Did you have a defining moment when you found God?

Hey forum friends,

This is my first time posting here, but I wanted to get the opinions of Christian people that believe in God and feel they are saved. I value everyones opinions, but for this post, my questions are pretty specific and I am looking for the opinions of those that believe in God.

My spiritual story - I was not raised in church, but I was always raised to believe in God. I've attended church off and on (my husband was raised in church, and likes to go regularly). I have never been a member of a church. I own a Bible, but rarely read in it. I pray a lot.

My question is, do you feel like you have to have a defining moment when you feel you are "saved" or "have found God?" I live in the South, so I always here "I/she/he FOUND the Lord". I've always felt God, so I don't understand how you can "find" something you don't feel you have lost". I am a believer, but I have never had a defining moment that was life changing.

Do you feel like you have to have that moment that changes your life that you hear so much about to be "saved?"

Thanks!

CC

 

No for me. It's (my sense of the divine) always been there.

 

I have always believed since a child in God and the afterlife, but mine was probably around 1992-93 where my mom was battling uterin cancer, my close friend was killed in a car accident, and I was trying to kick a drug habit that was out of control all during that period. I started going to a friend's church at that time and got in a support group and began rededicating myself, and it was a very rough time but it's then where I think I underlined and put an exclamation point on my faith and relationship with God. There are either two things that could have happened with all that going on; I could have gotten really depressed and ruined my life even further with drugs or whatever, or get cleaned up and get closer to God and re-dedicate myself to my faith that things are gonna get better. I chose the latter and actually felt the power of God or something holy begin to work on things and bring me peace and comfort.

 

gonna let lots of others weigh in first

 

Same for me.

 

Chris, that may be the difference. You felt like you needed to "change your ways," so you turned to God. I guess I have never felt that I needed to turn things around.

 

Looking forward to your insight when the time is right.

 

No, He's been with me all my life. After all He is the one who gave me life. There are days where I know He was more present with me when I asked for special intentions however or felt lost .

 

Like others may have already said, I don't remember not believing in God. I was raised 'in' the church, went to parochial grade school, confirmed at 12, attended pretty much every Sunday by myself until around 17 yrs. old ... then fell away because of my favorite preacher left. Stayed away from church for a while. Got married, had my boy & returned to a different church/same denomination at the invitation of a neighbor/friend. Divorced what's-his-name & married Aaron & had my girl. After Em was born Aaron started attending a different church & we alternated attendance. I'd go with him in the evenings (to his church) & he'd go with me in the mornings (to mine). He attended mine & was respectful but questioning. I criticized his & praised mine ... until I started asking my pastor questions about why we do this & that ... & he couldn't answer me. He also couldn't point out in the Bible where it said we were SUPPOSED to be doing/not doing those things. Sooo ... I started paying sincere attention when I attended with Aaron on Sunday evenings & things started to become ... available.

Then came the Passion Play in April 1997. Aaron's church put on a spectacular Passion Play. When it came to the part where "Jesus" is trudging down the center isle, cross on his back, 'broken & bloody', I was absolutely crushed. I still cry thinking about it. At that moment I said to myself "MY GOD What Have I done?!" He did all that for me & I considered church attendance a boring activity to placate my preacher, singing an embarrassment ('cause I'm a lousy singer), tithing absolutely not possible - basically the whole "God" thing had been a favor I did for Him.

I stopped living for myself at that point & began to TRY to live for Him. Perhaps some would say that was the day I was "saved". The church of my birth was faithful in giving me a good start ... a good education about things of God. I found conviction & trust & faith, however, when I realized it was all true - not just a cool story in a big book.

 

I believe that God deals with each one of us individually. Just because some folks has a defining moment for them does not mean that you have to have one. For some folks it is true love at first sight, for others a relationship takes time and has to be built one step at a time. For me it was more of a growing process. I can tell you when I was Baptised, but was I "saved" then, I don't think so. I feel the seeds of being "saved" were planted then but I have a thick head and God had to work on me for a spell. It would be many years later before I was ready to be in a relationship with God and let HIM be the one in control. I still struggle with that some, Him in control, but He loves me anyway.

 

When I was eight years old sitting in church with my granny I heard a voice speaking to me in my heart telling me I needed to be saved, my heart started pounding and I was sweating and crying and I just felt so burdened in my heart, at the time it felt like my heart was heavy, the voice kept saying you need to be saved, so I went down to the alter and told the Pastor I need to be saved, we prayed the sinners prayer and I ask Jesus to come into my heart. Immediately that burden went away in my heart. Right there God saved my soul for all eternity, I cannot remember the exact calendar day but I can go back in my mind to that exact moment, it is a moment I will never forget, most christians I talk to can remember that moment when it happened, when they knew something supernatural happened. So to answer your question Yes I had a defining moment,, and it was the greatest decision I ever made..

 

Yes! March 31, 1999.

I had always believed IN God but had never KNOWN God. I was born and raised Catholic, went to Catholic school, and went through the motions of practicing the religion. I considered myself a Christian. I explored various belief systems and ways of life, trying to seek a path. My career, busy social life, and other things got in the way or overshadowed my spiritual journey.

When I was forced to slow down (long story) I began to seek God and my search led me to Jesus. I came to the foot of the cross, understood that I needed God's gift of salvation and asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I had no idea what it would be like to have a personal relationship with Jesus and to feel the peace and joy of knowing I'm an eternal being with a place in Heaven waiting for ME!!!!!!! I sure do remember the day I was saved, the day that I celebrate as my eternal birthday.

 

I had been looking to find out about God and the Bible for a long time before I did finally found out about Jesus and how to receive salvation through Christ's death on the Cross. I wrote down the date in a Bible I had at the time which over the years has been lost in moving. I may not recall the actual day but I know it was September and it was my first year of University.

I was led by another Christian to say a salvation prayer.

Not the same for my mother and hubby who came to Christ over time and cannot say exactly when they gave their hearts to the Lord.

 

(deep breath) this is rather hard for me, I was saved when I was in my early teens, went down to the front of the church and gave my heart to Jesus, it felt so wonderful to let go of all the things that were bottled up inside me and hand them to God. After a while I found that not everyone was happy with my newfound feelings. A family member would call me Jesus freak, reject, anything that would hurt me or wound me.
I wandered away from going to church after a while, then when I was about 39 I was invited to a local church by a friend who knew some of my history and wanted to see me make the right choices. The sermon was about "lawn chair Larry" he was the guy that tied all the balloons to his lawnchair to see if he could fly.
The pastors words hit home, I was leaving God out of the loop in my life and trying to go it alone. Shortly thereafter I joined the church and was rededicated to my walk with Christ. I've been back eversince.

 

There's been alot of people who have went through a deep dramatic moment that brought them closer to God and made them re-define their relationship with him, and I guess that's what happened to me over that period of time.

 

Thank you all for sharing your pesonal stories. Sounds like it is kind of a mix. I was talking to my Grandma about it last night. She is 79 and is very religious - reads her Bible daily, watches programs, prays often, etc. She also said she never had a "defining moment", so I guess that made me feel a little better.

 

I have always been grateful that I have seen both the hellish and heavenly sides of life, it makes me who I am today I guess and strengthens my faith.

 

I did not find God, He chased me down, time and time again for years.
Thank you God.

 

God always with me.

 

I have always believed in God and have always felt his presence with me. No defining moment for me, just his ever present love in my life.