It was last winter when I met a wicked cool girl.
We started dating, and I fell in love.
She was a Pentecostal Christian. I had never heard about people like her.
She told me her story about her conversion.
One day after a long month of loneliness and sadness, she lay on the floor in her room looking up at the ceiling when it struck her. She realized that God existed! From then on, her life was good.
I was an atheist, but I found her story so compelling that I wanted to learn more.
While I was trying to figure out what I believed, something very odd happened.
I became severely depressed. I hated school, feared people, and didn't think my life had any meaning.
On top of that, I couldn't communicate with God. I prayed. I read the bible. I asked others to pray for me, but nothing happened.
One night, I prayed in my truck. I said, "God, please give me a sign. Show me that you're real." I thought the rain dripping down on the windshield was an appropriate symbolic expression of the inner sadness I felt.
But again, nothing happened.
The next day, I was sitting outside of class at school. I had a Bible I rented from the library in my hand and was reading it when a lady approached me.
"Is that The Good Book?" she said.
"Yeah," I responded.
"What version?"
"I don't know. It's not mine. I got it from the library," I said.
She looked at the book, then into my face. She walked over to her purse and grabbed her bible and brought it over to me.
"Here, have this."
"Really?" I said.
"Take it. It's the best thing you'll ever read."
"God speaks to us in strange ways," she said. "My daughter passed away two years ago, and I don't know where I'd be without this. You look like you could use it."
We talked for a bit more, then she went off.
I walked down to the basement of the building and began to cry. I couldn't understand what was going on.
Did God really speak to me? Is this him returning my prayers? Or was it all just wishful thinking?
Why me? Why would she give it to me?
She loved this bible. She used it often. There were flowers, feathers, notes, and underlines in it.
I am so appreciative to this woman for giving me this book.
I still have it. It's sitting on my bureau.
Now, my question for the reader is this: How should I interpret what happened?