ALTHOUGH STATISTICS VARY, most studies agree that somewhere between 12 and 15 percent of the people on this planet say they don't believe in God or at least doubt the existence of a Supreme Being who has anything to do with their everyday affairs. Many who make up the other 85-88 percent may have a firm belief that God exists, but they don't necessarily know why.
Even as a young child, I believed in God. Why? Maybe because spiritual perception is naturally keen in children. Or maybe because Sunday School teachers taught me what they knew about God. Adventuresome Bible stories such as Daniel in the lions' den, Moses parting the Red Sea, David conquering Goliath, and Jesus healing the sick and raising the dead, showed me awesome evidence of God's power on earth.
Although in my childlike way I loved this God, still He was far off and fuzzy in my mind's eye. To me, those loved Bible characters were exceptional people, particularly chosen by God to do great things—not like me, just an ordinary little girl with no special connection with Deity on high. Often I'd look up into the night sky trying to make Him out in the moonlit fluffy clouds, wondering why I couldn't see Him way up there on His throne.