God’s SUPERNATURAL ALWAYS Overcomes ANYTHING in our Natural!
There’s SO much in the following word of one of our FAM member’s testimony, which she recently posted on the private website, that I asked permission to share it here because I know many could and should learn so much from it to use to keep the devil from stealing, killing and destroying once their marriages are restored, or even on the way to being restored; much of which speaks for itself. And I thank her for sharing in such a frank and honest way how she, by her own hands, tore down her own house and failed to put into practice all she had learned here to work together with God to bring her husband back home in the first place. And I love the analogies she drew in her situation with her Sunday School lesson too; because there’s just no doubt about it…GOD’S WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS, BUT HIS WAYS ALWAYS WORK (Isaiah 55:8-11 and Luke 6:46-49)!!!
But the one thing I think she missed, which I want to point out is just HOW GOD’S WAY WORKED! I don’t for one minute think jumping up and down and making her car shake is what dislodged dirt in the gas filter and enabled her to drive the rest of the way home. No way! I think that was a SUPERNATURAL ACT OF GOD BECAUSE she SUBMITTED TO HER HUSBAND IN EVERYTHING AS UNTO THE LORD (Ephesians 5:22-24 and 1 Peter 3:1-6)! Just like Sarah submitted when Abraham asked her to hide the fact that they were married to save his own hide and for his own enrichment, and allowed herself to be taken into the King’s and pharaoh’s harems without giving way to fear because she put her hope in God, and HE SAVED AND VINDICATED HER (Genesis 12 and Genesis 20), MNO (member name omitted) submitted to the instructions from her husband and GOD ACTED SUPERNATURALLY ON her BEHALF!!! Now that’s what being humble before our husbands and under the mighty hand of God is all about (1 Peter 5:5-7)! This is such a powerful example of how God moves so mightily in our lives and circumstances when we just TRUST AND OBEY HIM! So I hope and pray that the truly significant and powerful message in this part of the word of MNO’s testimony will indeed be used in the lives of many to overcome, hurl down and DEFEAT the devil for years to come (Revelation 12:10-11)! When we REALLY get the power and promise of just TRUSTING AND OBEYING GOD, we will indeed be blessed and encouraged beyond belief (Psalm 37:5-6 and Proverbs 3:5-6)!!!
Greetings Everyone!
I so love to read all of your posts and I have been blessed in so many ways by your testimonies. In one way or another, especially in moments when I really need to trust God and learn to rely totally upon Him, God has used your posts as reminders of what He is doing, what He can do and what He wants to do in my own life. And I give Him thanks that He has this whole world, including our marriages, in His hand.
As many of you know, my husband has been home for a little over four months now. And as I surrendered everything about my restoration and marriage to God, I could see Him really softening SNO’s (spouse name omitted) heart. We had even started going to church together, reading the Bible together from time to time, and even praying together. God had truly blessed me for obeying Him and for cooperating with His plan for our family and marriage.
But since then, our relationship has taken some steps backward because my testimony was not always one of unconditional love and respect for my husband, and he decided to return to his home country within a year, if not sooner. And after some big and dramatic disagreements and my pride getting in the way, he would no longer attend church with us. And since I believed that I could keep better tabs on what my husband was up to and possibly prevent any form of unfaithfulness on his part by staying home, I decided not to go to church unless he went with us, and I even made excuses to stop going to our Bible studies too. And even though we had some good days, the bad still seemed to overshadow the good.
So I was fighting some terrible thoughts, and started feeling frustrated and tired. Even though God was always there when I cried out to Him, I was not in the right place. As we know, frustration is all that we get when we trust in ourselves to do what only God can do on our behalf.” So as I read your praise testimonies, I longed for my own to share, but I felt that God would not and could not bless me, since I was still allowing sin into my life. So when I was feeling so overwhelmed recently, I asked God to forgive me for everything. But I heard the enemy say, “God can’t forgive you this time, you’re too far from Him now.” So I was asking God whether or not He would forgive me, and begging Him to take me back. And HE said…“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” So I felt so much better, and the next day when the leader of the Bible study called to invite me to the study that night, I asked to see her right away, and she prayed with me, and I confessed, and repented to God about everything; even things from a long time ago. So I went to the Bible study that night and received confirmation that I am to continue standing for the complete restoration of my marriage.
