This comment appeared in my inbox. I have never been part of the discussion, and was going to discard it, but feel impressed to share a Biblically miraculous experience I had a few years ago. When it happened, I thought “I will never tell anyone God did this. No one will believe me.” I have many Christian friends; a dozen of them in full-time ministry. All believe in and have experienced miracles from God, but I never told even my closest friends. I might even think it was delirium, except that I had proof.
An old friend in ministry whom I had known for 30 years, had been overseas for ten years, returned to a neighboring town and started a church. It was a long drive from my home, but I started attending on a regular basis. The pastor in my previous church had moved on; there had been a lot of turmoil and I was looking for the new “right place”. It was a joy to be reunited with my old friend and his wife who were both dear to me. The word spoken was always right on, but a few things were unsettling to me; nothing like false doctrine, just uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I continued to attend, praying, telling God I wanted to be in the “right place”. I have been in ministry myself for more than 50 years, mostly as a Christian counselor and writer, but also as a pastor-teacher or evangelist. Arising out of pastoral counseling, a special ministry had developed several years ago, so that I had “adopted” a young woman, mid-20’s; an orphan; recovering drug addict; desperately clinging to God, fighting mental illnesses and the effects of long term sexual, physical and psychological abuse. She was unemployably ill, penniless and had no place to live but the streets. She had been living with me for about two years then. I prayed and counseled with her daily helping her experience Jesus’ love to heal memories of gang rapes, beatings from a boyfriend etc. I taught her scripture and how to build her own relationship with the Lord. She studies the Bible and reads theology books, books but wrestles frequently with episodes of schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and PTSD. I had been particularly concerned for her sake, that we be in the “right place” for spiritual fellowship, teaching and worship. Her name is Lilia; she is now 29; poised, beautiful and radiant with the love of Jesus.
Anyway, wrestling with what would be best for her, and enjoying the renewed friendship with my friends, I was concerned that Lilia was uncomfortable in the services; her mental illnesses made it difficult to cope with more activity, more people, and louder sounds. She often had to get up and leave. The location of the church was rural, where the roads were all a mile apart. One Sunday I had taken the turnoff from the main road onto a side street, and saw the driveway of the church 30 feet ahead when a voice in my head said “YOU’RE IN THE WRONG PLACE”… At the same instant I read the odometer: something like 69577.0. The clarity of it startled me. Again, instantly, the driveway to the church I saw was no longer in front of me; I was on a road I did not recognize; I was in front of a large empty building, and did not have the slightest Idea where I was. I kept driving to the next cross road, saw a sign, and realized I was two then full miles away from where I had been two minutes earlier; one mile further West, and one mile further North. Utterly baffled, I turned right to head back to the familiar road I had taken West from home. I reached it in one mile, turned right and saw the turnoff that led to the church. At the intersection where I heard the voice, I glanced at the odometer again: 69580. The car had driven three miles, but by the map, it had traveled four miles. When I turned into the parking lot the words came back to me “you’re in the wrong place”. Lilia had not come with me. She had said she didn’t like it there and wasn’t going anymore. I realized God had answered my prayer in part, this church was not the “right place”, and since I was apparently hard of hearing he showed supernaturally by actually translating the car with me in it, the distance of one mile, just as he translated Philip. Then I had to drive three to get back to the church.
I know some people will say I am lying. People who know I would not lie, and know I am stable person, but who do not want to believe God is real in exactly the same way he was in the Bible, will say I was confused. Some others who do not know me at all, will say I am a lunatic. Nevertheless, every word is the truth, and someone reading this needs to know God is who he says he is; his power is real; and we can know him through a close, personal relationship with Jesus. For those who want to know more about both the real power and nature of God, I encourage you to look up my profile and content at quora.com. where hundreds of my writings have been published on theology, the Bible and Jesus, but also botany, biology, global warming and a few other areas of expertise. I would also encourage you to purchase my book of meditations, The Still Small Voice of Jesus, from Xulon Press, if you are interested in developing a personal relationship with Jesus, as such a relationship is the essence of Christianity.