Phil Bonasso: A Love Story Part IV by his Wife

( Hi evreyone! Welcome back to my blog! Thanks for continuing to read my wife's post on how the Lord brought us together! Thanks again, Pastor Phil Bonasso)



This love story must now continue with my love story with God and
Phil Bonasso's love story with God. It has to continue here because
it was in each of our journeys toward God that we found each other.

It seems to me that at whatever age you encounter God, the experience
that occurs in your heart and soul is the same…and you always remember
the very moment it happens.
My story begins when I was 6 years old attending Catholic grade school
in Pennsylvania. In first grade I was introduced to the God who made
me and loved me. I was in awe of such a wonderful being. By the time I
was 7, I was learning about Jesus and how he died on the cross for my
sins. It was through learning about confessing my sins and the
sacrament of Communion that I came to the realization that I wanted to
know Jesus more.
I remember a specific moment kneeling in my second grade classroom
praying to Jesus. I told Him I loved Him more than anything and that I
always wanted to be close to Him. The response I experienced from the
Lord in my heart I had no words for then but years later I came to
understand as "being saved" or "giving my life to the Lord". From that
time on I had various encounters with the Lord as He led me, through
the traditions of the Church, into a deeper understanding of His death
and resurrection…for me and the world. The choosing of His will over
mine was another vivid experience which happened at twelve years old
as I was.praying "The Lord's Prayer" at my bedside before bedtime:
This I would eventually learn was called choosing His Lordship for my
life. With the advent of the Charismatic renewal upon the
denominational churches, I began seeking the presence and activity of
the Holy Spirit in my life. High school came while I was searching for
this expression of the Holy Spirit. It was a lonely, yet great time of
my life because my loneliness drew me closer to God whom I dearly
loved.

Meanwhile Phil Bonasso was on his own journey leading him to an
interaction with the God with whom we all have to do…


To be continued…

Phil Bonasso: A Love Story Part III by his Wife

(Hi again! Hope you are having a great day! My wife's thoughts continue. Thanks for visiting!)


How can two people find each other when they are so far apart? I guess
they have to be looking for the same thing! Or they have to be found
by the same person.

At the time Phil Bonasso and I were in high school an interesting
phenomenon was happening in the spiritual "world". God was doing
something in the lives of many young people so much so that a name was
given to it. It was called the Jesus Movement. Many kids were finding
that the loneliness and insecurity they felt at that time in their
life could be touched by the hand of God in such a way as to fill them
…complete them. The deep down loneliness was gone.

So high school, for many young people at that time as well as Phil
Bonasso and I, became not just a time of seeking love and romance but
a time for seeking God in a unique way. Different from being a child
in church believing that there is a God. But rather that the God that
exists wants to know you and cares about all that you do and all that
you are.

So this love story that I am writing about Phil Bonasso must begin
with our separate love stories with God. It was in searching for God
…looking for the same thing…that we eventually and amazingly found
each other…



To be contiued.....