THE Event that changed my life forever.

[John K]

I should not be surprised that if I don't know who this guy is, that anyone else should know who he is either. It's just hard not knowing who this entity is that changed my life forever. I've agonized over it, and what I said in the last half is how I am rationalizing it, but there does not seem to be an answer for this anywhere. Yes, I have talked to my pastor about this. Yes, I have spoken with "experts" on this. And now I have spoken to INFJs about this. No one knows, and that is really difficult. Not surprising, but difficult.

It's hard for us to know who he is without meeting him ourselves - it's only through his effect on you that we can see him and that was obviously profound. God can work in all sorts of different ways - sometimes he can approach us directly, perhaps in our hearts but also through other people. There are quite a few stories in the Bible of his appearing to people as a stranger - look at the story of Abraham and the three travellers in Genesis 18, for example, or at the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 13-35. There is the story of Jesus at a well talking to a Samaritan woman, too, in John's Gospel chapter 4 - of course he would have been a complete stranger to her, at first sight just a traveller passing through.

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 18 - New International Version

The Three Visitors - The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to...

www.biblegateway.com

Bible Gateway passage: Luke 24 - New International Version

Jesus Has Risen - On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this...

www.biblegateway.com

Bible Gateway passage: John 4 - New International Version

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman - Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through...

www.biblegateway.com

He doesn't need someone to be a saint in order to act through them and bring them to touch your deepest self - and it sounds very like he brought this guy to you to inspire and bless you. Encountering god this way can change your life for good.

But in my initial response to your post, you seemed uncertain about whether your encounter could be genuine - this is not surprising because we don't have much experience with things that seem in some way miraculous and strange, but at the same time ordinary too. They can be disturbing. That's why I suggested that you look at where your experience is pointing you - these encounters are usually not just about the moment but about the path we shape and follow in our lives afterwards.

 

[QuickTwist]

It's hard for us to know who he is without meeting him ourselves - it's only through his effect on you that we can see him and that was obviously profound. God can work in all sorts of different ways - sometimes he can approach us directly, perhaps in our hearts but also through other people. There are quite a few stories in the Bible of his appearing to people as a stranger - look at the story of Abraham and the three travellers in Genesis 18, for example, or at the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 13-35. There is the story of Jesus at a well talking to a Samaritan woman, too, in John's Gospel chapter 4 - of course he would have been a complete stranger to her, at first sight just a traveller passing through.

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 18 - New International Version

The Three Visitors - The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to...

www.biblegateway.com

Bible Gateway passage: Luke 24 - New International Version

Jesus Has Risen - On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this...

www.biblegateway.com

Bible Gateway passage: John 4 - New International Version

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman - Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through...

www.biblegateway.com

He doesn't need someone to be a saint in order to act through them and bring them to touch your deepest self - and it sounds very like he brought this guy to you to inspire and bless you. Encountering god this way can change your life for good.

But in my initial response to your post, you seemed uncertain about whether your encounter could be genuine - this is not surprising because we don't have much experience with things that seem in some way miraculous and strange, but at the same time ordinary too. They can be disturbing. That's why I suggested that you look at where your experience is pointing you - these encounters are usually not just about the moment but about the path we shape and follow in our lives afterwards.

Thank you for this.

Yes, the experience had a lasting impact on me that continues today. It did, in fact, set me on a path. Not a path that I know exactly where the path leads, but a good path. For example, even though I have probably always been an INFJ, my empathy, for example, was awakened after the experience. Because, you see, I had become a bitter atheist. I became "hard." And it was still this way even some time after the event. But it awakened something in me, even though initially, after the experience, I would "fight" about the truth. But, I have matured because of the experience that continued to work on my heart. It's like some of the effects of the experience were only realized AFTER the experience itself. I now have a love for people I never had unless I look at my early childhood and such. So, it brought me back to baseline. But, in fact, it did much more than bring me back to baseline. It awakened something in me. Some devotion, some truth, some revelation. I am more committed now to helping others than I have ever been--even if I don't feel like helping them at the time. I still try to help people when it is inconvenient and I don't want to do it. That is part of what it awakened in me.

 

[Hyacinth]

Thank you for this.

