God's story, your life. Unfolding short stories. Have you ever felt a strong nudge from God?

That's what happened to Mark Winter. A simple invitation to a prayer meeting became the start of a powerful

series of steps towards reconciliation in his

life. God was preparing to heal Mark's heart, but it starts with a need for God to heal Mark's body.

Well, it was 1994, and I was pastoring a church in a small town in Texas.

And one afternoon, a colleague from another congregation in town,

he knocked on the parsonage door,

and he told me that he had heard I was scheduled for back surgery.

And he said, hey, I want you to come over

because I have some deacons that want to pray for you.

And so it was a gray blestery day in October and I walked to the meeting spot.

And I was very hopeful.

I was hoping God would use the prayers of these men to heal my back.

And my back was not healed that day, but something far more important was.

That was my relationship with my father. So I sat down in a chair and the men gathered around me.

They laid hands on my shoulder and they began to pray for me. I wasn't expecting this at all, but that it was like a damn broke open in me.

And tears began to flow out of me as I unexpectedly began to pour out years of trauma in front

of these men.

And I was confessing my hatred toward my dad.

When I was growing up, I could never predict which dad would come home for work.

I mean, sometimes he was in a great mood.

He would take the family out for ice cream.

...