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Grace & Love: Stories of God's Goodness

Behind the Glass Doors
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Unraveling

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Proverbs 19:21 says, Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

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Called to

Worship & Write  

     

 

Psalm 9:1 says, "A psalm of David, to be sung...

"I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done."

Healer & Restorer

      of My Soul

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         When I was a little girl, I used to think Jesus was a holy man that lived in the back of the church beyond the tall, double glass doors of the cathedral. I wondered how I could get down the long corridor to where He was. My family only attended church once in a while. Yet, I longed for Him. I wanted to know Him, see Him, encounter Christ.

 

      Years later, at the tender age of ten, a neighbor invited my mom and me to her church. I was allowed to continue attending church with the neighbors. One Wednesday night, I heard the testimony of a young woman who had indeed encountered Christ. She used to live a life of crime and heartache. She was destroying her life. She shared the loving and saving power of God's grace and salvation through Jesus Christ. After she testified, she began to sing. Her song pierced my heart. I found myself running to the altar with a host of others. When I arrived, a few ladies approached me asked what I needed. I boldly proclaimed with tears streaming down my cheeks, "I want Jesus to come into my heart." My life was never the same again. Many situations remained, but this was the day that changed history for me, even changing some of those situations many, many years later to the glory of God.

 

      The power of the Gospel of Jesus, the testimony of a young woman, and her worship in Spirit and truth were vehicles God used to draw me to Himself. What these three powerful things deliver to a lost and dying world!

 

     It is my hope and prayer that I can share the Word, my testimonies, and my worship for my King, in such a way that others would also find themselves in that moment where God changes everything.

     

     I continued to attend the church for a while and my favorite thing to do was sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" on Wednesday nights when youth were allowed to sing on the platform.

 

 

 

 

 

        God was not done with my life just yet!      

Through the good and bad, I began to learn that

God was there with me, and He was for me.

Around the time I was graduating high school,

my plan was to go to the University of Miami

School of Music to pursue a Vocal Arts and

Recording degree. I had auditioned and been

accepted with a small partial scholarship, but

suddenly, my life began to unravel. My

grandmother passed away from colon cancer.

My parents' marriage was on the rocks. We did not have enough money to cover the expenses for me to fly out to Miami and begin college there.

       

   

 

 The day I was scheduled to arrive in Miami and move into my dorm room, I found myself at a church service in Hampton, VA. My boyfriend's little sister invited me to come for the special service. During the service, the guest preacher pointed to me and said that God was calling me back to Him. He explained that I was there on that day for a reason and that he believed he had come all the way from Puerto Rico to tell me that God loved me and was calling me unto Himself. Flooded with tears, I came to the altar. I knew my life was not going in the direction I had hoped. I was backsliding. I was hurt, scared, and confused. God was drawing me close to Him in the midst of the pain and confusion, just like He had when I was ten years old. I would never forget that day. God had plans for my life.

 

" For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

   Fast forward a few years later, I was married and attending a little local church. I was taking music classes at a local college and working full-time at a camera and printer manufacturing company. I was serving God, bringing the keyboard my father had sent me, and playing keys and singing background vocals every Sunday at church. An older lady at the church took me under her wing and began to mentor me. She would take me to special services at other churches as well. This night would be another unforgettable experience. She drove me to Bethel Temple Assembly of God, a big church in Hampton with a large youth ministry, for their youth service. After the Word and worship, there was a time of altar calls and prayer. I went forward for prayer and worshiped the Lord as I waited for someone to come and pray with me.

 

       Amongst the many teens there being prayed for, the Youth Pastor at the church found his way to me. He told me, "I am the Youth Pastor here, Pastor Mike. I usually do not do this. I don't usually prophecy over people, but I believe God is speaking to me about you! If I am wrong, please forgive me and disregard what I say, but in faith, here's what I believe God is saying to me..."

 

     He looked down at little, nineteen year old me and began to share..." I believe God says that you are married and your husband is not saved." I shook my head in agreement and began to cry. He went on to say that my husband would be saved. He told me that God said that I am a psalmist like David. A psalmist is a worshiper who writes, plays an instrument, and sings. He said I would write many, many songs for God. He said other things about me that were true. I knew that day that the songs and poetry I had written since I was a little girl were because God had given me a gift to write and sing for Him, to bring Him glory. 

 

 

       

                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    There is much more I could tell you about the goodness and grace of God in my life...how he saved and restored my marriage when it was at its darkest point...how God guided me through the anguish of discovering that two of my three sons were autistic and how He opened doors to get them the help they needed...how God called me to homeschool and the journey it is...how both of my parents, who were once unbelievers are now Christians...

There is too much to share on this page alone!

             I hope I have given you a glimpse into my relationship with the Lord. He is the reason I live, move, breathe, and have my being. Why wouldn't I worship Him? He alone is worthy of all my praise and worship! There is a beauty that comes from worship that is derived from a relationship with Christ. We will worship Him in a more meaningful way if we know Him through the truth of His Word and through His grace and love in our lives.

 

 

                                           

                        

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

     

           

       

     

 

   

 

 

 

 

         


 

 

 

 

Nicole Michelle Aponte

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