Yes, the experience had a lasting impact on me that continues today. It did, in fact, set me on a path. Not a path that I know exactly where the path leads, but a good path. For example, even though I have probably always been an INFJ, my empathy, for example, was awakened after the experience. Because, you see, I had become a bitter atheist. I became "hard." And it was still this way even some time after the event. But it awakened something in me, even though initially, after the experience, I would "fight" about the truth. But, I have matured because of the experience that continued to work on my heart. It's like some of the effects of the experience were only realized AFTER the experience itself. I now have a love for people I never had unless I look at my early childhood and such. So, it brought me back to baseline. But, in fact, it did much more than bring me back to baseline. It awakened something in me. Some devotion, some truth, some revelation. I am more committed now to helping others than I have ever been--even if I don't feel like helping them at the time. I still try to help people when it is inconvenient and I don't want to do it. That is part of what it awakened in me.

As INFJs a great reason why I have been so misunderstood is my heart. The confusing part and why I’ve felt so out of place for so long is because of my love of people. Unfortunately the term we give to it in English can’t describe how I feel towards others so I have been given a very difficult path where others have misunderstood my intentions every step of the way. My parents believe unfortunately that you can only love one child and one spouse at a time, their love is linear. They cannot handle loving more than one person at a time. The trouble that we as INFJs is that our love is deep, multidimensional, and multifaceted. Trying to explain this to someone who doesn’t think outside the box will make you beat your head against a wall in frustration because you could describe it in a thousand different ways and they will still look at you as if you’re from another world. Who knows, maybe I am. Maybe an old soul simply means I belong in another time or place than the world we currently live in. All I know for certain is that my whole life has consisted in never truly fitting in and looking from the outside in at a world that I profoundly understand at a very deep level but Seeing blank stares back by everyone around me. Forever reaching out but always coming up empty because I put in more thought into the encounters than what they had meant so I have learned through the years and what I did better as a child is to keep my thoughts to myself and to not give myself a voice because ppl shut me up REAL quick when I don’t listen to that. Now in this group I don’t have to. Your change of heart hopefully inspires others as well hopefully to change their heart and allow more ppl in. I personally can’t do it unless I speak to ppl directly either by online or in person. Outside of that with zero connection I never actually connect with someone so I might feel more agitated with someone than I would talking to that same person directly as you get to know them more better. Had a couple scenerios where this happened with strangers and once I learned who they were and their place in my life I was able to listen to them more intently and with more grace than some of my quick and in a hurry to get to where I was going encounters. Likely you can relate but if this experience has made you more patient with your fellow man than it sounds like it definitely changed you for the better. 9/11 kinda had that same impact on me. Not the same thing at all but it was such a life changing experience at the time that I felt more connected to my fellow man than at anytime in my past.

 

[QuickTwist]

And @Hyacinth is correct about something: I am not afraid to die. And this is a BIG deal because I used to struggle with paranoid delusions all the time due to my mental illness. This is not just a change of mind. It is a metamorphosis. And this is not just some idea I have in my head. For example, I am not shy about sharing the Gospel with people, and I have suffered because of it. One guy, who lives at my apartment complex, with whom I shared the Gospel, started to key my van after I shared the Gospel with him. I can't "prove" it is him, but I know it is him. I have also actually told a drug dealer to leave someone alone after they broke their 15-year sobriety. In short, I am not afraid to put myself in harm's way to do the right thing.

 

[QuickTwist]

