fate

so i went to church today at hillside in moncton and there was a comedian there named tim hildebrand. i had a great weekend (which i will post later, as this was much more important) but it was the words that he shared in his testimony that touched me more than anything has before. he was supposed to come to hillside in february, but due to a family emergency, couldn't come and rescheduled for today. i had been down for "country rocks the hill" and i wanted to go to church since i hadn't been there in over a year and wanted to see my small group and see everyone that i had gotten to know over the 8 years i attended the church. he did a stand-up routine which was sooo funny and then gave a testimony. 8 years ago, he lost his parents and went through a divorce all within about 3 1/2 weeks of each other. he explained that he detached himself from God.. didn't want anything to do with religion... anything. well... God was good to him and he just felt the need to begin reading his bible again and flipped it open and just did a "finger point" to a verse... ( i know it was in isaiah, but i can't remember the chapter or verse, and if anyone who was there knows, can you please leave a comment!) and he just felt the presence of God so strongly at that moment, and he basically rededicated his life to God. his testimony of what he was going through at that time is such a mirror to my own life right at this time that i was just broken, and i know that God laid all those events in place to have me there at hillside this morning to be able to hear what tim had to say. I didn't do a finger point verse find, but i did feel the biggest leading from God to read Job.... he went through so much and didn't curse God.. didn't turn away from him... whenever i think of my troubles and all my heartaches, i'm now turning my thoughts to the chapters of job and thinking, well if he can go through all that and not turn away from God, then i can make it through my rough times and be able to lean on God and give him all my cares..... I felt so moved by tim's testimony i talked to him after and filled him in on a few details of my situation and he just said to me "you'll make it.. it's not easy, but there is a light. it took me a couple years, it's different for everyone, but i can honestly say that i'm happy now" then he said he would pray for me and i thanked him for coming and sharing his words and i told him of how i hadn't been to hillside in over a year, and it was just coincidence that i was there this sunday and that it was something i needed to hear and i wanted to tell him that i appreciated him sharing his story. he had told us that it wasn't something that he normally did and he broke down a couple of times talking about his parents and his falling away/coming back to God... i just wanted to share how much i had been touched by his story and although the title for my blog is "fate", it should be "hand of God".......