Thursday, May 22, 2008

Transformed by trouble...

I have been posting to everyones blog because I need prayer..I remember someone posted to my blog that I am getting Satan's attacks because I am ministering to others and God is working so much in my life..HE IS AND PRAISE GOD FOR THAT!!

Yesterday I started going back to counseling and this time christian counseling. It is a 14 week course which starts from your beginning of life to now. My counselor wanted me to know that the Holy Spirit would be there weekly. That I can't change others and I can't change myself until I know where the patterns I can't control started. This was a first..I always went to counselors that only would deal with me and my past was not really investigated. I went into the room and started talking and started crying. I talked for 15 min about as much as I could..I told him that the enemy is attacking me so much I feel like giving up..I didn't mean suicide, it was more like, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired". So why did I title this transformed by trouble? Because the Lord gives us issues in our lives so that we will be transformed. I know you know this but I need to write about it a lot because I need to remember that there is a purpose behind every problem.

I was reading my book today for Day 25 in "The purpose driven life" it is about how problems are given to us with the fill knowledge of the Lord..well we all know that, but it can be so hard to read it. Well wouldn't you know that my boss came in today and did his wonderful act of humiliating me in front of everyone and making me feel like my feelings and actions don't matter in life. I won't even get into it because that is what the enemy wants, "go on, talk about it..keep on running that tape in your mind over and over until you can't stop crying and thinking about it.." FORGET IT! I'M OVER IT!! What I don't have is an ability to let things go and give them over as fast as others can..and that is what I need to learn from the Lord and my weekly sessions.
God has a purpose behind everything and we should expect 4 kinds of them in our life.:
  1. Trials are designed by God to draw us closer to Him and build our character.
  2. Temptations are designed by the devil to draw us away from God and destroy our character.
  3. Trespasses are hurts caused by the sins of others.
  4. Troubles are usually, but not always, the consequences of our own sinful choices.
When we face a problem, try to determine the source first. If the trouble is your own fault, we should repent of it. It it's from the enemy we should resist it. If it's a trespass against others we need to release it through forgiveness. But if the problem is a trail from God, you need to relax and trust God in it. Regardless of the source, none of your problems could happen without God's permission. Everything that happens in the life of a child of God is Father-filtered, and He intends to use it for good. I have to lean on these words when troubles come.

I know that you hear me constantly speak of my job but when your husband is unable to work, it is a hard burden to bear. When my boss promised me a position of management and then said in front of my face, "I never said that", its hard to swallow. It's like, "Lord do you want me to quit? I don't know what to do? You gave me this position and it's been going down for such a long time..you don't like when people quit..what should I do" That is my prayer right now..the Lord has given me so many ways to pray when I'm there, the hours are good and I don't commute a lot..it all sounds so trivial but I believe the Lord gave me this job. I worked so hard for this man to get a better position and he has royally stabbed me in the back! See I'm talking about it!!

I have to remember these scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:17 "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all"

Because God is sovereignly in control, accidents are just incidents in God's good plan for us. Romans 8:28 "We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his for purpose for them"
Romans 8:17 The message "We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with HIM!!"

I Love that scripture..I know all of this I really do!! Every time I have a devotion or a reading like this my day usually follows it exactly that way!! I guess I should be happy..God is telling Satan, "Shes my daughter, just don't harm her but she will prevail"!! I have to learn how to deal with these incidences with the right tools and when I do I will be even better in fighting that SOB!! Sorry :)

I Love you all and I will hear from you all later!!
Donna

8 comments:

GOD'S LADIE said...

Oh my! What a good lesson! I loved your transparency in this. Thanks for visiting my blog. You are welcome anytime! Everyone is welcome! I just want to encourage you Donna, that it may look dark and bleary right now, but "joy does come in the morning". Your morning season is right around the corner. Hold on to GOD and HIS word! Stand in the power and authority of JESUS CHRIST. He will never leave you or forsake you. I can relate to you about being the only one working in the household. My husband's workplace went out of business in our area and he has been looking for various jobs, but has yet to get a response. He did go for an interview last week and we are believing GOD he will get the job. There are so many things you mentioned that I am going thru as well, but when HE finishes with you during this trial. The enemy better watch out! LOL! "No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Be BLessed in JESUS' holy name..
LaTonya/FL

From the Heart said...

Donna, I wrote you a very long comment. I don't know what happened but I had to delete it and tried to paste it back in but it would not work. My keyboard just stopped working. Maybe I said too much, but God is in control. I will be praying for you. I was telling you the problems I had when I worked but I guess I got carried away.
Dottie and Buck came to our church many years ago for a weekend. I remember her speaking at a Women's Ministry luncheon and they sang on Sunday night. I love all of her songs and I know she will truly be missed.
Be content and know that God is still working on you (I know He is me). That is a song that is also on my blog.

I love reading your posts and the Bible study. I feel like I've got a whole new set of friends. I don't really have any here where I live. I have been away from the church a lot since this last surgery and I had to give up my liscence in 2003 so I'm dependent on my husband for everything. He's a rock. He grocery shops, cooks and does a lot that I just can't do anymore. A lot happened to me during the 1999 surgery. I am so grateful for my computer. It's my link to the outside world.
God be with you,
AliceE.

Plant Lady said...

Donna,
Keep looking up! I can relate to the trials you are going through. I've seen times when I have felt the same way you do. Our problems are different, but God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. How wonderful He is to want us to "Cast our burdens on Him."

When I read your comment on my blog, my first thought was "Joy comes in the morning", and I see that is what God's Ladie wrote in her comments to you. I guess that's what God wants you to see because He gave that thought to each of us! Stay strong in the Lord! Once again, "Joy does come in the Morning!"

You Are In My Prayers,
Plant Lady

Lynn - JnL4God said...

