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“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20, KJV).

This text comes alive as I reflect on my past and present Christian experience. Paul experienced many challenges in sharing the gospel (2 Cor. 11:24–30). Although not suffering physically like Paul, I gave up my military career to serve Christ. My plan was to retire after two decades and go on to another career and then retire from within the public sector of the same field of service. I could have had two pensions and been financially set for life. At the time, I thought I was really living Galatians 2:20. That was nearly 29 years ago.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6, NKJV).

Growing up in a loving Muslim home—led by my generous, strong, industrious mother—was a tremendous blessing to me. A commitment to the five pillars of Islam provided a foundation upon which I developed a reverence for an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God.

However, that foundation also left me seeking more. In spite of my questions and misgivings, I persisted in my desire to walk with God unreservedly. I wanted to know truth—even if it made me uncomfortable. One day, while at my university campus job, I lowered my head onto the desk and prayed, “God, please show me truth. No matter how you direct me, I just want to know truth.”

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13, NKJV).

Have you noticed that in the difficult times we’re living in, there have also been many miracles? For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, a young husband and father from New Jersey was on a ventilator, and doctors prepared his family for the worst. His sister sent out a desperate plea for prayer, people everywhere interceded for him, and, against all odds, he recovered. “God defies science!” she later testified, “He performed a miracle for my brother!”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5–6, NKJV).

The book was How People Grow, by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend. I had been courageously absorbing its wisdom for several weeks. Eventually, though, I had to stop and address a painful realization: I’m nowhere near the emotionally healthy adult I should be.