Hey, Siestas! Thank you for such an outpouring of support in my blog break. God has already caused it to bear fruit the way I’d hoped. He’s so faithful. I miss you so much and think of you daily. I hope to see some of you Houston area girls at Bible study tonight. I’m so blessed to serve tonight with my friend, Christy Nockels. OK, here’s today’s TOPIC for Talk To Me Tuesday.
Talk to me about a time in your own life when God called you to an area of obedience that was particularly difficult but ultimately (and surprisingly) led to joy. Limit your story to one meaty paragraph so we can read as many as possible. Let’s hear it! I surely do love you girls.
Have you noticed that the majority of these trials include moves? My trial included a move to our dream location. God was very clear in His confirmation to “GO”! Then only 6 months into getting settled into happily ever after, He moved us back. It was a very difficult move. My husband felt such guilt for having relocated his family that he purchased an older affordable home and completely gutted it. We never saw him for almost a year while he tirelessly slaved away at making a home for us. During that time, I am saddened to say that I was very disgruntled and not very spirit filled. But 3 years later with a stronger marriage and a deeper walk with the Lord, I can clearly see God’s plan! Truly the sufferings of that time were not worthy to be compared with the glory that we are now experiencing! Everyday, I wake up and thank the LOrd for refining me! God is sovereign. I know that I can trust Him now! I don’t know what my future holds as my husband may lose his job in the very near future but I do know who holds my future!
I’m sorry to be commenting on this site but we are in need of immediate prayer. Our church ladies have been doing your Bible Studies for several years now. Our very first one was “Believing God”. We are definitely believing God right now and want others to believe with us. One of our ladies has a 5 year little girl named Abby. So precious!! (She’s also my niece.) She was diagnosed with Kidney & Lung Cancer last week. She is in St. Jude Hospital and has received her first dose of chemo. Today, her blood pressure has sky rocketed. We’re believing God’s for miracles. Please speak your prayers to Him who I know can do what He says he can do. The prayers will be a wonderful incense to Him. Thank you for your faith!
Praying!
Praying for Abby in Colorado.
Praying!!! We’re adding little Abby to our prayer list and will be lifting her up. Please keep us updated.
Kristi
Praying for Abby and your whole family as you go through this time. Please don’t apologize for asking for prayer!
My prayers are with you and your precious Abby! St Jude is a wonderful hospital, my nephew was a patient there for several years and Praise be to God, he is now 5 yrs in remission and out running all the other kids :). God is still performing miracles, don’t loose hope!
Praying for you and your family.
Grace to you,
Patti Hayes
Praying for Abbey!
I am having to obey right now. My husband and I have been having a difficult time in our marriage and have been going to marriage counseling from a wonder Christian counselor. It’s hard because I feel like things aren’t getting better and I’m so weary. But God has not released me, so I’m still here. I’m trying to obey even when I don’t feel like it in the hopes that eventually everything will work out. Please pray for me.
Amber, I sat down to relax and read over the comments today, with no plans whatsoever to comment myself. Brownies in the oven, beef stew simmering in the pot. Came into the living room to sit by my hubby as he watches Auburn play. My man, who has, in the past 34 years of loving him, has made me happier and sadder than anyother living breathing person on earth. My hubby who has loved me and hated me more than I can imagine, nor want to. But I can tell you, with every inch of my being, God intended us to walk this out together. We are not evenly yoked in our relationship with the Lord, but God told me years ago, don’t worry about him “I got this Patty” and I don’t. I pray for my Godly man, I pray that he glorify God in everything he does, I thank God that we kept our family intact, and I praise His holy name that even though we’ve struggled more than most are willing (so they tell me), I see the powerfully faithful results. So many times I did not want to see this to its finish, so often I asked God to let me out. Today, however, I see with spiritual eyes many of the reasons God wanted me to stay. My hubby loves me very much and I love him. God has blessed both of us for bearing our crosses, working things out as best we can and holding each other up when the other one falls. I will pray God’s presence be very real to you dear Amber. He can do this. He really does have it.
thank you Patty- I needed to hear this this morning….more than you know 🙂
Dear Amber, I will be praying for you. I am in the same situation going on for 23 years. I have been weary, hopeless, and felt that God doesn’t love me because of the struggles in my marriage. A few things that have been helping me lately are a quote from Melody Beattie, “Grace is on thing we can’t hoard. We only get enough for the moment we are in now.” So taking one day at a time. Not looking back in regret or ahead with despair, but knowing that God has given me the grace I need to love my husband and obey today. A couple other books that have helped me are : Thriving Despite a Difficult Marriage, by Misja, and Alone in Marriage by Susie Larson. Susie’s book has a bible study at the end of each chapter and I’ve gone through it twice. Bless you!
Amber,
I can so relate with you and hope to encourage you. My husband has expressed his desire to leave and has, yet God has kept my heart tender and burdened me to remain obedient, which has been 1 year now. I can’t tell you the joy HE has given me and met my needs in the lowest of places. I am so thankful for what Christ is teaching me! Don;t let satan get a stronghold here, he would love for you to fail!! Lean into Christ and HE will be Faithful and True to HIS word!
