I was 21 years old when I had my first real encounter with the Lord. I did not grow up in a home where going to church was a normal Sunday event, but even so, I had a tremendous faith. I always knew that Jesus was Lord; but that was all I knew. I bought the “Living Bible,” as it was easier to understand, and I was just barely beginning a walk with the Lord. I started reading and identifying with scripture and yearning for more, and yet my life was still made up of “the next party” and well meaning friends.

I was filled with discontent with the path I was going. One afternoon I was in my apartment alone going over all the latest events and I began to cry; my parents had just divorced after some 30+ years of marriage and my mom had just moved to California never to be married to my dad again…..I was lost. I started to cry even harder; soon I was crying so hard I started to hyperventilate; the more I tried to breathe the worse it got. I fell on the floor trying to get air, not knowing what to do or where to turn. I couldn’t call on the phone as I couldn’t talk. I happened to see the $5.95 Living Bible on the shelf and I through it open to the passage below:

Mark 4:35 As evening fell, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took him just as he was and started out, leaving the crowds behind (though other boats followed). But soon a terrible storm arose. High waves began to break into the boat until it was nearly full of water and about to sink. Jesus was asleep at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. Frantically they wakened him, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you even care that we are all about to drown?” Then he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Quiet down!” And the wind fell, and there was a great calm! And he asked them, “Why were you so fearful? Don’t you even yet have confidence in me?” And they were filled with awe and said among themselves, “Who is this man, that even the winds and seas obey him?”

At that very moment I went from flailing, gasping for air, to a deep sleep. I woke up three hours later and it was completely dark and I was afraid. I knew what had happened and I knew Jesus had been there with me. I looked in every room, and in every corner, as I was looking for Him who had helped me “quiet down.” I never found Him physically but I knew He had been there just as He had been there in the boat.