Missing Pieces of the Puzzle

During the last semester of my sophomore year, I was taking high school science. We were studying the theory of evolution. It was now being proven scientifically that some fantasy God didn’t create the world but that science had concluded the world and everything in it simply evolved. This was science, and it was real. There was evidence-based proof and not someone’s imagination of a deity. Our science teacher assigned each student a particular topic about evolution for research, followed by a verbal presentation to the class.

Toward the end of the evolution study, any remnant of hope that God was real had almost vanished. However, I could remember one verse out of the Bible I had learned during my years of attending church. “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Prior to saying that, He was teaching about how to pray. Jesus was making the point that God rewards persistence in prayer, encouraging us to not give up praying for something we truly need.

I would study evolution during the day, but I began to fall on my knees in the privacy of my bedroom every night and cried out to God. The fear of death overwhelmed me. During those times of prayer, I would repeatedly tell God that I was seeking Him with my whole heart and remind Him that He promised if I would seek Him, I would find Him. I begged God to let me know He was real, that He existed, and that He was seeing me pray. I cried many tears and pleaded with Him over and over again. I said, “God, if You are there, You promised if I would seek you with my whole heart that I would find You. I am seeking You with my whole heart. You must keep your promise! If You are real, let me find You!”

At the end of the last day of students giving their reports on evolution, the final student (Melody Sharp) presented hers. She was a respected, beautiful, popular, straight A student who later became our town’s candidate for the state pageant that could lead to being crowned as Miss America. I looked up to Melody. She concluded her report with words I will never forget. “Now I know all of this seems to point to the fact that there is no God, but I know there is, because I know someone who has seen Him.”

When she said those words, I instantly knew my prayers were being answered. The bell rang for us to go to our next class and I ran into the crowded high school hallway to find Melody. She and I did not associate in the same social circles. I was so insecure and plain. I didn’t have a lot of friends. She was one of the school leaders I wouldn’t have dared approach before that day. I told her that I had to speak with the person who had seen God. Melody looked hesitant to answer me. I said, “You have to tell me! I have got to talk to them!” She looked at me and said, “I have. It is me.” I asked if I could come to her house and speak with her, and she agreed. The excitement within me caused me to physically shake. Not only was I going to speak with someone who had an actual experience with God, but I was being welcomed to the home of a person I viewed as above my social league. It was a couple of days before we could meet, and my excitement and anticipation skyrocketed.

The meeting with Melody happened almost sixty years ago. I arrived at her home nervous and eager. I asked Melody to please tell me what she meant when she said she had “seen God.” Looking back, I could never prove whether Melody’s experience was real, true, or valid. Today, Melody might not even recall our meeting as I remember it. It is critical for people’s experiences to align with biblical doctrinal truth. It matters whether experiences (especially supernatural ones) are from God or another source. I do believe that Melody’s experience has a biblical precedent in the book of Acts, chapter 9, when Jesus appeared to Paul. I do not find anything in the Bible that would prohibit the possibility of her experience being from God. However, the validity of Melody’s experience does not change where it led me. Even if I found Melody and she told me it was all a lie, it would not change everything God has revealed to me since then. Today, I would be much more cautious to ensure that a person’s experience lines up with biblical truth. As a wide-eyed sixteen-year-old, I sat on the edge of my chair waiting for the answer to my prayers to find Him. I realized I might be about to receive an answer from God. He might give me some evidence that He exists. I could hardly contain myself. Melody then began to share with me what she experienced at a Christian youth camp the previous summer.