I feel that fair to give credit to God, because every good thing I've ever done was a result of God's gifts to me.

You may not want to hear about God - that's fine. I respect everyone's beliefs, and if you don't want to hear mine, then feel free to skip this page.

That said, for those who are interested; I'd like to share some stories that I hope will give glory to God, or at least provide a moment of entertainment for you.

Heads or tails?

When I was about 14 years old, I had a crush on a boy, and we had exchanged phone numbers at school. I was sweating bullets trying to decide whether to call him right away after school or not. I didn't want to seem over-eager to talk to him, but I also didn't want him to think I was disinterested. I prayed to God and said "Lord; if I should call him, then let this coin land on heads. And if not, let it land on tails." I flipped the coin, which landed on the floor, and something happened that I have never seen, before or since: the coin landed on it's side. It stood there, perfectly balanced.

I stared at the coin.

Just then - my phone rang. It was the boy I liked! So the answer was not for me to call him or for me to not call him - the third option, that he would call me, was one I had not even considered.

I learned from this that the future will include paths and events that are unexpected. I believe God has a plan for each of us, and that we need to be open to what God has planned, instead of trying to force things to conform to our own plans.

Take Courage

I have only given one talk at a tech conference, and I may never give another one again, for a simple reason: I have horrible stage fright.

When I was waiting for my turn to speak at ReactNext in 2019, I began to feel increasingly sick. My head was spinning, and I struggled to avoid hyperventillating. I was sure that I would throw up. The pain of migraine was starting to radiate in my head. As I walked on stage, I prayed - "Lord, please help me. Help me to give this tech talk." As I stood in front of the microphone, suddenly, all the feelings of nausea, dizziness, pain, and breathlessness vanished. I felt more or less normal again, and I was able to give the tech talk.

I know myself - I have many flaws, including stage fright. I can push myself to do things that are beyond my own abilities, and overcome my flaws, because God is with me.

Loaves and Fishes

I was talking to another woman at church one day, and she said that even though she believes in God, she had trouble believing in the "loaves and fishes" story. She was referring to a story about Jesus, where he miraculously multiplies five small loaves and two small fish, to feed thousands of people. She said that she struggled with believing in that miracle.

I wonder - when the people near Jesus, in the front row, saw him pray over the bread and fishes and hand them out, were they moved to share whatever snacks they had brought with them? And when they began to share, did those standing near them get the same idea, and begin to share any food they had brought?

Perhaps that crowd of thousands of people would discover, to their delighted surprise, that there was more than enough food to go around when everyone shares?

To me, this would not be any less of a miracle than if Jesus summoned bread and fish from heaven to feed the crowd. In fact, I find it to be one of the most meaningful miracles.

God loves you

When I was very young, I had a nightmare, and when I woke up, I still had that sick nightmare feeling sticking to me. I prayed, and then I opened my Bible. The first verse my eyes fell on was this:

"I wanted to gather them together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings."

I suddenly felt a loving presence in the room with me, and my fears were gone. The feeling of a loving presence was as real to me as any other time that I've been near a person in real life. I feel very lucky that, in that moment, I met God personally, so for me it's not a challenge to believe in God. I can believe in God just like I believe in anyone else who I have met. And after my experience of meeting God, there is one thing I know about God:

God is Love. God loves me, and God also loves you. God loves every person who has ever existed. God loves us all.

God is like a good parent: A shelter from every storm. A warm hug when things are overwhelming.

God does love you, and will love you, no matter what you have done, and no matter what you do in the future.

God loves you.