Last Sunday my pastor talked about historical evidence for Christ living on earth, dying on a cross and the large amount of people who saw him after the tomb was found empty.  The people who saw these miracles began Christianity. They knew these things to be true and were willing to follow at all costs.    It made me think about modern-day evidence.  What evidence do we have now that keeps someone like me seeking a relationship with something that modern science scoffs as a joke?  Most like me would say that the feeling of comfort and seeing changed lives is something that can’t be quantified.  It is the mystery that can be felt but not proven.   I know though, that there are instances in my life, more examples that I can put on this post, that blow my mind of evidence that He lives.  My favorite, mind-blowing example though, happened when I was twelve.

My step dad has been a musician all of his life.  He has been ministering in song for 30 years now and touched many hearts with his sincere conversation with Christ.  But before that, he had a period of running away from the light…and he ran hard.  So, the first part of my life was chaotic, but when I turned 11 my family started going to church and we all accepted Christ.   The church my parents chose was Church of God, in the Pentecostal Denomination and whew, we are talking some strict and outside of the “Baptist box” ways of teaching.  I’m not saying I would choose that church for myself today, but it gave me many gifts….so I’m thankful.

One day, I was sitting in my room and had a passing thought about one of my dad’s friends.  He had a way of really showing love to people and gone from honkey tonk musician to a real leader in the church.  I pondered for about two seconds about what that must be like, admired the change in him, wished I had that quality, and went back to my business…which was probably learning the words to the latest Cool and the Gang song.

A week or so later, we went to a revival and the guest preacher was one with the spiritual gift of prophecy.  Stay with me here, because the Pentecostal church believes that we all still can use any of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the bible, and prophecy is one such gift.  I have never seen a service like this before or since, but this is part of the fabric of my story.  Each night after preaching, the preacher (whom I never met before and haven’t seen since) would call people down to the front and tell them what God had placed on his heart.  I just prayed HARD that he would not call me.  Remember, I was twelve…..I could not imagine drawing such attention to myself, and was quite sure he wasn’t going to give me the answers to any upcoming math tests…so, no thanks, I just wanted to disappear in my seat.  You know what happens though, right?  Of course you do.

He calls me down front.  My heart was beating out of my chest, and still does today when I think about what happens next.   He says, “You told God the other day you want to be a leader.”  What?  “You told God you wanted to be a leader, is that true? “  Ummm, uuuhhhhh, ooohhh.   I suddenly remembered my thought in my bedroom.  What?  It was just a quick thought.   This cannot be happening.  “Yes, it’s true.”   He prayed for me then, but please don’t ask what he said, because I could still only hear my heart beat in my ear.   When my mom asked me later about it, I did what a lot of twelve-year olds would do…..deny, deny, deny.

But I knew.  I have thought about that so many times throughout the years.  Mostly I think about how I have failed in that task I asked for.  I have not become a leader in the way I thought I could have when I first started this walk.  I struggle with wondering if even I am being a good enough leader for my own children.   But the other take away from that day though, is that I was given the gift of seeing firsthand how my passing thought was served right back to me.   This was not a long-standing prayer but a fleeting thought.   There are so many prayers that God has answered for me, some faster than others….but none as powerful with evidence that He hears our every conversation with him.  Even when I fail to live up to my end of the bargain, He is still listening.   I will always be thankful for that gift, and I will always trust that my prayers are not wasted.  Not one.  Not one single breath.  Not one passing thought.  Not one.

What is your evidence?