The First Time I Encountered God True Stories of Experiencing God’s Presence

By | April 1, 2024

God can do what he wants, whenever he wants to. He has no limits as to where and how he will meet us and change our lives forever.

The Catch The Fire leaders recently shared some of their God encounter stories with our media team. I got to listen back to their stories, and honestly, they’re too good not to share! Here are some of my favourites.

Carol Arnott: “I thought I must be having a nervous breakdown.”

“I was in a horrible spot, I thought I was having a nervous breakdown. I thought everything in my life was falling apart.

“I was in the bathroom, I had put the boys to bed because I was feeling depressed. I’m not a depressed type person, but this night I was feeling really down. I heard an audible voice, and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, it’s my ex husband, he’s breaking in to the house again!’

“…It started and stopped five times. I checked the house thoroughly; there was nothing. Finally, I thought, ‘I must be having a nervous breakdown, I’m hearing voices.’ I threw my toothbrush in the sink and said, ‘Alright, I’ll listen.’

“This voice, this audible voice, began to speak the 23rd Psalm from the beginning to the end, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…’ and it kept on going. About three-quarters of the way through, suddenly I knew it was Jesus.

Story: Feel God

“I knew that he loved me. All of the sin that I was in, and all of the pain, and all the anger, and all the problems, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he loved me just like I was, in that moment in time.

“I ran to my dresser where I had my confirmation bible in the drawer in its box. I got it out and I read that 23rd Psalm over and over and over. The more I read it, the more love poured into my heart, the more assurance poured into my heart. Did my circumstances change? Not for a while, but God’s transforming love, that encounter with his presence and his love, changed me forever.”