i posted this on the young adult part of the forum but thought it would also have a very good use here...
I hope this encourages you all
This easter i went on holiday to Iran. I was really worried about going there, being an islamic republic n all, but turns out God was with me every step of the way and people wer praying for me all round! From the very beggining i saw God at work even before we got on the plane. We got upgraded to business class! which was AMAZING!! 3 COURSE MEALS!! HURRAH!!! AND RECLINING SEATS WITH FOOT AND HEADRESTS!!! HURRAH AGAIN!! Then during the week another amazing thing happened! i was previously struggling with wanting to take my bible because i felt i may need it incase of a spiritual attack (which happend to me once b4 my baptism) and the only way it stopped was with the sword, which is the word of God. So i ended up putting a bible application on my iTouch. Randomly in that week, during prayer, God told me to delete the application from my iTouch...so i did... 5 mins later i found my cousin browsing through my applications!!! CRRRRRRRRAZY!!! THEN... now this was so amazing that im still smiling about it now!! One evening we went out to the mountains near their house, and in the car were my aunties sister, her husband, and my three cousins. We started a convo about names- and what they mean for some reason, so i asked what her sons name meant, "Illia" was his name. She told me it was "Ali" in Hebrew, and told me she knew because she'd read the Torah a few times! (pretty impressive!) THEN OUT OF NOWHERE she asks me... "Have you ever been to church?" and i was like.... uh oh ... theyr onto me!!! i replied truthfully- "yes", and she asked me what i thought of it... so a little scepticle i replied, "well... i like the buildings! " but then she said "no no no! i mean what did you think of the services?" and she went on to tell me that a few months back when shed been in England shed been visiting the church near them regularly! AND had felt GODS PRESENCE!!!!!!!! AND SHE HAD CRIED SEVERAL TIMES DURING THE SERVICES!!!! and she told me one day the pastor came up to her and asked why she wouldnt convert to Christianity. She told him, if she did, she would be executed when she went back to Iran. At that point every1 in the car chuckled... and i gave a hesitant smile ... She then went on to say that it didnt matter anyway because we all worship the same God! (at this point God gave me his holy nudge) and so opened an oppurtunity. I said "well no, a lot of Christians wouldnt agree, infact they'd say we worship different Gods." And i went on to tell her about how christians think that Jesus is equivilant to God and why they do. AND FUNNILY ENOUGH SHE AGREED THAT IT SEEMED LOGICAL!! since Jesus was sinless, unlike mohammad and the prophets who all at sum point sinned. It was soo amazing. Also by the grace of God her husband has been offered a job here in Manchester/Newcastle/something like that in the UK! which means she may get the oppurtunity to experience church again!!!! so add her to your prayer list, her name in English = Venus
Hass
I hope this encourages you all
This easter i went on holiday to Iran. I was really worried about going there, being an islamic republic n all, but turns out God was with me every step of the way and people wer praying for me all round! From the very beggining i saw God at work even before we got on the plane. We got upgraded to business class! which was AMAZING!! 3 COURSE MEALS!! HURRAH!!! AND RECLINING SEATS WITH FOOT AND HEADRESTS!!! HURRAH AGAIN!! Then during the week another amazing thing happened! i was previously struggling with wanting to take my bible because i felt i may need it incase of a spiritual attack (which happend to me once b4 my baptism) and the only way it stopped was with the sword, which is the word of God. So i ended up putting a bible application on my iTouch. Randomly in that week, during prayer, God told me to delete the application from my iTouch...so i did... 5 mins later i found my cousin browsing through my applications!!! CRRRRRRRRAZY!!! THEN... now this was so amazing that im still smiling about it now!! One evening we went out to the mountains near their house, and in the car were my aunties sister, her husband, and my three cousins. We started a convo about names- and what they mean for some reason, so i asked what her sons name meant, "Illia" was his name. She told me it was "Ali" in Hebrew, and told me she knew because she'd read the Torah a few times! (pretty impressive!) THEN OUT OF NOWHERE she asks me... "Have you ever been to church?" and i was like.... uh oh ... theyr onto me!!! i replied truthfully- "yes", and she asked me what i thought of it... so a little scepticle i replied, "well... i like the buildings! " but then she said "no no no! i mean what did you think of the services?" and she went on to tell me that a few months back when shed been in England shed been visiting the church near them regularly! AND had felt GODS PRESENCE!!!!!!!! AND SHE HAD CRIED SEVERAL TIMES DURING THE SERVICES!!!! and she told me one day the pastor came up to her and asked why she wouldnt convert to Christianity. She told him, if she did, she would be executed when she went back to Iran. At that point every1 in the car chuckled... and i gave a hesitant smile ... She then went on to say that it didnt matter anyway because we all worship the same God! (at this point God gave me his holy nudge) and so opened an oppurtunity. I said "well no, a lot of Christians wouldnt agree, infact they'd say we worship different Gods." And i went on to tell her about how christians think that Jesus is equivilant to God and why they do. AND FUNNILY ENOUGH SHE AGREED THAT IT SEEMED LOGICAL!! since Jesus was sinless, unlike mohammad and the prophets who all at sum point sinned. It was soo amazing. Also by the grace of God her husband has been offered a job here in Manchester/Newcastle/something like that in the UK! which means she may get the oppurtunity to experience church again!!!! so add her to your prayer list, her name in English = Venus
Hass