The key to growing an unwavering and enduring faith is to continually seek and recognize the hand of God—and never forget those experiences. We live in a world that is making it easier and easier to forget God.
My Witness Tree is a unique and powerful tool to help you to seek, recognize, record, learn from, and share your sacred spiritual experiences so that you always remember.
Spiritual Experiences: Precious and Powerful
“Our divine experiences are at the very heart of our spiritual journey on earth. They help us develop deep devotion, steady discipleship and full conversion to God.”
Spiritual experiences are paramount when it comes to growing and sustaining our personal, enduring faith. Alex O’Connor, a renowned atheist, responded with the following when asked what it would take for him to believe in God: “One of the most legitimate ways to believe in God, if not the most legitimate way, is through some sort of personal experience or revelation…it’s the most legitimate way imaginable to come to believe in God.” Experiences with God are incredibly influential and powerful, and He uses them for many purposes. He gifts them to help people to completely change their course in life. They allow people to endure suffering with hope and even love. They influence routine, daily decisions for good. They are absolutely essential to having a living faith to the end. We simply define a spiritual experience as a specific instance when a connection was made between God and an individual. These experiences confirm to us directly what kind of God He really is and the love He has for us. They are at the very heart of our spiritual journey on earth. They help us develop deep devotion, steady discipleship and full conversion to God. They are vital because they connect what we have learned and believe with the truth of things as they really are. For example, it is one thing to read and believe that God can answer prayers. It is quite another when He specifically answers our prayer and confirms the truth of what we believe in a profound way. That answer teaches us that God really hears and answers prayers and that He knows and loves us. The experiential knowledge gained changes everything. These types of experiences—big and small—have the capacity to change behavior indefinitely. They are powerful. Our divine experiences shape, define and constitute our spiritual reality and can never be taken from us by another. They are precious. To those who decide to recognize, learn from and remember them, those experiences will provide growing clarity to the greatest questions and strengthen our relationship with God—here a little and there a little. Our experiences are irrefutable evidence that allow us to say with absolute confidence, “I am a witness.”
If our divine experiences are this important, it would then be both logical and crucial to find a process or tool to support our efforts to seek, recognize, record and remember them so we can continually learn from and be strengthened by them. As we honor and treasure our encounters with God, He will recognize our efforts and continue to reach our reaching in order to provide us with more and more witnesses of His love.
What Is My Witness Tree?
It is a dynamic and powerful tool for everyone—no matter where you are on your faith journey. It was created to be used by anyone trying to see the hand of God more in their life and learn of Him. It’s purpose is to help individuals and families to seek, recognize, share and record spiritual or divine experiences. What makes it especially unique is that it also provides a way to symbolically represent these experiences. It is designed to be quick and simple to use. “By small and simple things, are great things brought to pass.”
What Does It Look Like And How Does It Work?
My Witness Tree comes as a kit. Because of the personal nature of our relationship and experiences with God, it is highly recommended you have your own tree. When you recognize the hand of God in your life, My Witness Tree provides a way for you to reflect, share and record that experience. You then place an adhesive leaf on your tree to symbolically and visually represent that experience. With patience and faith, your tree will fill with leaves which represent your personal witnesses of who God is, His love for you, and that He is involved in the details of your life. Simultaneously, a you will be compiling a repository of those precious experiences recorded in a journal which can help you to always remember.
WHAT A KIT INCLUDES
A magnetic hanger frame, a silk screen tree print on canvas, adhesive felt leaves, a leather cord, double headed nail, a journal, and a comprehensive guide.
THE FIVE SIMPLE STEPS
Seek - intentionally try and connect with God each day through prayer, scripture study, worship, service, etc.
Recognize and Reflect - identify times when you have seen God directly or through others in your life
Share and Bear - tell others or bear witness of your experiences, if you feel it appropriate
Record and Remember - write down your experiences in your journal or in another way that works best
Leaf - strategically place a leaf on your tree that symbolically represents each experience
THE FIVE KEYS TO SUCCESS
Visibility- hang your tree somewhere that you will be able to see it multiple times a day
Consistency- decide how and when you will take time to recognize the hand of God and stay true to that commitment
Simplicity- Just keep everything simple because it is more like to work.
Authenticity- Only record genuine experiences with God. This is at the very core of the intent of My Witness Tree
Patience- Just like a tree takes time to grow, filling out your tree with leaves takes time. The time it takes to fill a tree with leaves is uniquely personal
Why Use It?—A Few Examples
We have found that many people go through life experiencing God without recognizing and remembering His hand in their life as much as they desire to. Even people who put forth daily effort to connect with God may not have a process or tool to effectively recognize and remember Him. The mission of My Witness Tree is to provide people a way to develop powerful spiritual patterns. On the surface it appears very basic. However, as you begin to study and learn about what My Witness Tree can help you with, it becomes clear that it is deep and profound.
A PATTERN OF LEARNING
My Witness Tree helps individuals to go through an upward growth process through the repeated pattern of seeking, recognizing, sharing, recording, and creating. As someone intentionally and repeatedly puts forth the effort to go through this transformative process over and over, they will grow in truth and light. That person will come to know the God in whom they can trust and worship in more intimate and enduring ways.
A CONNECTING BRIDGE
As we progress through life, we learn a variety of spiritual doctrines, principles, and truths. However, a natural gap exists between what we have been taught and what we actually experience. If these essential connections aren’t made, enduring faith may waver with time or under certain circumstances. My Witness Tree can help individuals connect what has been learned with divine experiences.
DEEPENING ROOTS
No matter where, when, or under what circumstances someone is born, they will not be immune from adversity, trials, doubt, and pain. When these elements of life pass through our life, it is our deep spiritual roots in the soil of faith that keep us firm and grounded. Personal, sacred experiences with God nourish, strengthen, and grow our roots. My Witness Tree helps individuals to experience and remember those grounding experiences.