I am not sure if you and your husband have tried this, but my husband and I are in a small group for marriage and we are reading and completeing the workbook as well. The book is Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. We have found it to be a true blessing. I will keep you in my prayers.
The time I was asked to speak to a group of 300 ladies at our church’s Ladies retreat. I am not a speaker by any means, but I wanted to be obedient cause I felt God was calling me to do this. When I got up to speak, I could hear my voice but it wasn’t me speaking. I tell everyone it was my first “out of body” experience. It was one of those times when you just know that it isn’t you at all, but it’s totally a “God thing” He blessed a lot of women that day and I feel privelidged that he found me worthy to use. God is soooo awesome that he would use my meager efforts and somehow bless a room full of women. That’s the kind of God I serve!
I was separated from my husband and had made the decision for divorce. The day before I was going to file the papers, God told me He had a different plan. He then spent 3 months leading me into repentance and death to self, and then had me move back home. Every step was an act of obedience that I could not fathom would end well. Now, 5 years later, my marriage has been restored, and I have come to know the heart of my God in ways I may have missed had I not bent my knee to His will. It was hard, but I wouldn’t change one minute of what He has done in me, through me, and in my marriage!
Karla, that takes courage and obediance. I know someone who just divorced her husband and I’m not sure she even listened to God regarding her marriage. Keep persevering in your marriage,because some days,months can be long ones!
Karla! I so can identify with you as God saved my marriage too after 12 years of marriage with each of us struggling to have our own way! We’ve been married 42 years now and God is still teaching me every day about how submission works…….and it DOES when using Godly principals. Thanks for sharing your testimony!
Karla,
Good for you. We live in such a disposable society that even marriage is looked upon as something you can just throw away if it’s not workin’ for ya. My husband and I were separated for 18 months but we both wanted it to work so badly. With the help of a Godly Christian Counselor, a lot of prayer and a lot of hard work, God has restore our marriage. It’s not perfect mind you, but it’s sweeter every day. We’ve been married 34 years now and I wouldn’t want to imagine my life without him. I praise God for all he’s done in our lives. He’s still workin’ on it every day mind you, but let me tell you it’s an awesome journey with God in the center of it.
In college, I majored in Pre-law and had high hopes of going on to law school. I’m a planner, and I had the next 10 years meticulously strategized . . . God must have been laughing at me. My husband and I were fasting and praying one Saturday about whether we were supposed to become involved in a particular area of ministry, and as I was praying about that, God literally interrupted me with, “You’re not going to law school”. I sat on my couch sobbing for about an hour. God is so gracious, though. He went on to encourage me that He wouldn’t take that dream from me without filling it with something even better.
That was about 3 years ago, and not one ounce of me regrets that decision. It was hard to walk away from something that I had wanted for so long, but God truly knows what is best for us. He won’t take something from us to make us miserable; it is all for our good. He loves us, and He knows what He is doing. Period.
Praying for precious little Abby.
Half way through my 3rd pregnancy we found out our baby had no kidneys & would die. Our “specialist” told us to “just abort. It’s going to die anyway.” Using all the strength I could muster, in a whisper of a voice, I said, “God is the giver & taker of life. I’m leaving it up to Him.” He looked at me like I was a fool. Dark days were ahead for myself & my family. But our baby didn’t die in my womb. It was coming down to the decision of how I would deliver. Again the “speicialist” told me to have a partial birth abortion. (Although he never called it that.) By this point I was infurriated & gave him a piece of my mind! Thankfully he was not the one to deliver our son. He was only suppose to live 15 min. God graciously gave us 3 precious hours with him. His 2 big sisters even had a chance to hold him. He died peacefully in his earthly father’s arms & then went up to his heavenly Father’s arms. There were times during this experience I felt like it hurt to even breathe. That I needed God to help me take each one. But I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. To feel God there every step of the way is something that you can’t even describe. I’m glad I chose life. I’m glad I chose to obey.
Janine,
This blessed me so much and brought tears to my eyes and touched me so. I wrote a comment a/b how I had a similar situation and in a nutshell- got pregnant unexpectdely (unwed), told baby would not live or wouldn’t have any quality of life if it survived (b/c of strong med I had taken), and that they very strongly advised me to abort, but ultimately I obeyed and placed it in the Lord’s hands and in return I now have an eight month old healthy(!!!) baby boy and he is the absolute joy of my life! The Lord’s love and favor was most definitely shown upon both of us with our different outcomes and as a result different difficulties we both experience but yes what an awesome reminder from you, God is with us every step! I am a single mom and often feel run down and drained, but reading your comment reminds me to be in each moment with my son a little bit more and hold onto him a little bit longer because there is no promise of tomorrow for either one of us. You are a strong woman, thank you for sharing.
