Please read if you are a Christian. I need answer to my "old secret"

[Noname2]

Hi.

English is not my language, so please dont get upset to all my faulty writing.

I have seen something back in 1986, that I never really told anyone beside my mother right after it happend. There are few reasons for it, and one big is I dont really know who to ask. So, now I googled for a christian forum, cause I think it may be a good idea to ask random christians what you think of what i saw.

I really, really think a lot of this. More and more as I grew older, and I think now is the time to ask..

Ok, way back in 1986 I was with my parents and little brother in a small local[bless and do not curse]church. I really hated to go to church, cause it was so boring to me. At that point I was 12 years old, and as usual my parents forced me to come with them.[bless and do not curse]
But this would come to be my very last time since in any church..[bless and do not curse]
The preacher was boring, the people was weird and boring, and as I can recall, me and my brother was the only kids in church that sunday.
So as I allways did, I just looked around on people, what they were wearing, walls, the roof and whatever.. And on one wall there was a picture of Jesus. Only his face. Kind of a standard Jesus picture, if you know what I mean.. His face clearly, but from his neck, it faded to the white background. But now I saw 3 letters right below where the neck started to fade. It wasnt a word I knew, and I never saw any letter on any Jesus picture before, so I memorized them to ask my mother after the church was over.

So, when church was over, I looked at the picture again to ask my mother, but the letters was gone. But I still asked my mother, but she didnt knew what the letters was. And she didnt see them on the picture either.

The next day at school, I got this idea to look in the English translate book to see if the 3 letters had any meaning in English. And it sure had. JOY.

Now so many years after, I wonder who wanted me to see the letters/word? Why me? And of course there had to be intelligent "something" to let me see those 3 letters that was in another languange, so I cant lie to my self with telling myself it was only a dream. I didnt know that word in English when I was 12 years old.

Why me?

 

[arvbuddy]

Wow!! That's such an interesting story. I'm sure there are others who can give way more thought out answers, but I really just wanted to say that's God working in His mysterious ways I believe that He wanted you to be intrigued by Him. You say you were bored and forced to go. He might have just wanted to let you know that he is real, and that you should feel Joy!! I'm not 100% sure, as nobody will be because we will never understand God's thinking, but I would say God bless you! You have a great testimony that you should use to share His love and joy to others!!

 

[Shulamite7]

Incredible!!! That was a great experience. Arvbuddy gave a good reply. Like he/she said I think God was trying to draw your attention to Him as you were bored in church. He draws people to Him in different ways as He sees best. For some people its through struggles in life, some grief and in so many different ways. You said that was the last time you ever been to church. Why did you stop after such an incredible experience? Do you read the Bible? Maybe you will get some answers from there like the king who saw the fingers of a human hand writing something he did not understand on the wall (Daniel 5). He had to call Daniel to explain it to him. Sounds somewhat like your experience. Only thing for the king it was judgement but for you it is joy and happiness. Great! God wants you to be close to Him and not far away. I think you should answer His call today.

 

[Harry3142]

Noname2-

You were told quite clearly that Christianity is not boring. It's just too bad that the minister and the adults there didn't communicate that message. But contrary to how they made it seem to be, if Christianity is accepted as offered, and then practised as Scripture itself tells us to practise it, then among the motivations which we will have as the impetus for our actions will be the motivation of joy.

We have assurance of salvation for only one reason. That reason is because God in his compassion laid out the blueprint for a rescue mission that would save us from the consequences of our own shortcomings. And then God himself carried out that rescue mission with the help of his Son, Jesus Christ:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:19-26,NIV)

This is why we say that there is only one true foundation of the church, and that foundation is Jesus Christ himself. Our salvation does not depend on our keeping a set of laws and commandments, and it does not depend on our being pious and 'otherworldly'. Instead, our salvation depends entirely on our accepting the atoning sacrifice of God's Son, Jesus Christ, as the perfect atonement for our sins. Through our accepting this we have assurance of salvation. It is Christ's blood, not our own works, that ensures our having eternal life with God. God has saved us through his actions due to his knowing that we could never save ourselves through our actions.

