God Never Ceases to Amaze Me

True Life Testimony of Sis. Kristine Grace M. Reyes

Growing up in a family of believers, I have truly enjoyed the immense blessings of our Heavenly Father. At the same time, it has not always been an easy life. But rather much satisfying and rewarding to know that no matter what struggles, failures, blessings, and victories I have gone through, am going through, and will go through- I am and forever will be a daughter of the King of Kings. He will always bless me, guide and protect me, and keep me safe in His loving arms.

Now, let me take this privilege to share with you a part of my life that has been a true testimony of God’s faithfulness and bountiful blessings that I myself didn’t know was even possible.

After graduating from high school in 2008, I went on to East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas, USA to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration- Marketing. At the young age of sixteen, a girl who is all new to the whole college concept, not to mention being far away from the family and being all alone, I never thought that I would make such an adjustment to what I had accomplished.

Some people find it frightening to be in my situation when I first arrived in the States. People always asked me how I coped up and adjusted easily being on foreign land. Actually, it wasn’t as difficult as people thought. As long as I kept in mind that God is with me all the time, there is really nothing to be afraid of. I made new friends as soon as I got there. I got involved in multiple organizations I could be a part of.

God gave me favor among my professors, employer, classmates and peers. Every semester has been one accomplishment over the other. Of course those successes won’t be possible without God’s guidance, leading, and strength. Every day was a new challenge and a new day to shine for Him, to make Him proud. Our God is amazing and He works in beautiful ways.

This 2010, God has been yet again faithful to me as I spent my sophomore year in ETBU. Some blessings He has showered me with were being a part of the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) Leadership Team and finding a new church that I can call my home. Through BSM, I have been blessed with the opportunity to reach out to ETBU ladies through a ministry that I lead called “WoMin” or Women’s Ministry and to also reach out to the incoming freshmen class through Journey.

Being part of the Leadership team, I got to attend conferences and retreats. One of the retreats I attended this year was Abide. Abide is a conference mainly focused on prayer. Before going to the retreat I remembered praying to God that I wanted Him to use me in this retreat. I wanted to meet people and be able to connect with them. I was very eager for Him to use me and to be a channel of His blessings to others.

On the night I was in Abide, along with other BSM leaders and students, I was in one of the prayer stations that they had surrounding the camp site. While I was praying in front of the bonfire, I heard a voice talk to me and prompting me to share with the people around me what I have been learning for the past few weeks.

At first I thought to myself if I was just thinking out loud or if it was something God wanted me to do. So again I bowed my head and prayed asking God that if it was really Him, and not my imagination, I asked Him to give me a sign. I asked Him to let someone sit by the log I was sitting on. And in a couple of seconds, two girls sat by me. I couldn’t believe what I saw and so I prayed again. I asked God to confirm it by letting anyone sit by the log across from where I was sitting. No one really seemed to notice it so I asked specifically for that log. But in a few minutes, a guy came there to sit and pray.

Now I had thoughts in my head of what I was going to say and how I was going to say the things that God wanted me to share. It seemed kind of silly at that moment when I panicked for a bit. I have never been in a situation like this before. So while I was asking God for courage and strength to speak to His people, I was reminded of the story of Moses when he went to speak to Pharaoh when the Israelites were still in bondage in Egypt.

The story reassured me that God was in total control and that He was going to be with me and will be the one to put the words in my mouth. I attempted to stand up a few times but my human strength failed me. My knees were badly shaking and I thought I was going to pass out soon enough because of the nervousness that was making me insane. When I was attempting to stand up once again (with my knees still shaking of course); I suddenly felt a strong yank in my knees and a strong force pushing me upward to make me stand up straight.

Up to this day, I really think that it wasn’t with my own strength that I was finally able to stand up. But it was definitely God who helped me to. Isn’t that awesome?

