"I was beginning to look at things in a different way"

Who couldn't use more light, more clarity in a time of questioning? And if we are in the middle of our own search for light, it sometimes helps to hear the experiences of others who are finding "there ariseth light in the darkness," as the Psalmist describes it. This column records some experiences that may be useful to those who are looking for new answers. The accounts are anonymous in order to give authors the opportunity to talk freely about earlier lifestyles and attitudes that may have been considerably different from what they now value. Of necessity, the recounting of experiences is telescoped in its time frame, and these narratives do not attempt to tell a complete story. But they do show something of the wide range of seekers and the way in which the light of Christ, Truth, restores, redirects, and regenerates lives.

After my last year of school in Australia I really had no idea of what I wanted to do, so I decided to go overseas for a while. I spent about nine months in Europe, mostly living in Rome. This period was a very exciting time for me—I was nineteen and just discovering my independence, but I also experienced moments of uncertainty and loneliness.

Before I left, my mother gave me a Bible. I found that I often turned to it when I was feeling down or distressed, or simply when I had nothing else to do. I found great comfort in its pages. I remember my mother telling me that I could always turn to Psalm 91 in any situation. This psalm begins with, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High." I was comforted in thinking of myself as being in this "secret place." So I started reading some of the other psalms—139 in particular became a real favorite: "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising." It made me feel special to think of God as knowing me—to think that He was always loving me and caring for me no matter where I was.

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"I was beginning to look at things in a different way"

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