God chose to throw us a 'life preserver' rather than watch us 'drown' in our own sinfulness. If a person who was drowning in the sea were suddenly thrown a life preserver, and then pulled to safety through the efforts of another person, he would feel joy at the realization that his life, which he thought was about to end, was instead saved through the actions of the other person. Should we feel anything other than joy when we realize that our spiritual lives have been saved because God himself chose to throw us a 'life preserver' (Jesus Christ) that enabled him to pull us to safety?

 

[Forge3]

It could mean that Jesus is our only true Joy and/or to learn to become Joyful in following Him.

 

[tturt]

Yes, because there's joy in His presence (Psa 16:11).

 

[galloping]

just be glad that He let you see these words.
Don't worry about the meaning, it means JOY!

 

[singpeace]

What a great story.

First, what I see is that you say this was the last time you ever went to church. It is possible that God knew you would not be back in church for a very long time. He also knew that you would never be able to forget what happened that day, and He knew you would eventually come to know the incredible new technology known as the Internet - Google - and that you would think to google 'christian forums'.

Such a tremendous testimony to how much God loves you. He made certain that He would never lose you - He led you to this place - seeking.


JOY!

Job 41:22
In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.

Nehemiah 8:10
. . . for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Psalm 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 30:5
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Psalm 51:12
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

Psalm 126:5
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

Isaiah 35:10
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 55:12
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

 

[Noname2]

First of all, I want to thank everyone very much for your time to answer my question.

I see a lot that will take some time for me to understand fully, but I will keep all answers saved to look at again and again in my life

Next: I must tell you something.. Right after I posted the post, I read it for myself. And my first thought was that I forgot to tell you that the 3 letters was not as close like when you write the word JOY, but not as far away as this: J O Y. They were something in the middle.
Then for the first time since this happend in 86, I started to think what if there was a other meaning too? And in the next second it hit me from like nowhere and without checking if the letters matched: "Jesus Owns You".

I was very, wery happy after I saw the letters matched with JOY

Again thank you for your anwers! And let me try to reply in my bad English.

Yes that was the last time in a Christian meeting in a church. Why? Well, I guess I was just in the right age when I saw the letters. Any older, And I would had freaked out/passed out and got too scared. Any younger, and I would had missed the point..
But, even my mother understood why I refused to go back to church after that. And now at age 38, if I ever see something "weird" like what I saw, it will hit me too hard. Im not that strong.
That beeing said, I do think god knows exactly everything about me, and knows not to let me see anything ever like that again.. But Im still kind of scared if i saw it again.. Besides I dont see eye to eye with all the things preachers say. I just dont think It all can be like they say. And I easyly want to argue about stuf that dont make sense to me. But then again Im afraid to argue enough to change anyone to agree with me. Just in case I got it wrong, and now they dont go to heaven because of me turning theyr belive.. So thats pretty much sums up why I dont go to church.

But I can asure you that I not only belive in god and Jesus. I KNOW, cause of what I saw. So Im wery happy to never ever have doubted the existence og god and Jesus. Im just not sure who did let me see the letters.. But now after I got that thought about "Jesus Owns You", maybe it was Jesus himself? I dont know.. But i feel wery lucky to have that happend to me regardless who did it

I got to add that I have not felt much joy in my life. Like so many others. And I have allways thought about what I saw. Like "just go to a church[bless and do not curse]Daniel, and it will all be sorted out" or start to read the bible. But, because of what I wrote, I kind of still cant.. But hope joy and I will find eachother by me learning how to deal with stuff..

Thanks again for your answers

Last: I did not write that "bless you and do not curse" all over my post. I have no idea where that came from?

 

[xdunlapx]

I'm glad you found God and are willing to learn not only about yourself but about God. Your english was fine, don't worry about it Do you have a bible? If not, i really recommend you get one as it will help you learn and grow as a person and also spiritually. It challenges you to learn more and it is very fun and enlightening to learn all you can. I wish you the best, and God bless you.

 

[Noname2]

Thatnk you

Hopefully I will grow the strenght to read the bible one day.