So then I started to talk and all eyes were on me. I remembered starting off by saying something like, “God has asked me to share something with all of you. Is it all right if I do?” I started talking about how God loves it when we serve Him. But He wants all of us and no reservations. God wants every inch of us surrendered to Him acknowledging that He delights in the things that we do for His glory. It pleases Him that we serve but it should come from the in depths of our hearts. We shouldn’t hold anything back from Him.

We should give Him our all- whether they may be successes we have accomplished or a sin we may have done ages ago. He wants us to let go of everything in this world that is separating us from Him. He doesn’t want boundaries or limits to the relationship we have with Him. He truly desires that we all come back to Him; no matter how much we think that we are unworthy of it all. He is wonderful and amazing and His mercies are new every day.

Then suddenly words and sentences flew out of my mouth. I didn’t even realize that I was talking on and on until I thought about it. I knew that after the first few sentences, something took control over me. I was talking but it was Him who put the words in my mouth and spoke. It was like my mouth was just moving but I was not the one letting the words and thoughts come out. It felt like something came in me and I knew I wasn’t myself anymore; it was someone else.

At that instant, I felt comforted knowing that He was there with me all along. After “I” talked for about 5 minutes or so (or maybe even more), I took in a deep breath and started praying again- thanking God for using me to bless to others. He never ceases to amaze me. I was in shock of what happened and I couldn’t take it all in at once. But it was a great joy to know that when you ask God to use you, He definitely will. Just wait and see! I know He will as long as you desire it.

Before I was about to leave the prayer station, a girl came up to me and patted my shoulder saying “Thank you.” I don’t really know what she was thanking me for. But I know that God worked in her and that the “Thank You” was really meant for Him. The next day, a guy came up to me and said that the message that I shared was for him. He has been going through things in his life and it encouraged him to keep on going.

Praise Jesus for how He works in us and through us! He doesn’t call the equipped but equips the called. As long as we are willing to serve Him, He will use us in ways we cannot imagine.

Finding a new church this year has been such a blessing to my spiritual life. I have gained and learned so much cramped up in a semester’s worth of time. Although I am not as involved in church ministries as to how I am here in JIA Bahrain, I still find time to plug in and be a part of the church.

Every Tuesdays, I attend Life Challenge (LC) which is the college and young adult ministry in church. We have praise and worship and a series of topics to talk about. It is mostly about what we, college students, go through and experience everyday in our lives- like school, love, finding God’s best, how our generation is like, how we are different from our generation, our faith and walk with God, and serving Him and seeking Him passionately.

Under LC, we have “realTALK” which is a campus ministry that aims to reach out to the lost souls around different colleges and universities in East Texas. In every realTALK session, there is a main issue being talked about like freedom, faith, pre-marital sex, and others. And students ask questions and the facilitators relate it all to what the Bible says and to how God commands us.

So far, there are three real TALK present- in Kilgore College (KC), Tyler Junior College (TJC), and Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA). One time, I attended realTALK in TJC (1 hour and 15 minutes away) and SFA (5-6 hours away). After each session, my heart deeply yearned for the lost souls. No matter what the topic was about, at the end of each session there would be a dozen of students who would want to surrender their lives to the Almighty God and want His salvation.

It is amazing to see and be a part of this change, this revival that is about to happen; a rising generation that wants to seek God passionately. It makes my heart smile to see lost souls surrendering to God and to His will for their lives. I praise Him for He always searches for His lost sheep. He never ceases to amaze me.

As much as we hear the saying, “The harvest is plenty and the laborers are few”, it won’t have such a direct impact to a person until you experience and consciously realize it yourself. We cannot reach out to the lost if we do not have the longing to do so. We cannot minister to them if we do not allow God to use us and equip us with the right tools we would need to minister to them.

Every Sunday and Tuesdays, I would see an increase in number of college students during the service. What makes it more amazing is how God builds healthy relationships amongst each and everyone. Everyone has the same goal and the same enthusiasm to experience God more mightily in their lives and to see Him work within ourselves and with people we interact with.

