How do I know God exists? How do I know God Exists? I would answer with two words. Two names actually. Walter James Cloud and Caroline Elizabeth Harrison Robbins Cloud. The first was my dad. The second is my wife. I say is even though she has been dead for several years because she is as much a part of my life as she was when she was alive. Both of these people were incredible gifts to me from a loving God who through them showed me how much He loved me. Dad and I were very close and when he died I didn’t know how I would get through it. But God lifted me up from the miry clay of grief, partly through the healing arms of my wife. To understand the rest you have to know a bit about Caroline and me. To say that we were not a normal couple would be a gross understatement of monumental proportions. After all how could we be “normal” considering when we got married I was 36 and she was 72? And right from the start we were so much a part of each other that we read each other’s minds, CONSTANTLY. Not a week went by, and hardly a day, when one of us didn’t say something that caused the other to respond “get out of my mind.” Caroline was my partner in every sense of the word. A lot of married couples refer to their spouses as “my other half.” Caroline really was. When Caroline died it was hell. How could it not be. And absolutely NOBODY could understand. How could they? They tried (and I’m glad they did). But I’ve never met anyone even close to our situation. So how do I know God is real? Simple I’ve been through HELL!!! More than once, in fact. And when I had sunk to the lowest pit of hell, and it was threatening to bury me forever, I looked over and found I was not alone. Christ was there to pick me up, and lift me out, and place me in my loving Fathers arms. And He held me in his arms, and cradled me to His chest. And He whispered in my ears that I was His child and He loved me more than I could possibly imagine. How do I know God is real? HOW COULD I NOT? David E. Cloud (5/9/14) ps. this was inspired, and written in response to a question about this that was posted elsewhere on this site.
Dear Cloud, Bless you for posting this!!! And I'm sure that none of us could possibly understand what you and Caroline had going for you and how horrendous her passing must have been! Brother, you have been royally prayed for in many, many times and in every situation that you've shared with me. I'm so glad to know that your faith in a loving God is this strong! Having been through a lot myself, you've prayed for me, too! Thanks, a gazillion! And just so anyone else reading this will know, I, too firmly believe in a God who loved us so much that I'd just like to close with the words of a wonderful hymn, and Cloud, it's a great old Methodist hymn (John Wesley!) "Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God wouds't die for me." Such love is definitely difficult to understand, but it is equally true!
I know through the years that you have prayed for me a lot, Gacey. It is greatly appreciated and often has been all that kept me going. That hymn is one of my favorites. The Wesley brothers usually nail things righ on the head with hymns that not only are musically great but ate theologically sound.
Y'all know me and my love for the Lord and my love for music. Just thought of the closing words to another old hymn, "You ask me how I know He lives? He lives withing my heart." When our older son shocked his preacher-Daddy and me by walking the aisle to receive the Lord Jesus as His Savior, my hubby thought it wise that we make sure David, Jr. knew what he was doing before presenting him to the church for baptism and membership, so he asked the church if we could talk with Jr. before than happened. That afternoon we gathered around the kitchen table and went through the plan of salvation with him. David, Jr. did pray to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior. When we finished praying, I looked at him and said, "OK, Son, where is Jesus now?" Without a pause or a flinch, he put his hand over his heart and said, "Right here, Mama, In my heart!" I know He lives in mine, too. This is a Christian web site, I know, but in case you're not 100% sure that He lives in yours, there's no greater time than right now to be sure! Simply confess to Him that you are a sinner who needs His grace, turn those sins over to Him (Jesus took them upon Himself on the Cross anyway), and ask Him to come into your life and be your Number 1. He loves you so deeply that He will indeed give you a whole new life, a whole new eternity, a whole new heart. You see, the Great Physician majors in heart transplants!
Your story is lovely, blessed and heart wrenching at the same time. You are lucky that you found Caroline. It was worth it for whatever the time it was there. The time you had couldn't be compared with 50 years of normal boring marriage. You are blessed my friend to have such an experience. And, Yes, we find God ay our most vulnerable moment. He will be there for us in his kindness to lift us. As the father would be there for his children.
Thanks. But I wouldn't say "I found Caroline" it was more like God brought the 2 of us together. We didn't have that much to do with it.