Oh, Janine, I’m so proud of you as your sister in Christ, for taking such a strong stand in the face of such pressure to abort. Thank you for choosing to let your baby live and to birth him into the work if even for just a few short hours. Who knows what plans God has in eternity for that precious little lamb!
Bless you, Janine, for choosing life!
Praying for you,
Patti Hayes
My uncle passed away a year ago. His wife treated him poorly as he struggled through pancreatic cancer. Poorly is a strong enough word, but for lack of a better term I use it. At his request, he asked that the family leave her alone as she never liked being a part of our family. That wasn’t hard to do. Recently she called me for some legal advice. She actually left a message on my voicemail. I knew she had been in an accident and I knew that was why she was calling. Let me just say, I immediately went to the Scripture to look for a way out of having to call her back or help her, but funny how the Lord works. I was looking for some caveat to helping someone like her (funny, huh). All the time I was looking for a way out, He was telling me I have to love my enemies. Sooooo, I reluctantly called her and gave her advice she was seeking. Now let me say, it is not just that I don’t care for her, but my family would be mad at me if they knew. I chose obedience. Wow, God really blessed me for calling her. I also found such joy in obedience and helping someone that I have such a hard time with.
Beth,
Right now at this time in my life……moving a hundred miles away. God paved the way and brought it all together…brought peace and great joy in my life at this time. The peace part was we had 3 months to get out of the house, and no were to go….within one week God found us an apartment, help to move us, and the biggest of all boxes. We will be moving the 15th of Nov. The joy, I had no worries, and stress off my very ill husband. The Lord is AWSOME.
Blessing to all, and a Happy Fall. Good writing to you Beth.
Two years ago, God called me to lead our school’s Moms in Touch group and I felt woefully inadequate. At first I said no, but I knew He wanted me to do it. He showed me that if I depended on Him, He would enable me. This led to my being asked to lead a small group in CBS. I’ve discovered He’s given me gifts I never would have expected. It’s led to a joy in ministry I never expected either. I’m now in my first year of studying for my master’s in pastoral care and counseling.
PS: I took so long to respond because I’m in the middle of a take-home mid-term exam that is quite challenging! Any prayers my way would be appreciated 🙂
I often come to your blog but this is my first time posting and what an appropriate time. We are in the middle of “Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed” Bible Study and we just finished watching your 2 sessions. Your question today co-ordinates with what you were talking about in those sessions. The step of obedience God has called me to take is the lead facilitator role in our church Ladies’ group… a role I felt completely unprepared to fill. (Think Moses) Only a few years ago I was deep in a pit of depression over many years of infertility but by wrestling with God and ultimately moving out of my “personal devastation” by trusting God with my whole heart, today I am overcome with Joy in my God and the “so far” moment He has brought me to. I bawled throughout your entire talk on the Session 4 DVD because the joy of the Lord was pouring out because I so understood the freedom you were speaking of and my heart aches for those women still stuck inside that pit of devastation. Thank you Beth! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being an example of an overcomer! You inspire me to love Jesus more and more… and I do!! Bless you in your blog-sabbatical. I will pray for God’s inspiration upon you! Hugs xo
So glad you posted today, Sue!
I guess for me it was the year I spent working out the move He was preparing us for in 2006-2007. I couldn’t be particularly sure I knew where we were headed, but then… We both left a small congregation where we served in significant areas of leadership. I left a job that was not a career but I liked it well enough and did not have a prospective replacement in sight. Still, when He said it was time to go the decision was easy and so joyful. I really struggled with whether we were hearing Him or not and what we would do without my income. We reduced our expenses, sold a car, moved to a smaller house and lived it out following one day at a time. Hands down one of the greatest decisions we ever made. However, I often asked God, “Do we have to be like Abraham?” We moved five times in three years. Thank the Lord we are settled now. But if He says go again, we go. 🙂 I told my husband today we have had a difficult year, but we are in a really good place in our relationship with each other, our church and our lives in general. So worth it.
My call to obedience came a year or so after my son had revealed to me that he is gay. Living in a small town, rumors flew and lies were created when my son “came out” to me. While in the store one day, I overheard a sister from my church speaking to another lady I know and my heart was broken as she was speaking about me and the “situation” my son is in. The words were not kind and I held a grudge against this woman for well over a year. At a retreat that we both attended, the Lord prompted me to forgive her. Not only so, but He also asked that I go to her (in front of many of the other sisters from my church family) and tell her that I forgave her for her moment of judging and gossip. It was NOT what I wanted to do. There was nothing I wanted more than to hold this grudge and hang on to the hurt for EVER……but God had a bigger and better plan (as he always does). The speaker at our retreat had used a family photo album as an example of unforgiveness. She said at times we take a snapshot of another follower at a time when they are less than “Christian” in their actions or words. Then we take the picture out of the album from time to time and look at it and feel the hurt all over again. Take it out!? I had been known to take the picture out, go have copies made and hand them out on the street corner to anyone willing to take one! To make it into a poster and hold it high as if to say, “Look! She what SHE did to me? See how she hurt me!” The Lord asked me to take out the ugly, unflattering snapshot that I had of this sister and to replace it with the picture that she felt best depicted her…..one that placed her in a better light. When I went to her out of obedience to Him (remember, in from of many other sisters from my church and the fact that I did NOT want to do this at all!) the Lord released me of all the anger and hurt that I had been holding on to for so long. While this sister admitted no guilt and offered no apology, it didn’t matter because the Lord assured me that He was interested in my obedience. The joy is that I am free of the grasp of sin in this area of my life. The lesson I learned is that ALL things work for the good of those who trust Him and that He is ever faithful. This other sister and I are by no means friends, but we are sisters and there is no longer a need in my life to “make her feel as bad as she made me feel.” While I am still dealing with how to love my son unconditionally, I am honored that the Lord chose me to be his mother and to walk through this journey with him. When people ask me how he is, my reply is always the same, “He is working on his testimony!” For I can see the day when he will turn from the lies of the enemy and God will welcome him back into His loving arms.
