How many ?

[Boaz]

How many times have you been born ?

[USMC87]

Once physically and Once Spiritually.

[LAH]

Twice, once here & once from above. Once by my Mother & once by The Spirit.

[nagantguy]

Not being funny but three times, once so young I don't remember it but it was in a hospital to be close to my mother, second time as a boy about 10 and than again at 27 as a man on my knees begging for a miracle; which happened ! And I asked all over again to to saved and try my hardest to live S a righteous man, and fail but when I asked that second time my eyes were wide open to the evil of men and the wicked ways of the world; war death booze, lies , whores. So 3 times

[aspangler]

Twice. Once I don't remember and once I can't forget!

[LAH]

Not being funny but three times, once so young I don't remember it but it was in a hospital to be close to my mother, second time as a boy about 10 and than again at 27 as a man on my knees begging for a miracle; which happened ! And I asked all over again to to saved and try my hardest to live S a righteous man, and fail but when I asked that second time my eyes were wide open to the evil of men and the wicked ways of the world; war death booze, lies , whores. So 3 times

I relate perfectly to what you're saying.

[GhostHawk]

Once of Woman, once of God.

I was his, I was promised to him. I was babetised, confirmed, ear tagged and dipped.
I was the Lords sheep. And I was a stubborn self rightous self proud self willed fool and was determined to walk my own path. And so for 40 years I did. I was more of a goat than a sheep.

There is an old Tennessee Ernie Ford song called the ninety and nine that describes my life pretty well. How the Lord left those 99 sheep at night to look for the one that was lost. And the rejoicing that came from the throne when he found him.

The Lord called me.

You all have had a song or a piece of a song get stuck in your head?

The Lord found a way to use my memory's of old gospel songs to play them like an MP3 player.
So there I would be going through my day and I would understand that the song I was hearing in my head had been there all day. After a couple days of this I decided to quit dragging my feet. I fired up youtube and started playing some of those songs and singing along with them. Now I can not carry a tune, but my wife was at work and if the cat minds my singing, well that's the cat's problem.

Good old gospel stuff from Alabama, Then the Oak Ridge Boys. About day two I remember dad and I having this discussion about the Oak Ridge Boys vs the Statler Brothers. So I swung into them.

Now I don't know why, but some of those songs would bring back memorys, clear memory's of family, of love, and of pain. Sometimes the tears would roll for almost longer than I thought I could stand.

Now I did not know it then, but I see it now, and understand it.

Before the Holy Spirit could come live in my heart there had to be a big house cleaning. I was cluttered up with garbage. Pain and the memory of pain. Things that I had done wrong.

Somehow those songs were helping me to deal with that garbage.

On the third day I remembered Dad's favorite of them all. Ol Tennessee Ernie Ford. Man you can see it in his face, he BELIEVES! So the third day I was playing T E Ford from sunup till sundown.
Around and around and around we went. Some songs I would play 2, 3 4 times nothing. Then the 5th time I was ready and the tears would flow.

I ended up on my belly flat on the floor asking to be forgiven. Asking that the pain stop.
Promising that I would not stray again. Anything to make it stop. I was washed out top to bottom, empty, and the Lord filled me.

2 weeks later my Dad was transported to the big hospital here in town with a stroke, they cleaned out the Caratid artery in his neck, 80% blocked. A day later they opened it back up as it was bleeding and he had a heart attack on the table. But they brought him back.

If I had not dealt with all of the garbage of my past. If the Lord had not washed away all that pain, and anger, and problems. Well I would not have done well.

As it was I became the rock. If someone needed something I was there. Steady freddie, johnney on the spot. Ready and willing to do whatever needed to be done.

Now in the year and a half since then we have had a few more sessions of tears and pain.
None as bad as that first one.

But still sometimes a song coupled with a memory will have the tears rolling down my face.

My wife did not much care for this whole process at first. Then all of a sudden she got with the program and started supporting.

I asked her once about 6 months ago what changed. She said you did. I have been watching you change from a worm to a butterfly, and it was painful. Then I started seeing the person you were becoming. And I saw that this was the person I really fell in love with. The kinder gentler bill.

He had just been buried under too many years of brown smelly stuff and abuse. So if you touched it you did not know if you were going to get a nice touch back, or a face full of the brown smelly stuff.

Washed clean now, the pain, the scars, the brown smelly stuff mostly all gone. Just memories.

I still don't react right sometimes. Think the worst of people. But I am working on changing that too.

He'll do a miracle for you too you know, if you ask, with humble heart. And promise to be his, and mean it.

He's done them for me more than once. I believe.

[Boaz]

Thank you , thank you ! Not only admission and rebirth through our Lord Jesus Christ but testimonials . When we stand before the throne lies and mistruths will not serve us , our testimony and the truth of it will dictate our judgement . You will hold nothing in your hand to influence GOD . By our word of mouth we will be judged , nothing is hidden from him .

Admission of failing and healing
James 5;16

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Admission of failing , yep ..hard to admit failings But when you come to the realization of them and can admit them you free yourself of them . As a young man I tried to prove my self-worth by the fact I could work harder , faster , better than anyone . Had a rep of someone not to mess with , had fights regular . Rough necking for W B Hinton Drilling out of Mount Pleasant TX near Walnut Bend on the Red River I had a fist fight with a big old boy bout 6.5 , out weighed me , had the reach on me and was crazy . It ended up I was choking him to death at the end of the catwalk and wanted to kill him ..I would have killed him ..I wanted to kill him . We were running casing completing the well and the Haliburton crew pulled me off him . I tried to fight them , To say I was out of control would be a lie , I was insane . Gone too far . I changed , It scared the heck out of me to realize what I could have done . That part of my life ended . Yea ..that was me in my mid 20's .