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Author
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Topic: Why is it?
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helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
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posted
Don't be discouraged Peh, these setbacks are opportunities for God to do what God does best....take our trash and make something wonderful and eternal out of it.
One of the hardest things in this walk for me has been to "let go and let God" I was a control freak of control freaks and God had to peel that off layer by layer and teach me to listen and follow instead of trying to lead while I talked incessantly. Now I have learned to pray incessantly, which means listening too and I can tell you that I can do anything while simultaneously communing with him. My head is never quite but always peaceful and that is one of the greatest blessings I have in this life.
I had to learn to prioritize my life and this is what he showed me:
I am first and formost God's daughter - my relationship with him is first above all things. ALL things. All Things! The majority of my time and energy must be here. He is the first thought in my mind when I wake and the last one when I go off to sleep and even in my dreams he talks with me, gives me scripture...etc.
Second I am my husband's wife. My life is dedicated to being his help meet.
Third I am my children's mother
Fourth is everything else that I am and do and this means work for a living, friends, clubs, service to my church etc.
Now, I know that for most of us who need to work 60 hours a week this seems impossible, but I can tell you that if this is your attitude.... God will make the time for you...miraculously. Seek ye first the Kingdom.
I know that you get that, but I wanted to share this because for me seeing it in black and white gives me a better perspective on what this looks like; interestingly enough too is shows how the truth of being single can be a blessing because it gives you more time to dedicate to being his child.
How long we have been a Christian.... ughhhh no regrets, no i shoulda's. Every Day is a new day and every day his mercy is new and his grace sufficient. We just have to stay in HIS rest.
Everyday we have to die to self and live to HIM.
Peace be with you Sister Peh!
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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peh
Advanced Member
Member # 4446
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posted
HFHS said: quote:
which means wholly relying on him and not you.
I should really quote the entirety of your two posts just so it can be read twice by everyone who wants to read this thread. But, the above is the whole sum of it, isn't it?
He started speaking to me about "leaning not unto thine own understanding" over 4 years ago and I'm still seeing the need to learn to lean on Him instead.
Also, to call on Him in all things. After spending a few minutes doing that, I went to the bank today and believe I found favor where I needed it. We'll see.
I KNOW I have not been giving His Kingdom the "first seeking" to the extent I need to.
That is my bad habit. I get to running full force and only a big trip-up will slow me down long enough for me to "catch my breath" in Him. What is really irritating about it all is that I KNOW things will not work out well if I don't give Him the first fruits of all I am and have, yet the same triggers work to get me "off and a running" like a greyhound after that fake rabbit. Discouraging, considering how long I've been a Christian.
Thanks, HFHS, appreciate the prayers and the strong word.
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St. Peh
I don't know everything but I know the One Who does.
Posts: 255 | From: Kentucky | Registered: Mar 2005
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helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
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posted
quote:
But in that circumstance, the fire by night and cloud by day led them away from the "mountain" in their lives. What is the beacon and the signal nowadays?
The israelites did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit nor the whole of scripture, nor the manifestation of Christ, with which to know God's will. They had to have a cloud and a fire.
You have the spirit and mind of Christ in you and the word in your hand and the law in your heart. Knowing his will comes through prayer and walking in faith - which means wholly relying on him and not you. A very uncomfortable place to be for our flesh, I might add.
Seek his face and his will in prayer and know that what ever he answers you will not disagree with his word. Thus you know if it is of you or if it is of HIM. He rarely shouts and if he does it is usually because you have given him no option...his voice is still and small.
There is no beacon...there is lamp unto your feet. One footstep at a time in faith. Not comfortable, but very effective.
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
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posted
Have had this experience.
Can you look at the situation and see anyplace that you might have though God was blessing, but if you looked more closely and less desiringly, you might have seen signs that he really was not blessing?
I am reminded of the scripture that says that the blessings of the Lord bringeth no sorrow. It is easy to call my new car a blessing from God until I realize that God says be a lender and not a borrower and then when I lose my job, my car payment makes me wish I had a different car.