As INFJs a great reason why I have been so misunderstood is my heart. The confusing part and why I’ve felt so out of place for so long is because of my love of people. Unfortunately the term we give to it in English can’t describe how I feel towards others so I have been given a very difficult path where others have misunderstood my intentions every step of the way. My parents believe unfortunately that you can only love one child and one spouse at a time, their love is linear. They cannot handle loving more than one person at a time. The trouble that we as INFJs is that our love is deep, multidimensional, and multifaceted. Trying to explain this to someone who doesn’t think outside the box will make you beat your head against a wall in frustration because you could describe it in a thousand different ways and they will still look at you as if you’re from another world. Who knows, maybe I am. Maybe an old soul simply means I belong in another time or place than the world we currently live in. All I know for certain is that my whole life has consisted in never truly fitting in and looking from the outside in at a world that I profoundly understand at a very deep level but Seeing blank stares back by everyone around me. Forever reaching out but always coming up empty because I put in more thought into the encounters than what they had meant so I have learned through the years and what I did better as a child is to keep my thoughts to myself and to not give myself a voice because ppl shut me up REAL quick when I don’t listen to that. Now in this group I don’t have to. Your change of heart hopefully inspires others as well hopefully to change their heart and allow more ppl in. I personally can’t do it unless I speak to ppl directly either by online or in person. Outside of that with zero connection I never actually connect with someone so I might feel more agitated with someone than I would talking to that same person directly as you get to know them more better. Had a couple scenerios where this happened with strangers and once I learned who they were and their place in my life I was able to listen to them more intently and with more grace than some of my quick and in a hurry to get to where I was going encounters. Likely you can relate but if this experience has made you more patient with your fellow man than it sounds like it definitely changed you for the better. 9/11 kinda had that same impact on me. Not the same thing at all but it was such a life changing experience at the time that I felt more connected to my fellow man than at anytime in my past.

Yes, INFJs are, by nature, empaths. They just feel so strongly the emotions of others. There is no other type that does it like an INFJ.

 

[Hyacinth]

And @Hyacinth is correct about something: I am not afraid to die. And this is a BIG deal because I used to struggle with paranoid delusions all the time due to my mental illness. This is not just a change of mind. It is a metamorphosis. And this is not just some idea I have in my head. For example, I am not shy about sharing the Gospel with people, and I have suffered because of it. One guy, who lives at my apartment complex, with whom I shared the Gospel, started to key my van after I shared the Gospel with him. I can't "prove" it is him, but I know it is him. I have also actually told a drug dealer to leave someone alone after they broke their 15-year sobriety. In short, I am not afraid to put myself in harm's way to do the right thing.

I understand that completely. I feel the same way even without having a divine intervention. I’d prefer to die from old age but I’m also not afraid of death. At this point I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do and said everything I’ve wanted to say so between now and when I die I don’t fear it. I might fear other things but death isn’t one of them.

 

[QuickTwist]

@Wyote, I would be interested in ANY of your thoughts about this.

 

[Wyote]

I think what's important here is to recognize that your path is your own and your understanding of it is deeply personal.
Sometimes the things we experience in life can be confusing/disorienting, but it's what you do to transform it positively that counts.

As for a passage that has had a profound signficance in my own life, Malachi 3:3 connected me to the spirit realm like nothing else.
It's funny that you mentioned Ezekiel in your original post, as Ezekiel 3:3 feels timely for myself right now.
I don't know if I would consider myself fully Christian, but it certainly is an important fabric woven into my existence.
Your journey is your own and ought to be respected for the spark of glory within.

And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards​

 

[QuickTwist]

Malachi 3:3

That is for sure a verse to focus on.

 

[Wyote]

That is for sure a verse to focus on.

A lot of passages have carried significance for me over the years, but I had an experience related to that one with a woman on an airplane about fifteen years ago that kind of echoes your own experience in some ways.

 

[QuickTwist]

A lot of passages have carried significance for me over the years, but I had an experience related to that one with a woman on an airplane about fifteen years ago that kind of echoes your own experience in some ways.

It's funny how common these "epiphany" moments are for INFJs. Not that we have them all the time with the same significance, but when they happen, we for sure remember them. Meanwhile, I can't even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday. But those special moments carry a lot of details we latch onto.

 

[Hyacinth]

I think what's important here is to recognize that your path is your own and your understanding of it is deeply personal.
Sometimes the things we experience in life can be confusing/disorienting, but it's what you do to transform it positively that counts.

As for a passage that has had a profound signficance in my own life, Malachi 3:3 connected me to the spirit realm like nothing else.
It's funny that you mentioned Ezekiel in your original post, as Ezekiel 3:3 feels timely for myself right now.
I don't know if I would consider myself fully Christian, but it certainly is an important fabric woven into my existence.
Your journey is your own and ought to be respected for the spark of glory within.