Hi my Friend,
I was thinking about you today, guess that was the Lord telling me that you needed a little more prayer.
Yes I totally belive that you are being attacked because you are working at drawing closer to God. It was a nice post, but there is part of what you said that I don't really agree with. Can I be honest enough as your friend to say what it is? I'm going to and we'll go from there.
I don't believe anything bad, trials, problems, sickness ... are from God. I think God is an oportunist and will use a situation to grow us but I believe He NEVER causes it. Let me try to explain. If God gave us sickness to humble us and help us to focus on Him, then we should be praying for God to give us more and more illness. Poverty helps us to lean on Him and appreciate Him then we should never ask for a better job, or a raise or never want anymore money.
Again, I believe God will USE a trial to build our character, and faith. I think He will wait to pull us out of our own messes to build us up, but I do not believe He causes it.
Words of our mouth, family curses left unbroken, our past sins, big one here UNFORGIVENESS!
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (NLT)
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (NKJ)

There are two different translations of the same verse. I like to always commpare so that I get a good idea of what was really meant. So in this I am seeing that God is saying that "In everything that happens in our life he will work it out for good" He will give us beauty for our ashes, double recompence.
God wants us to have heaven on earth. There is no sadness and heartache in Heaven.

Matthew 6:9- (Njkv)

therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

3 John 1:2 (nkjv)
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

I have had my share of struggles and heartache. Because we live in this world the devil WILL come against us. But I can honestly say NONE of it was caused BY God. It was my or others around me that cause distruction and misery in my life by disobedience to God in one way or another. Trials and temptaions will always come against us however God gave us the power to not let them over take us. That's where the sin and disobedience comes in.

JOHN 10:10
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

So many times I hear people say that God took someone back up to heaven because He needed them, He needs you down here to spread His word.

This is a subject I'm very passionate about. God is Love, God is good. Satan is bad, Satan tricks us. God gave us authority over everything.

Luke 10:19 Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you. (Amp)

We need to believe it and receive it. But the devil puts doubt, and impatience in our life to keep us from standing in faith.

I hope this is helpful to you and feel free to blog or e-mail if I can help you more.

In His Love,
Lynn

fivedesigns said...

Hi Ladies!

Thank you all for posting. I truly believe you all have given me such insight that I weep while I read. This is how I share with my friends too! I miss NJ so much, not like I had a lot of friends but I could call who ever I wanted and I talked. I belong to the largest church, or one of them, in Atlanta and you just can't get to know a lot of people. I have this one lady who is exactly my moms age and is just like her! So we hooked up, but I just don't have anyone my own age. It seems like the ones my age are still involved with their kids..my kids are all grown! I pray for friends all the time, but as you know this is the hardest thing in my life..

Lynn, of course you can disagree! A lot of people don't believe what I wrote, I actually wrote most of it from a devotional that people flock to, I did add a lot but I didn't take anything away. If I sounded like I said, God causes troubles, I didn't mean that. But with all my heart and from reading the old testament, Philipians, Ephesians, and Corinthians, I truly believe "He allows" things to happen. Now I do know that a lot of ministers and christians disagree, but thats okay. We still love the same Lord and Savior who loves us beyond believe. You just have to read Job and see that the Lord told Satan he could do those things to him but he could not be harmed to the point of being killed. Now that God is the same God we serve today. Satan is the one who does these things to us, but the Lord allows some things to get our attention. And as I said in my post, some things, not all things..thats why I put the points :)

I grew up as a ministers daughter and I never grew up fearing the Lord. I always knew He was a loving God and I don't believe that when someone dies christians should say "God wanted him", thats dumb. But I truly believe He allows things so we will draw nearer and closer to Him. If those things in our life were not allowed then we wouldn't cry out "Abba Father"! I don't believe God CAUSES sickness, but I believe He will allow some sicknesses so He will show that person His grace and mercy by being healed!!

We can agree to disagree all day..as long as we love each other and Lynn you are a wonderful person. I love you Alice for being so sensitive to my needs. LaTonya I knew you and I were the same when we first started blogging and Plant Lady you remind me of my mom too with your wisdom and advice.
I truly believe all of you have told me the same thing "Joy comes in the morning and it is around the corner"!!! Amen to "No weapon formed against me shall prosper" Lets just keep praying for each other and lifting each other up. Praise God!!
Donna

p.s. if anyone wants to e-mail me it is MandDplus5@yahoo.com

From the Heart said...

Donna, I just read Lynn's post and your reply. There's another song on my blog "My Life is in His Hands." Here's my introduction:

Here's a song I have heard many times. This morning when I was considering and praying about some physical problems I received a line from this song in my mind, "My Life is in Your hands". I could not remember the name so I googled it and was surprized that I have the chorus taped on my desk just above my keyboard. It is my prayer that someone will benefit from this as I did.

Out lives are truly in His hands, and I know that we all can make it because whatever comes our way our lives are in His hands.
Be blessed, rise and be healed physicially, emotionally and spritually, in the name of Jesus. Satan has no authority in your life nor anyone who serves God; therefore, we have the authority to cast him out and tell him to flee in the name of Jesus.
You will make it, be strong and courageous and lean upon the Master. As Dottie Rambo wrote in one of her songs, He looked beyond our faults and saw our needs.
My love and prayers to you and your family,
AliceE.

Lynn - JnL4God said...

Donna,
Good It sounds like we're more on the same page than I thought, that is good. And even if we weren't we are friends and yes I do and will continue to hold you and my other new sisters up. I do enjoy your posts and your friendship. Have a Blessed weekend,
Lynn

From the Heart said...

Donna,
Haven't heard from you in a while. I've checked about everyday. I pray that you are doing okay. You are still in my prayers.
AliceE.