Personal experience of God?

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Struggling1

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I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share what their personal moment with God was that cemented belief? I have been praying and wanting so desperately to have a personal sign from God and I see many cases it happened. Although extremely frustrating I know it may not happen to each of us individually but it would help to restore some hope. Thanks for reading!
 
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Struggling1 said:
I have been praying and wanting so desperately to have a personal sign from God
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God giving Himself to you in the Eucharist should suffice. Be careful with praying for ‘personal sign’, as the Pharisees demanded the same of Our Lord.
 
I know but as someone who’s as previously atheistic and struggling it’s so difficult because you can’t sense the change in the Eucharist. I struggle with belief in God on solely a belief without intellect basis. It’s hard because people point to the Bible but no one seems to point outside it! Why is it so hard to come to belief when supposedly God cares about each one of us heavily individually and yet we are expected to basically never expect something personal?
 
I’ll try it’s so difficult. I’m scared of believing because of beliefs sake and also of being silent and having God not help me or meet me half way. I am trying too hard but it’s because I desperately want to believe. My daily prayers seem to make no difference so I just have a lot of despair.
 
I tried to be still today and I didn’t notice any difference but I will keep trying!
 
Struggling,

Such a thing has never happened to me. There was never a single, monumental sign from God that cemented my belief. A little of this and and a little of that as my life has gone on, learning about our Faith and realizing its Truth, leaving the Church and coming back but still no really big “ah-ha” moments.

You’ll be in my prayers.
 
Struggling1 said:
I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share what their personal moment with God was that cemented belief?
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Some people have these, but a lot of us don’t if we grew up with God as a member of our family. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t believe in God, and he’s as real to me as if he were one of my uncles. When he does something really cool like answers a prayer directly, it does not “cement my belief”, because I would believe in him anyway, so it’s just a nice thing he does for me.
 
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When I asked Jesus for a sign that he was hearing me, I totally didn’t expect for him to answer me … I knew I wasn’t worthy of getting a sign individually … it came as a shock when He answered my prayer … so I still don’t think we should be asking for signs … since then I have felt bad that I had so little faith at the moment that I needed a sign … of course my faith is a lot stronger now … but blessed are those that don’t see and still believe.
 
My journey began in earnest one day while standing in my hummingbird garden. I was having a hard time reconciling some things which were occurring in my life. Out of moment of weakness, I told Jesus, “If He wanted me, He could have me”. Well, he must have wanted me because immediately my life started to change. One of the most amazing things is that I started seeing crosses in everything and prior to that, I didn’t like crosses!

Those were the early days of my conversion. After that every thing seemed to fall into place. If I ever have doubts or begin to struggle with my faith, I just have to think back to those early days and everything is alright.
 
I once had a severe pang of existential sadness and anger against Him and so I wanted to hurt myself somehow in a definitive way. He numbed my body and I couldn’t move much so I had to go to sleep. It was gone in the morning.
 
I told Him that if He saves me from Hell, I would do whatever He wants me to do with my life. I’ve felt His presence a lot more since then. He loves it when we surrender all. One way to experience His presence is to say to Him “Lord, please make me into the man that you want me to be”.
 
The more I engaged with the Word and try to involve myself in a Ministry, God’s voice and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in my everyday life became more clearer. Setting aside “quiet time” and journaling helped too…Journaling has helped make sense of situations.

I’ve posted about this in the thread about Mary - - so as I am slowly getting back and trying to understand my Catholic faith, I have asked Jesus – why should I pray TO Mary when I can talk directly to him. His response, came quite quickly - - I opened my bible to the portion where the Marian Tradition was explained. It’s not about worshiping Mary, but about Mary being our advocate and praying for us. It’s one instance where the answer was very clear.

Oftentimes too, I’m thinking of something - I may not “verabalize” a prayer and then I read scripture that seems to address what I was just thinking about. I don’t think that’s coincidence.

It’s gonna be a blessing if we hear God’s BIG voice like the people in the Bible, but if you observe and connect the the dots to the little things, you’ll find that He’s with us, always.
 
Struggling: I too came from a recent background of atheistic beliefs. Was a Methodist for ~12 years of my adult life, and then an atheist for ~8 or so. I used to start going over to the church to visit their garden because I found peace in their little patch of ground. Then, something urged me to go inside and sit through a Mass, and later to spend time outside of Mass praying. I’m sorry for not being very descriptive, I’m great at analyzing some things, but not others.

One Friday late afternoon, I was praying at the local church, at a time when it was empty. I had just finished praying at the the kneeler before a statue of the wounded Christ in the church. I felt a presence inside the building, something I had never felt before. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, I just knew that suddenly, I wasn’t alone, and I didn’t recall hearing any doors open.

I then quietly asked, if the presence I was feeling was Jesus. Never got a definite answer, but got an overwhelming feeling of serenity and peacefulness. Ever since that time, I have found myself slowly detaching from the behaviors and actions that I used to have and do. Things that were, less than pure shall we say, have slowly found less and less purchase in my life.

Before that, as I was going through the RCIA program, and with the end of the year coming, for some reason I thought about donations, something I’ve never thought seriously about. I prayed about the matter, and a figure came to mind. I can’t explain how it got there, it wasn’t the amount that a tithe would be, and it wasn’t even say an easily calculable percentage of my income.

Also, when I am in church and/or contemplate church related things such as readings, I feel a level of inner peace that I have never felt before. I can’t explain it, but I can’t deny it either. Didn’t feel it as a member of the Methodist Church, or as an atheist. I just wish that I had more time to spend in prayer during the week.
 
I was floating in the Atlantic ocean on a slab of styrofoam and fiberglass, staring out to sea. Dolphins swam past, and gulls dove into the water in a quest for fish. With that as a backdrop I was reflecting on the immense improbability of the moment. The seeming impossibility that all of space and time, from the big bang to the formation of solar systems, could result in this human being enjoying a perfect sunny day while riding ocean waves that were formed a thousand miles away.

It could be no cosmic accident that I was here, enjoying this day. I had not been baptized then. I was a ‘believer’, but wasn’t quite sure exactly what I believed. It began to seem intuitively obvious that I must at least believe that there is a creator of this universe.

A blue peak approached me from the horizon. I turned and paddled toward the shore. The wave surged, lifting me, propelling me forward. A few turns across the face of the wave ended with a spray of saltwater into the air.

As the ride ended I fell backward, laughing, into the water. I emerged from the water with shouts of praise for God. This emotional response was completely uncharacteristic for me. Regardless, it welled up from deep within and burst forth.

There was no one around to say anything about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I’ve since been baptized in the proper form. But there is no doubt that that was a baptism of sorts. I’ve never doubted the existence of God since that day.

Later I came to know this scripture:

Romans 1:20 - For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.
 
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A long time ago when I was a teenager, a friend of mine told me that I could have a personal relationship with Jesus if I would ask him to come into my heart. I did that, and my life has not been the same since. He totally changed me, continues to change me, and has never left me.
 
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