I know it's wierd, but it gives me hope. It'll be my turn some day.

When i was pregnant with my first child, and newly married and moved to Central Florida, I was on the way to the bank one afternoon. While at an apparently empty intersection waiting for the light to change, I was getting impatient. When the light finally changed, I 'heard' a voice telling me to wait a moment. I am so happy I listened! Just a few seconds later, a fully loaded 18-wheeler barrelled through the red light at upwards of 50 mph!

I wasn't a believer then. I didn't come home to Christ for another 10 years, but it is such a comfort and a blessing to me to know that even when I did not believe in Him, He believed in me.

Thank you so much for your article on CNN.com. If I had not read it, I would not have found your blog.

My name is Raven. Please pray for me and the gift God has placed inside of me.

The rain continued until I had to leave but I decided God was probably testing my faith so I put on my running shoes and headed out the front door, without an umbrella. By the time I reach the end of the driveway it stopped. I arrived dry. Yet, I still had that little nagging doubt in my mind that "it was probably just a coincidence." I knew it wasn't, but that little thought kept trying to surface and convince me that it was so. So I prayed again and said "Thanks,now can you help me get rid of this doubt that keeps creeping up. I still have to get home after shift. Maybe it could start raining again until I have to leave." During my shift it rained, thundered and lightning-ed. 1 minute before my shift ended the rain stopped and i got home dry once again. To put the finishing touches on his miracle, it started to pour as I shut my front door behind me and stepped inside.

See, I had planned on naming my future son Kylo-Jacob Seth. I wasn't re-thinking names, to me it was set in stone. I had written letters to my future children in that name. I had posted on the internet about the name etc. But one day I was praying and I asked God "Will you help me adopt Kylo-Jacob Seth?" and instead of answering yes or no, He said "Not Seth, Lazarus." Not a name I would have ordinarly chosen but since God insisted I changed everything Kylo-Jacob Lazarus. Then I got to wondering what the name meant. I mean, it must mean something if it's that important I choose it right? So I looked it up and it said "God will Help."

This is weird but….

The other day I was walking with my mom around one of the walking trails in my community and it was beautiful out-the sun was beginning to set and it quite windy. We were both making the comment that every March, it gets really windy. My mom made the comment that "I think God makes it really windy to blow all the dead leaves away". I instantly thought of how the Holy Spirit is like the wind- mentioned in John 3:8. and the Spirit spoke to my heart and said, "The Holy Spirit blows all the dead leaves away in our hearts". I've recently struggled with a lot of spiritual battles, alot of spiritual attacks. all sorts of junk that has really tested my faith, and made me doubt my true salvation. However, the Lord spoke to my heart thru that weird analogy. God promises to heal our hearts if we ask Him, and I believe that He reminds us of His beautiful presence thru the strangest circumstances. We really do have a weird God. I'm so glad.

*Aside: something else xtians like – phrases like "i got a picture in my heart". Sorry, couldn't resist