Last year, as a result of studying Esther, I felt God calling me to go deeper into women’s ministry. For some reason I couldn’t and realized there was a deterrent but couldn’t put my finger on it. After asking the Lord for answers, it came to my attention that Breaking Free was redone. I studied through that hoping to get answers in regard to what must be dealt with. What should be dug out? My own unbelief and pride, that’s what! God graciously gave gladness back to my heart and infused His Holy Ghost energy into my time. He has been doing so many things to mention but He is faithful to do what He has promised!
I am a foster parent. It was the only way I could figure out how to care for orphans, and I was trying to do the stuff in red in my Bible. Each kid that comes through my home is a new challenge, and each involves lots of work, exhaustion, love and heartache. Each turns to joy though. They have all responded to love and consistency, and without fail, they all love to go to my chuch…I love that part. This work takes the kind of obedience that wakes up some days and holds on tight just to be able to say, “I will finish today, or I will make it through this moment.” But I love it! Each beautiful little one brings great joy and watching them leave my home happier and equipped for their next season in life is wonderful.
I know I’m a little late but I still wanted to share. I told my parents when I was in 5th grade I was going to be a missionary. I found myself at 20 on the mission field torn between full-time mission work and a man. I will never forget that moment when I knew the Lord was telling me to return back and follow the man He had placed in my life. How on earth would He not want a missionary? I was glad to give up my dreams of marriage for these people. I obeyed but not without some deep despair…I loved those people and that culture! However, my obedience led to the revealing of a calling on my future husbands life to ministry. Six years later I remember that moment and now see the fruit of leaving that passion to follow His passion!
My husband and I have a 15 year old son, and a 13 year old daughter. They are both wonderful, healthy kids, and we love them dearly. Our son is handsome, funny, smart and obedient. Our daughter is beautiful, funny, smart and strong-willed. She is rebelling about everything – doing her schoolwork, her duties at home, anything really other that what she wants to do. God is bringing back all of these memories for me – I was just the same way, and continued to be that way for years. I remember the depth of the self-loathing that my years of rebellion and inaction produced in me, and I am desperate to spare her from the same path that I walked! My husband was the obedient child in his family, and has a brother whose life is in shambles from that same unchecked, rebellious spirit. My husband spent years worrying about his brother and trying to help him, before finally giving up. We both recognize that this a critical time in the life of our family. I know God is calling up our past to heal it and use it to help shape our familiy’s future, but it is extremely painful and exhausting. I must trust that God is in control and whatever His plan brings will be the best. I must trust that God will use this time for His Glory, and the pain will be worth it. Please pray that we will be obedient to Him!
I had been married for two months and my husband left me to go back with his ex-wife. I was devastated, but over the course of the next nine months Jesus became my everything! He walked me through the pain, healed my heart and showed me the power of forgiveness! My husband and I got back together through God’s amazing grace. Then, God called me to go and meet His ex-wife in person. Out of sheer obedience, I went. God filled me with His love for her, I hugged her and told her I forgave her and that God loved her! It was amazing!! I truly experienced the power of God’s forgiveness, love and joy!! To God be the glory!!
Dearest Edna Kate, your letter touched me so. I hear such a tenderness for Christ and just the kind of heart He’s so willing to heal and fill. I know what it’s like to be in a cycle of abuse. Oh, how I pray that we can be a harbor for you and I also pray that God will open the door for some really effective counseling for you. I sought it – and not just one round – and I am so thankful I did. We are never so educated in the Scriptures and so long in ministry that we are past the need for very focused restoration. You are dear to us here, Sister. May Jesus do something so lavishly loving for you today that you are astounded.
While going through Priscilla Shirer’s study and Beth’s insecurity book I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt God was asking to to take each of my Bible study ladies out to lunch one on one — HUGE for this extremely “insecure with women friendships” gal. I tell you I would text seeing if they could do lunch, wait for their response with many prayers that they would be busy and not be able to, and when they said yes I would cry for the next couple hours until I met them for lunch! It has been so huge and rewarding though as I have made and deepened friendships I have wanted for a LONG time!!
