I've thought about making this thread for a while, but was unsure what it would accomplish, beyond being fodder for my ego. I want to avoid that, but I've also come to understand that perhaps the point of all this is to share my testimony, both here and irl when appropriate. I feel as though I have been blessed by the Lord in real and concrete ways. I do not understand why, fully, but I think it is for the sake of my using these gifts for His will. I don't know how else to continue other than to dive right into what I mean. I want to emphasize that though I will be saying many positive things about myself and my life, I do not intend to boast, for by no means am I deserving of these things by my own merit, but rather (if I am correct), only by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. For context, I have always been intellectually gifted. My parents are ordinary, flawed people, though they have immense love and raised my brother and I to know God, but the one thing they are not (nor is my brother) are intellectuals. Neither went to college, my dad works with his hands, my mom is a stay-at-home Mom, etc. Though, from a young age, I was able to somewhat easily shatter records at my elementary school (for example, in the Accelerated Reading program), often by several times over. Most of the people I've met my age have said that I'm the smartest person they know, though I have avoided a 'nerd' persona since roughly High School. I have pursued things like boxing to balance out my life, to that end, but now I'm rambling. I bring this up both as an example of what I mean and also as a possible explanation, to ground myself: I have considered that maybe the examples I am about to share below are more like 'luck + intelligence' and nothing more. Yet, I am skeptical about this explanation as well, as there is no clear way that anyone's intelligence could bring them about. (continued)
>>41020132Without further ado, the examples, listed concretely:>Out of college, I was crushed by student debt and I took a chance quitting a county job to try and go after something better. I turned to prayer just as my credit card was maxing out and my bank account was hitting 0 and I got a callback and then accepted for a tech job way above my experience grade, paying 6 figures.>Also right out of college, I prayed to meet the right woman, as I had expected to in college and hadn't. I'm not the type to go to a bar, but that month I was invited out to a bar with friends, only the second time I'd ever been there. There I met someone who I thought about the week before and hadn't seen in 4 years, and I asked her out the next day. It had only been the second time she'd ever been to the bar as well, invited by her cousins. We are still together, to be engaged soon, and she is the perfect woman for me; even her 'flaws' draw out pretty much exactly what I've always struggled with and need to improve upon. Our friends see us as a couple to look up to, etc. >When I was young, it would be many things. A random one that comes to mind is that, the one time I forgot to do my homework and the teacher came down the row to check, she skipped me (didn't even look at my book) for no apparent reason. >Also when I was young, I remember being on the bus going home from school after a rough day, with my iPod earbuds in, thinking "If God were listening he'd show me," and then the next song that played seconds later was the Hallelujah Chorus. (continued)
>>41020135>This is a more crazy/schizo one, but I swear swear swear there was a time when I was really young that I was looking out the window and thought, "There's about to be a fire drill," (though not in words explicitly, more the feeling) and then the fire alarm went off. I know it wasn't a dream because I've always been shocked at how it can be possible even as a little kid, and remember remembering it, etc. >Things I do online randomly blow up. I have a bunch of stories like this that are always fun, if ego-feeding, to talk about with my friends, like how I made a clan that randomly became the largest in the game we all played overnight, how I became a (somewhat retired) niche microcelebrity for a particular game to the point of getting news articles written about a mod I made, I was able to become the best player in the world at a community gamemode on another game, etc.>In high school, before senior year, I had a crush that I wanted closure on (we were leaving for college and I was terrified of women so I literally just wanted the opportunity to talk to her normally) so I prayed that our schedules would line up, and then they were literally the same except for mandatory differences like differences in electives >An assortment of other synchronicities, some of which really seem just impossible, along the lines of looking up something for the first time and then encountering it or something directly related in the world immediately after. I would rule out anything involving friends bringing up something, as I'm aware we might just be hitting similar algorithmic trends, but there have been completely analog occurrences of this. (continued)
>>41020144I can go into more detail and I likely will ITT, but in short it just has always seemed like someone is looking out for me, basically. I know I've been blessed in terms of my talents, and so forth, but sometimes this seems to go beyond that. I really don't know how to process it. I constantly deny it, explain it away, and at some point I am struck by the feeling that I am being downright ungrateful by doing so, given all of it. It isn't fair, it isn't fair that my prayers seem to be answered when there are people suffering in the world who need their prayers answered much, much more desperately. It's not something that I can control at all, or anything like that. It doesn't happen on command. But, when I need it most, it just seems like things turn out for the best for me, so long as I align what's best for me with noble, Godly intentions. I try to give God the glory in all things, that He might use me for some greater purpose, to justify the blessings I've undeservedly been given ... I believe I am drawing closer to Him at least. I have recently been studying and meditating on the morality given by Christ in Matthew 5-7, as it seems that it perfectly answers what so many young people in my generation are longing for. Anyway, I'm not sure why I made this thread, except maybe as a sanity check. Thank you for reading anons, God bless you and peace be with you.
