Jason A. Stone - Walking with Lions: A True Story of Fear, Faith and Fulfillment

Walking with Lions

A True Story of Fear, Faith and Fulfillment

Jason A. Stone

Copyright 2017 Jason A. Stone.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotes marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-7401-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7402-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7400-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017901419

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/17/2017

Contents

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions den. The king said to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you! Daniel 6:16, NIV

Fellow readers, friends, family, believers in Christ Jesus, nonbelievers, and those of you who are still searching for answers in your faith, you are not here by chance. You are not here by some coincidence. You are not here by some explosion. You are here by Gods will. And before you were even designed, built, and created, a custom-fit plan was laid out like a blueprint for you.

Welcome to the beginning of my story. In the many pages to come, youre going to become intimately involved in my blueprint. While most of you reading this book I have not met in person, I hope you do not mind that I refer to you as friends. In fact, if you went back far enough in your individual genealogy, I believe you would discover that were related in some way. And, likewise, we all share the same heavenly Father and Creator, who laid out not only my blueprint but yours as well.

Dear friends, what you are about to read is a true story. It is a story about fear, fight, faith, and spiritual connection that was supernatural for me. My wife and I are ordinary people, but what we went through was an extraordinary series of events and outcomes that were nothing less than amazing. As you read my story, every obstacle we encountered was like a ferocious lion attacking me. And in every one of these situations, we were graced by a miracle from God. I know youre probably thinking. Well, Jason, what do you term as a miracle? Was your life saved or something? Actually, it was. But miracles come in all shapes and sizes. In fact, theyre happening so rapidly that we often miss them as they happen. Every morning you wake up to a new day and the sun rising is a miracle from God. As you read about my journey, you will learn that I started to realize something extraordinary was happening. Something that was beyond coincidence and beyond human control. Divine intervention was happening in our lives. I know that some nonbelievers will read this book. And first let me say thank you in advance for reading our story. Thank you for being open-minded. And second, let me say that I love you just as much as my friends who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. I know what youre thinking. How can I love you if I dont even know you, if I havent even met you? Well, if youre taking time to read my book, weve already made the connection. And you can reach out to me by letter, e-mail, whatever, whenever you like. Each of us are already kin, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

Most of you have heard the term full disclosure . I often hear it in the workplace. Basically it means laying out all of the details and facts on the table. Dear friends, most of you reading this book do not yet know me, but you will know a great deal about me (good and bad) by the end this book. This story is my full disclosure and testimony of what happened to me and how God changed me. No part of this story has been altered. No fact or detail has been changed in any way. Through a series of dreams and visions that I experienced, God showed me just how involved He really is in our everyday lives. As you read my story, you will learn that my wife and I faced many serious obstacles, including abuse, physical and mental debilitation, fear, depression, anxiety, and financial ruin. Each of these obstacles rocked me to the very core of my human existence. As I mentioned earlier, the events, miracles, and final outcome of each situation were beyond coincidental; there was an absolute, divine power and intervention at work. It felt like a rebirth of my very existence. And just like a spark that has contact with fuel, God ignited a fire within me to write and share my story with the world. Ten years ago, I would never have imagined writing a book. Nine years ago, I would never have imagined going through what we did.

As I began writing my story, I felt like I was back in college again. I could hear my professor getting after me to turn in the next chapter of my thesis. For a long time, I thought deeply about the purpose of this book. Why should I write a book? Am I even qualified to write a book? I mean seriously, Im just an ordinary guy. What makes me different from anyone else? I kept going back to the Bible and reading scripture. Jesuss disciples were ordinary men. Jesus could have easily sought people that were of high authority, maybe a high priest or influential ruler of the day, wise men or other powerful people to be part of His posse. He didnt.

How were viewed in the eyes of God is very different from how we look at ourselves or one another. God is seeking us. God is seeking every one of us. God is seeking you. And as normal you may think you are, God has an extraordinary plan designed for you. There are over seven billion of us in this world, and all of our blueprints are different. My plan is different from your plan. And regardless of who we are, God wants you to open up to a relationship with Him. God has the same unconditional love for each of us. He created us and He knows exactly what our future holds and our purpose in life. He sees the uniqueness and individual talent in every person that He has created. I began to have a deeper understanding of this concept and Gods viewpoint of you and me. My motivation is to share my testimony with each of you and show you just how not coincidental our lives really areand how much influence and impact God has on your life and your very own story. Thats right. Im talking your story now, not mine. Each of you has your very own story youre writing at this very moment.

My experience was so profound that it inspired me to write this book. Why, you ask? Well, I firmly believe that each and every one of you reading this book is at some crossroad, some obstacle or stage of your life where you are uncertain of what the future holds for you. These obstacles and uncertainties can rage havoc on your life. They are ferocious, and we often fear them like we would fear a lion in front of us.