Right now is that call to obedience for me. Moreso than any other time in my life. Among so many “priorities” in my life, my two biggest are my marriage with my husband, Matt and being a mama to my 2 baby girls, Taylor (2 1/2) and Makenna (5 months). I have recently placed every other thing in my life above my little family: hobbies, alone-time, Facebook (I know, I know… trust me, I hate to even admit that), and believe it or not, Bible studies. Never before have I been so convicted to GET MY PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. I believe God wants me to spend time in His Word. But I believe He just wants me to be obedient to Him by LIVING His Word. It’s been tough giving up things I would rather do than playtime and cooking meals, but I’m finding joy in doing what He’s called me to. Love Him….
Hi Beth! I sure have missed u!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s Angela from WA State…..and so proud to be one of your first siesta bloggers, yet, for a while I had kinda fallen off the edge of the earth, but I’ve found my way home again, yey!!!! Yes!! Girl, I am so looking forward to James!!!! I’ve already been studying in the book and James has a mighty lot to say!!
Obedience can come very easily and than other times not so easily, this was one of the not so easy times. The Lord woke me suddenly in the middle of the night with a VERY loud and distintive plea for me to “get up now”, go into your living room and confront your husband, he has a pornography addiction. I stood by the door trembling and pleading with God not to let this be true and notto let this be happening to me. “Please don’t ask me to do this Lord, please” All I heard back was, “Angela, my Grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect when you are weak” (and trust me I felt my knees beginning to buckle beaneath me!) I heard the Lord whisper to my heart if I would be strong, obedient and bold enough to confront him, that God would show himself faithful in breaking this addiction off his life. Fast forward nine years and we will celebrate 22yrs of marriage in Dec. and he has been healed and delivered from the vise grip the enenmy had over his mind and heart. In that moment of obedience and confrontation, the annointing and presence and timing of God was so strong, there was and immediate confession and admission that he was a captive and that he desperately wanted to be delivered. I believe with all my heart that my act of obedience in that moment, in spite of everything I feared, resulted in my husbands freedom and release from a prison he’been held captive in for over 15 years!!!
To God be the Glory we are doing well and PTL together still today!!! I am filled with JOY over this. Our God is Faithful!!!!!!!!!! I love Him so and I love you so too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry this was so long!
I am brought to tears by your post. Oh how I pray that my family, including myself will really love Jesus, I mean really, really love Jesus, and then yes, all else will be okay, even if times hurt and are tough. Thanks for that prayer reminder. Sometimes I work too hard on elaborate prayers and as My Lord reminded me last week, there are times when “Help” is all that is needed.
The gift of my daughter to a family without was my special act of obedience. Being pregnant with her brought me out of a life of sin and into relationship with Jesus once again. I was baptized with her in my belly on Easter. I prayed for God to send support if he wanted me to take care of her or I would offer her in adoption in obedience to him. I ended up sharing her with a very special family. Nineteen years later she, through God’s provision, found me. We have a relationship, and most importantly, she knows her Savior. I cannot describe the joy I have for God allowing me the opportunity to know and be in relationship with her now.
When it was time to make a decision whether or not we were going to adopt our precious foster son who has downsyndrome/autism. I remember praying for the Lord’s guidence and having the deep impression in my heart that He was saying “April, I want you to adopt this precious son of mine and you will be blessed immensely(sp?)for it. I so did not know what the future would hold yet I was called to an important job. We adopted this child and it has not always been easy but every step has been the most immense blessing you could imagine. God has shown up mightly in our son’s life and ours! Praise to Him!
Right now God is calling me to a great time of obedience. I am working more than full time and I am having trouble balancing taking care of my husband and the home. Additionally, my husband and I would like to start a family and WOW- that requires lots of patience! God is calling me to use this time to draw closer to Him and to teach me (including the use of the Patriarch bible study) that He has a GREAT plan- who knows, maybe I am not prego right now so I can keep working and be a light to my co-workers!
One of my earliest experiences came when I was about 33, had been born again only about 2 years, had a new career as a real estate agent, trying to be a good wife & mother to 2 small children, was enthralled with studying the word of God through Bible Study Fellowship but was also almost obsessed with tennis. I belonged to a private club and was in several leagues, playing usually 5 times a week. Early one morning I read Heb. 12:1 LB “let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us.” I experienced a gentle but firm conviction by the Holy Spirit that I should give up my membership at the tennis club and cut back on my tennis. I really wrestled with that and realized that pleasure had quite a grip on me. I also realized I was spreading myself way too thin and something had to give. I wrestled with the Lord and the decision for several hours but then made the decision to give up my membership even though we were just about to begin a new season of play and it would be disappointing to my partner. Many of my pre-Christian friends did not understand but once I made the decision I had a peace in my heart sensed it was pleasing to God. Within 6 months the club went bankrupt and I would have not been able to play there anyway, but the Lord gave me an opportunity to be obedient to Him and it made such an impact. Of course I know that tennis is not a sin, but it was something the Lord called me to do in obedience for “my particular race” and I have never regretted that decision. The Lord has abundantly supplied more satisfaction than He took away!