>>41020156Did he give you little feelers?>We do not know what we shall be, for we shall see him as he is
>>41020195In the sense of a gift of intuition, maybe
>>41020428Do you know where my blanket is
>>41020132Were you in GATE/TAG
>>41021200Yea, I was one of two kids from my grade to get into TAG at the earliest tested year
>Another I am the chosen one threadWait until you turn 25, there is a big surprise coming for ya.
>>41021407I turn 25 in two months lol
>>41020132Protect your grace friend.It is a gift that is not easy to attain on your own.Cherish it.
>>41021200Not OP, but I was in GATE until changing school districts where I was integrated into the normal school populace.I've had similar things happen as OP such as dying and being medically resurrected at 33.
>>41021200>>41021484Why would GATE be relevant
Bump
>>41020132Not reading all that since you sound a bit like a midwit but props to you for being grateful to God, it's a very important thing.
I guess I could try feeling blessed
>>41020132https://youtu.be/D0DlPaXkqKkWe be god's buddy, our friendship sounds somethin like this sometime, shits real good n comfy
>>41022924Try it, you might like it :)
sounds gay desu
>>41020132Interesting but you got something wrong about blessed people. A lot of us don't have to be religious or spiritual. In my observation, it doesn't matter what creed or morals you have. God simply weights the scale on your favor nonetheless. We all may find it weird and a lot of people would try to logic it as "that wasn't God, it's the devil helping the bad people" nope. In my obsetvation, some people just seem to have the spotlight on them, just as I. I lived a life of righteousness in my ealy years and lived a machiavellian lifestyle later. Blessed in both eras of my life. Sometimes I feel guilty that I get to be an ass and get away with it.
>>41023993Seems like arrogance to me
>>41020132based blessed garouposter
>>41020156>God gave me sex and money lol I'm blessedNah Lil nigga that sounds like Satan done took your soul
>>41025277I wouldn't phrase it that way at all. He gave me sustenance and love, excessive sex or money was not a factor in any case.
>>41021775Search the archive for threads with GATE in the subject line
>>41025631Can I get a quick rundown
>>41020132God is a retarded evil tranny who forces me to exist as the sole frame of reference for material reality and only persistently real person in the world so he can abuse and dominate me through everyone else on earth who he controls as a retarded tranny hivemind
>>41026950In what way is God a "tranny"? I'm sorry you've gone through this anon but it sounds like you're just succumbing to anger right now.
>>41020132You should pray to God and let him know you are grateful. I do that sometimes.Your pic's head looks like a sphincter. Is that your God? Sphincterhead?Always be grateful.
>>41020132I won't read the entire thread as envy comes to me as easily as air, but I will say this. I too feel blessed by God, but I have been intentionally deprived of intellgence (the debate is still up for luck). If I was intelligent, I would have never fallen so far off the path and met the people I have met. I would never have played russian roullete from despair, I would never feel psychosomatic symptoms of from the body as it writhed in despair (still does) for four years. And most of all, I would have been unaware of God's existance if these events did not occur.I have been crushed. The prospects aren't dim, they're non existant, yet I am happy...sometimes