Do you know what I mean?
I would say look for this kind of thing as it may indicate to you that God was not really blessing the situation.
On the other hand, when God does bless a situation there is no guarantee that he will not allow the enemy to test us and that can come as havoc or chaos or things crumbing around us, and if we know that that God was in the situation from the beginning and we sought and followed his will and not our want, then we can rest that this test will pass.
I have also been in a situation where the getting going was hard and I wondered if I was going in the right direction but I kept going; in that situation, it looked like blessing for a while, then it looked like cursing, but in the end God worked it for my good and his glory. In that situation I had persued his permissive will in a situation and not his perfect will, he had kept closing doors and I kept persisting until finally he gave me my will, but not without a huge price to pay and a lesson to be learned.
In another situation my husband and I had prayed separately for an answer about homeschooling Desi. Neither of us shared that we were praying about this until the answer had come to each of us individually. The answer was the same. So I quit my job and the day I walked out for the last time, I came out to my car to find my husband who had just lost his job. I wanted to walk right back in and ask them to keep me, but we had prayed and we knew this was God's will, and so we kept the faith. My husband was unemployed for over a year! In that time we never missed a payment on our bills and we had no money in savings. God provided, work here and their for a friend at church, food from hunting trip, a collection or love offering here and there, once in a while an electric bill mysteriously paid. When God did bring work, he brought work with more income and less restrictions than we had previously had. But the only reason we could remain calm and in faith and peace was because we knew that we knew that we had sought God and were willing to accept what ever answer he gave and we were sure of the answer.
One thing is sure, it will all be ok. It will work out because there is nothing that the enemy can send your way that God will not work for good as long as you continue to walk in the spirit and not the flesh.
In the mean time, you can examine the things that went into the circumstance and then you can better know whether this is a lesson, chastening, or a test.
One last thing...just because something is a Go with God today, doesnt mean he wants you to continue in it next week; sometimes God says today this where I want you togo and to walk and to do, and we think oh...this is the plan... but then God says, well that was the plan for Monday and Tuesday, because that is what I wanted Monday and Tuesday, but this is Wednesday and we are going this direction today. Sometimes we think that we see a big plan and God's big plan looks very different than ours and yet some of the steps in our plan were very much a part of HIS plan, but when he moves to halt us that we dont continue with our plan, but with his,we can be confused.
He requires faith, which means his lamp lights a footpath not a 1/2 mile stretch. Sometimes we have to make sure that God didnt make a left hand turn while we continued on into oblivion.
Prayer about that, and again careful analysis of the details of the circumstance will help you to discern.
I write things down. I keep a prayer journal especially on serious issues. You might think about this. It helps for looking back to see where you have been.
I will certainly pray for your peace and your direction, that it be the one he wants for you.
God Bless you Peh!
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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peh
Advanced Member
Member # 4446
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posted
Have you had experience(s) when everything started out great, kept going strong, and you believed God was certainly blessing even though you might have sensed a little uneasiness building, and then suddenly things start going very wrong, at least to your thinking, get worse and worse until you are forced into circumstances you very much would not have preferred?
I've had this experience in strikingly similar circumstances twice in the past 4 years. The second one is still unfolding as I post this.
Yet, when I pray all I get is comfort as far as "everything will work out".
However, I know from the past experience that this current circumstance may not work out at all well to my mind, although there may be bits and pieces of light indicating some partial reasons for what has happened and why.
Anyone following this? Had the experience? Know what the Lord is doing when it happens? How it can be prevented? How to "lay hold" and put a stop to the repetition? I often think of the verse where the Lord told the Israelites "....You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.' (Deut 1:6)
But in that circumstance, the fire by night and cloud by day led them away from the "mountain" in their lives. What is the beacon and the signal nowadays?
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St. Peh
I don't know everything but I know the One Who does.
Posts: 255 | From: Kentucky | Registered: Mar 2005
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