Love you Beth, and thanks for you blog! Love it!
Candi Wood
About 10 years ago, I intentionally lost contact with my Dad. He made some terrible choices throughout my lifetime and it was time to back away from the pain. I prayed for the last 10 years that God would bring us back together in His timing. Last year, about a week after my Dad’s birthday, I felt God saying, “Write to him. IT IS TIME”. I had an old P.O. Box number and that was it. I wrote a quick letter and sent it off. I could tell by the urging I received that God meant business, but I didn’t know why. A week later, I received the unopened letter back stamped “Return to Sender”. I thought God was telling me that it was time to let go of wondering how my dad was doing. End of story.
A few days later, I woke up in the night with terrible heartburn. I started reading the Bible at my desk. The computer was on. I decided to Google my Dad’s name to see if anything would come up. On the second search page, there was a headline saying that a pizza delivery man in the Dallas area had been attacked and beaten by teenagers and was in critical condition. It was my dad. My mind went into shock. The day that he was beaten was the same day that God told me to write to him. God also gave me heartburn to wake me up in the middle of the night to search for him online. I know that with my every being. I could have gone years without ever knowing what happened to my dad. Instead, I found out a week after it happened. My Dad’s favorite verse used to be Ecclesiastes 3 that states there is a time for everything. God used those three words “It is time”…no coincidence on that one either.
After many phone calls and searching, my sister and I were able to find my dad in the hospital. He survived the beating, but he has many health problems, including a severe brain injury. He will never be the same mentally or physically again. The healing in our relationship is difficult because of his mental state, but I know that God is the constant. The joy I have found is knowing that God is in control of all things and loves us beyond measure…enough to give us heartburn in the middle of the night to do His will.
I apologize for the length, but I felt God saying it was time to share this with the blog community.
Thank you for sharing your story! I will pray for your family.
Right now my journey of obedience is being content and stepping outside of my fear. I am a single mother of a 5, 4, and almost two year old. Plus they are all girls! They are my joy and what makes me want to press into God when I can’t go any more. It is hard to be content in being alone and worry about everything because I am carrying mom and dad role. I am soon to have a hearing with my x husband whom molested one of our daughter’s. I want to run in my fear of my x. But God has been calling me to stand with the courage of his word and promises.
Well I am a day late but so blessed to see you here sharing with us. It’s 11:02 Sunday and had a very busy weekend, good but busy. My sister who I don’t get to see very often came for a last minute visit with my mom yesterday. Hubby just turned on a Seinfield re-run. We love watching these together. Thanks for sharing your day with us…you bless me 🙂 Have a great week!
Long story short, Missy was healed of Hepatitis C and gave her life to the Lord. She was a co-worker who was having relations with my married boss, she had a baby out of wedlock. She was not very good at her work and was falling way behind because of her illness and her liver was shutting down. Management asked me to ‘help her out’ which virtually meant ‘do her work plus my own’. I cried to the Lord how unfair this was and that I didn’t want to do this. Then the Lord simply said these words, “I will heal her through you.” It changed my attitude 180 degrees. After these few words spoken, I was excited to ‘help’ Missy and loved her and prayed and interceded for her. She eventually left the company and I never found out what happened to her. Just two years ago, I found out from yet another coworker that Missy was in another city and corresponded with her. It was awesome to hear her testimony of healing and salvation. She also shared that the baby gift I had given to her had meant so much and that she still has the gift. That is the power of our Lord! And His faithfulness in allowing me the privilege to hear her testimony!
My Husband and I moved to upstate New York, this is where I became a believer and disciple of Jesus Christ. The decision was to move back into our home town. My husband and I are from the same hometown. He did not become a believer as yet and for reasons only known to my Savior, Master and Lord, did we have to move back…I prayed against the move with tears of anguish…My new-birth place was to be left and I was going in my mind back down to Egypt! For so many reasons God ordained this move! I hadn’t known that he removed all my perpetrators and he had waiting for me his resources to grow in my faith…so much more could be added to this paragraph…weeping may be for the night but joy comes in the morning/mourning…
Love to you Seistaville Sisters and Beth I am following you on twitter 🙂
I just want to say Thank You Beth! I am a mom of four kids 10,6,3,and 2. I have a wonderful husband and a great life. However for the past couple of years I have struggled with an addiction to cigarettes. I tell myself they are harmless, I am stressed, it’s no big deal etc… I would have to hide all the time and constantly looked for opportunities to go out alone. When my husband would suspect it would cause many fights. I have tried to stop many times. I am currently in the middle of the Revelation study and it wasn’t until Beth said “IT DOES MATTER HOW YOU LIVE” that a lightbulb went off. It has only been a little over a week but I have not had one! I am surprised how much happier I have been. Each night we circle as a family for prayers and there is a joy in each day. I used to need a cigarette to get thru the stressful times (which was everyday!)God has shown me HE is all I need. I am free from bondage. Thank You Beth!