I think the most frustrating part of being an empath is my need to question everything around me versus accepting something at face value, or through peer pressure, intimidation, or by coworkers laughing at me, or by sneers, snide comments/remarks, or it being beat into me that I’m going to hell and that I’m Satan. Force won’t make me a Christian. Showing me through actions that you are a Christian makes me accept a person as a Christian, not judgmental comments and believing that I believe in sleeping with whoever you want. I, at no point of time, have condoned such things, however I recognize each person is on their own path so if they do participate in “sinful” ways than who am I to tell them what they should do or not do in their own lives. As someone who can love a mulititide of people, even though I myself wil never participate in it doesn’t mean that I don’t understand why they do it. I get angry when ppl try through force to change ppl into what makes life comfortable for them. Just move somewhere else, go to a different environment, or ignore that person but leave the person alone. You’re not responsible for their soul and neither am I. They are on THEIR path so superiority really rubs me the wrong way. The amount of times I have been lectured to and told I was going to hell either because they falsely believed I wasn’t Christian because I wasn’t their type of religion or they misunderstood me so they perceived me as some other way than I really was, Ive lost count of. I can say that God has had a profound impact in my life and still does, but worship and going to a church while I get why ppl who need organization, rules and structure need that, I don’t. I find him in nature and the goodness inside of some people versus the uglier half of those same people. All human beings are capable of both good and bad actions. Not many ppl are actually all good or all evil. Most people in this life are a mixture of everything in between and putting themselves or others on a pedestal is not good for anyone not even themselves. Just my viewpoint. Not here to argue just taking the knowledge I have learned and my life experiences and voicing my own frustrations with it.

 

[Hyacinth]

I think this world would be so much better if people learned the fine art of simply leaving each other alone and allowing them to “be”. Be themselves, be in the moment, give them the space for themselves to live, breathe, understand, adapt and grow. Because in the end only God can judge. He’s the only one on high enough of a pedestal to judge us. No one else

 

[QuickTwist]

Showing me through actions that you are a Christian makes me accept a person as a Christian

I really wish more Christians could realize this. It's spot on. Many Christians, for example, only serve Christ as their secondary religion and their primary religion is their political views.

You’re not responsible for their soul and neither am I.

Again, 100% true. I have been guilty of trying to reason with people to change their minds, but I have realized after many engagements that changing someone's mind is impossible unless THEY are open to changing their minds. It's hard because I care so much about this, but INFJ's advice is so frequently rejected that it can make you wonder why we try in the first place.

 

[Hyacinth]

I really wish more Christians could realize this. It's spot on. Many Christians, for example, only serve Christ as their secondary religion and their primary religion is their political views.



Again, 100% true. I have been guilty of trying to reason with people to change their minds, but I have realized after many engagements that changing someone's mind is impossible unless THEY are open to changing their minds. It's hard because I care so much about this, but INFJ's advice is so frequently rejected that it can make you wonder why we try in the first place.

I would love this post but I can’t find the love button for it

 

[QuickTwist]

I would love this post but I can’t find the love button for it

It's just after the thumbs up and thumbs down for future reference. It's invisible, for some reason.

 

[QuickTwist]

@aeon, your thoughts on this would also be appreciated. No obligation, though.

 

[Hyacinth]

I really wish more Christians could realize this. It's spot on. Many Christians, for example, only serve Christ as their secondary religion and their primary religion is their political views.



Again, 100% true. I have been guilty of trying to reason with people to change their minds, but I have realized after many engagements that changing someone's mind is impossible unless THEY are open to changing their minds. It's hard because I care so much about this, but INFJ's advice is so frequently rejected that it can make you wonder why we try in the first place.

EVERYTHING is politicized nowadays, that’s another annoyance of mine so sorry to rant but gosh if I haven’t been frustrated by all of my brothers and sisters in Christ. They are SO missing the mark and the point of life. It could be beautiful if they simply allowed it.

 

[Hyacinth]

It's just after the thumbs up and thumbs down for future reference. It's invisible, for some reason.

Ah ok no wonder I can’t find it

 

[QuickTwist]

EVERYTHING is politicized nowadays, that’s another annoyance of mine so sorry to rant but gosh if I haven’t been frustrated by all of my brothers and sisters in Christ. They are SO missing the mark and the point of life. It could be beautiful if they simply allowed it.

Yeah. I believe Gandhi said something to the effect of, "I like your Christ. I don't like your Christians who look nothing like Christ."