The next day, the girls and I had a beautiful time on the American side of Niagara Falls, but while driving home, our car just stopped working on the busy highway. I know that the enemy would have loved to use that event to get me down, but God used it for His purposes and our good. I began to pray and asked the girls to pray too. I felt hesitant to call SNO to ask for help; partly because of my pride and I wanted to show him that I could handle it myself. But I was also afraid that he would get upset and blame it on me, so I called him since I felt in my heart that he is my husband and who better to call than “your husband” in such situations! So there I was waiting for some “great advice” about what to do, and all he calmly and seriously told me was that it might be some dirt lodged in the gas filter, and that we should jump up and down on the car, so it comes loose. I laughed, and thought “We’ll look so foolish…all of us jumping in the car!” So I prayed again, and asked God to rescue us and to please help us! And I was reminded of the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-15), and I told the girls, that no matter how silly we look, why would we not do whatever it takes to get out of here and go home. So we began to jump and make the car shake something fierce! And then I started the car and proceeded home, thanking and praising God the whole way for ALWAYS taking care of us and for giving us so much to be thankful for. And the blessings I have received from the lesson I learned that day are numerous!
The girls got to see first-hand, that God hears and answers our prayers. And I was reminded to be thankful for my husband, and that he is here to call was a blessing in itself. And, yes, I am most thankful for his “mechanical knowledge!” As I look at it now, I realize how I came so close to missing out on God’s blessing for us all that day. But more than that, I think of how it relates to marriage restoration in that I have always desired to have a marriage built on the Solid Rock, but I have not been 100% willing to do what is necessary to receive it.
Unfortunately, the next day started out rough; to the point of SNO wanting to leave again. So I kept thinking, “I’ve got to let him go in peace.” And that’s when it all hit home about what God had been trying to get me to understand all of this time. Just like it was such a simple, uncomplicated instruction for Naaman to be cured of his leprosy, God has been telling me that I have been making it unnecessarily difficult. He keeps saying, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest, take my yoke, it is easy. Stop thinking that you can change your situation, and take your hands off and just LET ME HANDLE IT…ALL OF IT!” So I immediately repented and cried out for God’s forgiveness and mercy again; realizing that I cannot continue this painful path of doing things my way. Unfortunately, I am reaping the consequences of my behavior, and SNO was not willing to forgive me that time.
God has also been using my children to encourage me to go to church even if SNO didn’t want to. So we invited him to go this past Sunday, even after the events of the previous day, and I was not at all surprised when he refused. But I prayed the moment when he said no, and within ten minutes, SNO asked if he could come too! The speaker was First Nations, and the praise and worship was so awesome that day. The speaker asked us “if you could have one thing from the Lord, what would that be? Just ask Him for it now.” Feeling overly needy, a million and one things popped into my head, and as I sat there, I thought about asking for healing in my marriage. But that changed to asking God for His love, and for His love to overflow from within me, so I can give real love and radiate His love to others; especially unconditional love and respect to SNO, who is not saved. And I can honestly say that after the service, I felt something different inside of me; so much that I had peace about my situation. I thank God for changing my heart that day, and my thinking too; because I know something SUPERNATURAL happened since I went from being doubtful, to trusting God and getting excited about what God is doing and is going to do in our lives!
After church, we went out to lunch, and then coffee, and grocery shopping and just had a peaceful day. In the evening, SNO said something that was not so nice, and by God’s grace, I was able to ignore it. And before I knew it, SNO was apologizing! Praise God for showing me that “without a word” really works! Okay, I knew it before, but I guess I just needed the reminder! So please continue to pray for me; especially that I will follow the example given in 1 Peter 3:1-6, and for SNO, who needs salvation.
So, friends, I share my journey with you in hope of reaching someone who might have lost hope along the way and might be in a similar situation. And I want to encourage you and assure you that if you’re in the same place, God does not want you to stay there; so please call out to our Lord God and repent and receive His forgiveness; because you will experience great peace from knowing that you are clean before Him. And for the rest of you, please keep posting as I have been greatly encouraged by each and every single one of your posts. We just never know how God uses each of our testimonies, and we may never know until we reach the other side. I thank God for all of you and pray for you and your spouses by name. And I give thanks to Him for always being God and never changing. Be encouraged that He is working in each of our individual situations, all at the same time! Yes, He is the great I am and I give Him praise for reminding me of the story of Naaman, who “went down to the Jordan River, he dipped himself in it seven times, he did exactly what the man of God had told him to do, then his skin was made pure again. It became clean like the skin of a young boy.” God bless you all as we stand strong together!