One of the very evident things that one would notice is how everyone is full of the Father’s love that it is impossible to keep it all in. There is always like an explosion of love, understanding and compassion for each other in reverence to our Maker. It is really amazing how God works and so is my desire for it to happen more in JIA Bahrain.

God wants us to experience Him in a whole new level. But we have to take the step and the initiative to want it as well. I tell you my brothers and sisters in Christ, once you experience His presence and love fall down from Heaven, you would never want it to end.

OH WOW! I never thought that this would ever happen to me! I know that I see it in the news and see the repercussions happen on the streets. But I never thought that one day I would go through the motions myself.

On April 20, 2010- Tuesday, at around 5:30 p.m. in Marshall, Texas, I almost lost my life to a car accident that could have gone worse if God had not intervened.

I was with two friends headed to Rue21 to make a quick stop to shop for clothes and was then headed to Wal-Mart to do a quick grocery shopping. While we were on our way, we came to a stop sign that would allow us to make a left turn to the next lane. When the lights went green, being in the inner lane of the intersection, a black GMC Sierra truck (on our right side) tried to cut us off our lane by trying to overtake our vehicle.

This is clearly illegal but whatever the driver was thinking of at that time, it surely wasn’t about his driving and what lane he was supposed to drive on. (Haha! J’kid.) As he tried to cut us off, I was sitting at the back seat (right side) when I felt a sudden cloud of comfort wrap around me. I looked to my right and I saw something white, like a wall probably, come between the two vehicles on the back side of both the vehicles to where I was sitting. After a few seconds, I finally realized that I almost died right at that instance if only my (spiritual) eyes hadn’t seen the white wall.

I thought of how bad it could have been, especially with me being the one who would experience the stronger impact of the collision. I imagined if I was going to get squeezed between the two vehicles. Or was I going to have a serious head injury that would knock me out and paralyze me for the rest of my life? Or maybe something tragic that would probably freak my parents out and make my mom hop on a plane to the first flight she can get booked on to travel to the US?

There would probably be blood everywhere and shattered pieces of glass and car parts for sure. I could hear the police and ambulance sirens in my head as they rush to make it on time to the accident. I suddenly thought of everyone I loved and everyone I knew. It was like my life flashed before my eyes, literally! I could imagine my mom and dad in shock and in painful tears. I thought of my brothers and sisters and how they still needed me. An array of faces of friends and dear ones lingered in my mind. I knew deep in my heart that it could have gone worse but it didn’t. Why?

It was overwhelming to feel like I was in the brink of dying; that in an instance my existence in this world could be over even before I knew it. But no matter how much “disasters or tragedies” that kept lingering in my mind, all I could say is “Praise Jesus!” and “Thank you Lord for saving my life”.

As I sat in the back seat, the same cloud or blanket of comfort once again surrounded me as my eyes started to water. All I could feel was awe for my Father up above and His arms wrapped around me saying, “Everything is alright darling. You have nothing to be afraid of anymore”. It took me a while to calm down and realize the intensity of what happened and could have happened.

After my near death experience, it just brings me great joy and appreciation for being a daughter of the Almighty. If I didn’t have Him with me, I wouldn’t be here sharing my story. Sometimes I think that I may have overreacted to the situation. But I have this gut feeling that I know I didn’t.

When I talked to my mom later on about my I-almost-died experience, she shares with me how the Holy Spirit prompted her to pray for me hours before the accident. It was at around 1 p.m. of April 21 in Bahrain and 5 a.m. of April 20 in the US. (Bahrain is 8 hours ahead.) She started to pray in tongues for me while claiming and believing that God is in control and I am safe in His hands. Truly, the power of prayer is very potent. I am just amazed at God’s incredible ways to keep His children out of harm.

Looking back at the accident, I now understand why God didn’t want me to die on that day, why something much worse could have happened but it didn’t. I fully grasp now that my mission here on earth is not yet over. I still have a long way to go and God isn’t done using me for His works here on earth. Our God is magnificent, don’t you think? He never ceases to amaze me.

All praises, honor and glory be to our Heavenly Father, who is like no other!