I am in the midst of this right now. This could not be more timely. Eight days ago I received a foreclosure notice on my house. Devastating!!! I had been in my own little world of denial that this would just get better but it hasn’t. For the first six days I was nauseaus, more depressed than usual and lying to my husband. Sunday morning, we both woke up about 4:30 am before a church service that included the Lord’s Supper. I could not go and participate with this sin between my husband and I, and more importantly, my Lord and I. I confessed to my husband and confessed to my Savior. We have a lot of work to do to dig out of this mess, but I have a peace and renewed relationship with Jesus that I treasure. On top of the release, my daughter told us she has accepted Christ as her Savior and wants to be baptized. God is so good!!
Ok, so just to let you all know who I am, My name is Nichole and I have been married since I was 15 years old. While it has been fun, it has also been a HARD road to travel. Shortly after moving to Alabama to go to college, my husband (in shcool) and myself (working 2 jobs) grew farther and farther apart. Being in a school full of girls who looked better than I did, i was jealous of him. As it turns out I had the right assumption in my mind. After finding out I wanted to go, I wanted to be done with him. However, we found out i was 13 wks prego two days later. So we stuck it out…..in no little than 14 months it was going on again and i wanted to leave but God simply told me “no”. When my son was 18 months old we had gotten evicted, had our car reposessed and our phones turned off, that was it, my breaking point. I took it to God and he finally said “go now.” Here we are 9 months later Youth Pastors at an amazing church and sharing our testimony of how God brought us out of the pit. Praise GOd for having his way!!! 🙂 Good news is we are back in our hometown!!
I enjoy reading the stories, praying for all of you,Beth, I’m getting blessed with the Esther study.God Bless you wonderful ladies.
I’m sure I got into this a little late. But God is calling me to obedience in my attitude. I started a new teaching job in the state of Michigan. First and foremost that is an answered pray all by itself so I will stand and give Jesus the glory on that part of it. Who am I kidding the entire thing. After 8 weeks there are things about my day that I just have to account for and I do ok if I don’t pay too much attention to the amount of time I spend waiting for things to happen. I do not have keys to get into the building in the morning and I do not have keys to my classroom. So this morning I got to school at 7:25 am and was unable to start doing anything until 7:40. The first five minutes of my day was spent waiting for someone to let me in the building and the 10 minutes after that was spent with me waiting in the office for someone to show up with keys so I can get into my room. That doesn’t count all of the trip back and forth to return the keys.
The mornings I take notice of the amount of wasted time my attitude starts to take a turn for the worse like today. I know the easy answer, ‘give it over to Jesus.’ But sometimes I just get tired of thinking of all of the wasted time I spend waiting. Tomorrow is another day and I will set off in the morning with a good attitude with Jesus’ help, because I can’t do this alone.
God had been calling me to work with the youth group in my church for about a year. I kept making excuses and brushing it under the carpet. I was asking for “another confirmation”. “But God, teenagers are intimadating”, I’d whine. Then, during one of the homework sessions in “Living Beyond Yourself” I read of Paul being stoned, carried out of the city and left for dead. He got up and went back in! Moving out of our comfort zone. Right then and there I said, “Ok, God. I’ll do it.” There is no word to express the wonderful feeling of being in God’s will. I have been blessed by our youth time and time again.
I’m in the midst of obeying a difficult calling. God has called me to write and share my story of abuse, sin, devastation, heartache, and ultimately His healing work in my life. I’ve struggled through writing many portions of my story, but God has faithful in showing me what to share and how open to be with each portion. To share all this I started a blog and posted each section as it was written and prayed that God would do with it what He desired. I am amazed at God’s timing as some friends have written back saying what I had written encouraged them in what they were dealing with at this moment. I have no idea what God will do with my story now. I pray that He uses it to encourage others and glorify Himself as he reveals the ashes of my life which He has taken and turned into something beautiful.
I’m in the midst of a really difficult call to obedience. My husband and I have been separated for 9 months. God clearly told me that we would be separated for one year- things have not gone well and the enemy has attacked our reconciliation process at every turn. Even now, I do not know the outcome and sometimes question if I heard God correctly. I have questioned Him and His commands and promises to me. I’ve struggled with hopelessness, faith, and grief. I know I must hold on and see this to the finish. To God be the Glory.
Several months ago I felt God’s tug to become more involved in working with women. I pitched an emotional temper tantrum and gave Him all the reasons I could think of to get out of this calling. My biggest ones were that women were vicious, would eat you up and spit you out in a minute, and were self absorbed, I told God I knew this to be true because I was a woman. I can now picture my Heavenly Father waiting for me to stop my fight, knowing that He would win in the end. I finally gave up and said “yes”. He is now directing my education at a Christian university so that I will one day have a masters degree in psychology so that I can counsel women who live with mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder. He has also laid on my heart to start a support group for women who for whatever reason can not have children.
