Charles Ferrell, a retired pastor...
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Charles Ferrell, a retired pastor, writes of his youth:
When I was a teenager, World War II started. I saw my friends go off to war, and word began to arrive that many of them would never come back. Then my turn came to go into the service. I went as a confused, troubled young person, greatly insecure.
After a few close calls with death and almost three years in the service, the war ended, and I returned home. I was not more mature than when I had left home. I was more mixed up than before ... To be perfectly honest, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
One thing alone kept me going: It was prayer. I kept pounding upon the doors of heaven, pouring my troubled heart out and listening for direction from God ... Little by little, I began to see a tiny light in my darkness. I followed the tiny light, and as time went by, it seemed to grow brighter and brighter. I remember the precise day when suddenly all of the darkness in my mind vanished ... I knew I had discovered the reason for my existence; I had discovered the will of God for my life.
When I was a teenager, World War II started. I saw my friends go off to war, and word began to arrive that many of them would never come back. Then my turn came to go into the service. I went as a confused, troubled young person, greatly insecure.
After a few close calls with death and almost three years in the service, the war ended, and I returned home. I was not more mature than when I had left home. I was more mixed up than before ... To be perfectly honest, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
One thing alone kept me going: It was prayer. I kept pounding upon the doors of heaven, pouring my troubled heart out and listening for direction from God ... Little by little, I began to see a tiny light in my darkness. I followed the tiny light, and as time went by, it seemed to grow brighter and brighter. I remember the precise day when suddenly all of the darkness in my mind vanished ... I knew I had discovered the reason for my existence; I had discovered the will of God for my life.
