. I for the first time knew what it was to have a relationship with God and not an Organization. I began to pray regularly again and my marriage improved mostly because through this new relationship with God I could let go of the bitterness and anger. But also my wife found that her own view of God had been distorted by the WTBTS. And she goes with me every Sunday. So one of the blessing's was me finding my faith in God again. And another is me and my wife worshiping together again.

After about a month of attending something truly incredible happen. After 4 miscarriages and 8 year of trying to have children we were again pregnant. Now what makes this so amazing is we had been told after my wife had an ectopic pregnancy that we would never conceive again. I am not the guy who believes in miracles but please let me have this one. We are 23 weeks and everything is looking good. I can't wait to hold my little girl in my arms. That will be the ultimate blessing. I may not deserve it but I sure do want it.

AuntBee

I once told a JW pioneer that when i lay my head down at night, i do not look back on the day and think how much i did for Jehovah. I don't assume that it's all good with Him because He knows i have a good heart. I realize the sins i have committed, the people i still lack love for after many years, the grudges i find hard to let go of, the impatience, the lack of compassion, the things i should have done but didn't..........And with all this and more, i thank God for the amazing gratuitous GIFT of the forgiveness of sins through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the joy of being clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness. :) This is good news indeed, is it not?

Sola Gratia!

auntbee, bridget, tucson

leavingwt

Thanks, Aunt Bee!

leavingwt

bttt, Keep the blessings rolling, please.

Chalam

kitten whiskers,

great story-really stirred my soul :)

The JW mindset of never being good enough doesn't go away overnight

Just meditate on these and that will be broken, sooner than you think

Romans 8 (New International Version)

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Ephesians 2:8-9 (New International Version)

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Love in Christ,

Stephen x

passwordprotected

@ leftbelow - what a fantastic post, hands-down one of the best I've ever read on JWN. Don't let anyone hint at taking away these blessings from you; you know what's real and what isn't and when we've felt God, we know that it's for real.

Personally speaking, we had lost a baby son 6 years before we left the WTS. He died shortly after he was born due to a birth defect. My wife had carried from then onwards the desire for a little dark haired baby. Our oldest son always wanted a little brother. Two years later we welcomed our daughter, Grace, into the world. But we always had our little dark haired baby son in our hearts.

When we stepped out of the WTS in faith last summer, my wife immediately - and unexpectedly (believe me, this was the surprise to end surprises) - fell pregnant. In March of 2009 we welcomed our dark haired baby son, Fergus, into the family.

Throughout our journey, we had our hearts healed. We've lost family and friends, but every single one of them has been replaced by new friends, some of whom are like fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters to us (and those who know the church we go to can attest to the fine people who are now in our lives). God has blessed us.

I personally always carried a feeling and sense of low self worth. It affected every single one of my relationships. I've been healed of this and blessed with a new personality that doesn't major on doubt and low self worth. God has blessed my heart.

Financially we've received blessings. We've taken financial problems (I left my employment to run my own business this year, coupled with a calling to serve in the church in some capacity, so I work part-time) to God in prayer and every single time there has been miraculous intervention. The latest saw us praying over some hefty up-coming bill and asking God to bless us and intervene as meeting this bill was beyond our means. The next day a cheque was pressed into my hand as a 'gift' for some pro bono work I'd carried out. The cheque covered the bills. God blessed our trust in him.

More importantly, rather than following an aimless false prophet, we're now blessed by walking with Christ in our lives. Our children are free from a cult and have their whole lives ahead of them.

LeavingWT, thanks for starting this thread, it's been a real encouragement to read.

snowbird

I think this deserves a bump.

I'm back at work following a vacation that was filled with good things.

I'm thankful to have a job when so many are still looking, or have given up in despair.

I don't say this smugly as though I have some special connection with God - I've also been jobless and homeless! - I say it with a heart full of gratitude.

Sylvia

leavingwt

Sylivia,

Thank you for bumping the thread. We've certainly heard some uplifting stories.

-LWT

Share Your Blessings: What Has God Done for You?

Romans 8 (New International Version)

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Ephesians 2:8-9 (New International Version)

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