I’m late for this one, but I couldn’t pass it up. While still newlyweds, my husband decided one day that we were going to pick up and leave our small town job and quaint apartment for the big city. Jobless. Homeless.
And see if we could not make it there instead of here. Now I’m all for adventure, but this was crazy to me. We had already been through an incredibly rough first year of marriage and God had done some major spiritual “prison release” in my heart, but could I bear any more trials and heartache? I was certain it would be the death of me. Or the death of US, anyway. None of our family members thought we should go. It made no sense; however, the Lord spoke ever so sweetly to me to just follow my man. Trust Him, even if I didn’t think I could trust him. Get it? Bottom line…it was the best thing that could have ever happened. God blessed it ten fold. He gave me a career that I had longed for and a church home out of this world! It was during our time in the big city that God taught me some major truths and broke through some barriers in my heart that I didn’t even know were there. God blesses obedience!!!
When I thought of this question I thought of the time I met my husband. When we met he lived in Florida and lived in Oak Creek, Wi. He traveled from Florida to meet me after talking for over a month every night on the phone. He stayed a week and when it beganto come to the last few days he asked me to come back to Florida with him. I thought and silently prayed and I then said sure. Before I knew it at the age of 19 I was on a plane leaving everything I knew for something completely unknown. It’s now 11 years later and we have been married nearly 9 years. Every one of those years has been wonderful even though we have had our tough times as a family I would never change the fact that I listened to God when he said “Go”!
Hi Beth, I know this is very late to be commenting on this post, but I actually read your request on the Tuesday you posted it and knew exactly what my story would be. However, I have never been one to comment on blogs, I just enjoy reading them, but the Lord brought your request to my mind this morning and He was telling me I needed to share my story with you.
So here it is…about 3 years ago after my husband and I had been trying to conceive for over a year with no success and finding out he was almost sterile, we decided to pursue in-vitro fertilization (without much prayer). It proved to be successful and we were blessed with healthy triplets. We also ended up with 5 additional embryos that we had frozen. Flash forward to February 2010 we found out to our surprise that we had become pregnant on our own. My immediate prayer was “Lord, what about those 5 embryos, how in the world, financially, logistically? We’re talking potentially 9 children here.” During that time I began the study on Esther: It’s Tough Being a Woman. A couple of weeks later I miscarried at about six weeks pregnant. The loss of that life really hit me hard, but God’s presence in me was undeniable. I was completely surrounded by His love and comfort. I almost immediately began to think about what God’s plan was through this circumstance. Was He leading us back to those embryos? I began to learn about God’s providence through the study on Esther. He showed me that although we weren’t as prayerful about seeking His will when we did in-vitro, He was still in control and working through the whole thing. His purposes were being fulfilled and those 5 embryos were life to Him and they were there because He wanted us to pursue life for them. We were placed here “for such a time as this.” So, then began convincing the husband. Whew, that was the difficult part, but through much prayer (and some arguing) God ultimately softened his heart and he surrendered. God also provided financially for the process. The first round we had two of the embryos thawed and transferred and found out to our surprise we were not pregnant. My husband said at that point that he knew for him this was ultimately about strengthening his faith and trust in God. It was still disappointing for us and I felt the loss of life again. We went back for the second round and thawed our last three embryos and transferred all three. We are expecting just one baby in May of next year. Our triplets will be 3 in June. I still felt a sense of loss for the 2 embryos that didn’t survive this last round, but I am filled with joy over the life we have been given.
It amazes me to think back to that specific prayer I prayed months ago and knowing He heard me and He answered me. This was something that seemed near impossible, but we know ALL THINGS are possible with Him. Thank you Beth Moore for your faithfulness to Him. He speaks through you in a mighty powerful way. I have just begun your study on Daniel with a friend from church. Can I just say “WOW!”
(I truly apologize for the length of this comment.)
There was something that I needed to ask a very dear loved one forgiveness about. I rationalized for a long time, justifying why the apology might not be necessary. I was so scared it would ruin our wonderful relationship. I didn’t want to pay the consequences of my actions. Through prayer and searching God made it so clear to me that I knew I couldn’t delay any longer. I asked for forgiveness and it was granted. I have never remembered feeling such a weight being lifted from me. I believe that it has actually allowed our relationship to grow deeper. I did not realize how much of a roadblock the sin was to deeper relationship.
My first mission trip to Belize…that was the first of many. There were so many obstacles and God overcame them one by one by one. I was blessed beyond measure not only by the work, but by making life long friends with whom I share this passion
Sharon
Pontotoc, MS
I think I can keep it to one Meaty Sentence. Sexual Purity. And that’s not even a full sentence. But wow it is one loaded “partial sentence”. But I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be WELL worth it…. even when it feels near impossible. The more obedience strength HE has given me… the more I have looked forward to intimacy (a miracle). And when I have BLATANTLY sinned in this area… Oh the turmoil of my soul… Oh Thank you Jesus for your grace and Mercy and your LOVE for me.
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