At the age of eighteen, my philosophy professor confronted me. He was a very skeptical man, and in every lesson, he put pressure on us to give up on our belief in God and instead accept what he was offering us, a path of rebellion. He would never miss an opportunity to attack Christian doctrine such as the deity of Jesus, the virginity of Mary, the ministry of the Trinity and the truthfulness of the Scriptures. In order to try and back up his arguments, he would carry a Bible with him everywhere he went.
On one occasion, he said something, and the Holy Spirit used it to motivate me to read the Bible. God began speaking to my heart, the Holy Scriptures became like a mirror for my soul. I was able to see the truth about who I really was on the inside and I knew that I had to change.
Months after this, a new desire rose up in me to have a face-to-face encounter with Jesus. Change me, transform me, do whatever you desire in my life, and do it now! Who do you think you are that He would respond to you? You are a sinner! After about fifteen minutes had passed, something astonishing happened. An intense, blinding light flooded in from the street and bursting through the door of the house, stood at my side. I felt like I was standing in front of a huge bonfire, and wondered if that was how Moses felt when God revealed Himself in the burning bush.
A great sense of fear and reverence rose up in me. Afterwards, I felt wondrously intimate with God, and I began to confess to Him everything I had ever done. It was as if the boundary of heaven and earth did not exist, and there were only two beings in the universe, God in His magnificence and me in my insignificance.
For the first time in my life I realized what a terrible sinner I was. Even an insect seemed greater in the eyes of God than me. Forgive me! I set out, confessing my sins to Him one by one. Again, something supernatural happened! It was as if a hand went in through my head all the way to the soles of my feet. As it swept through my body, the weight of my sins began to lift, and the great burden I had felt, fell away from my life. Simultaneously, I had an overwhelming sense of joy well up within me, because the most beautiful thing had just taken place!
