evidence of a divine presence.

S. Moana
Aug 11, 2025
2 min read

As a child, the experience of God appeared to be something extraordinary and of supernatural powers, considering the Book of Genesis. I vividly remember hearing Genesis read as it narrated the introduction of this book of life that would guide us to a promised land. The emotion of Sunday service always left me physically drained, it was at the least, a 3 hour stretch of gospel music, prayer and preaching. The church goers would claim that the crying out, waring worship and message of suffering was the holy spirit rising in accord. Most of my life I had experienced this behavioral emotion as church service and liturgy. However, it was away from the conflicting fellowship culture (Acts 5:1-4) that I felt the divine presence of God, an essence unlike that of emotion (2 Peter 1:21). Even now, words may fail to explain the conscious shift into deep surrender that would meet me in that moment. “Break my heart for what breaks yours”, I prayed with strong conviction as death was encompassing the entire World I knew. Soon, I would find God in the waking sky, as the remnants of clouds slowly spread across the morning horizon. My grandma began visiting me each day in the form of a hummingbird, as if she wanted to reassure me in the moments, I needed a sign (John 14:16-17), I made it a ritual, to meet the sun, to expect the hummingbird, and to follow those instincts in which I now understand as innate wisdom. Creation provides incredible sources for redeeming the spirit, as it speaks to the likely parts of us that long for connection. It was in the surrender of the beliefs, reason and logic that returned the answer to my prayer (Romans 12:2). Life itself is a gift- if we can learn to release the illusion and distortion of the outside world, we will find just how beautiful it can be. I realized that my suffering was not from the experience of death, but instead the idea that physical death was final.

Citations