Amy, thinking & praying for you over this "testing time" - if I might share one of the daily emails I receive with you (and hopefully therein, there is something God_Inspired to encourage you)
Quote:
Hi everyone,
I have an internet interruption at home. As it stands right now, they don't think that they will be able to have it back on before Thursday. I was already planning on sending out this message over the weekend as a special edition, and it will be the only message due to my home internet problems. I would kindly ask that you refrain from sending me messages until such time as my home internet is back up and running, as I'm already way behind from 3 different days worth of storms. Thank you. :-)
At this point, I will also assume that I won't be able to do messages next week, and if that changes I will let you know.
Now on to the special edition, from our favorite home run hitter, Kris in Texas:
I know this may be hard for some to believe, but it is possible to become comfortable in your desert. This is definitely the place I have been at. It seems hard to believe that you can hurt so little that you are actually okay with your one flesh mate being away. But the pain is gone and a happiness at being were I am in Christ had certainly developed. I have even said to the Lord, "Lord if I could just find a job it will not matter if my husband stays away another 3 years I will be fine and it will be okay." This may explain why I am not settled with a full-time job :-).
As we began to talk about God's timing my thoughts were on timing with a twist. I felt the Lord was asking me "What if I bring your husband home tomorrow." I began to bargain with Him, yes bargain. "Well surely Lord you would not bring him home overnight and I would have time to adjust and do (this) or (that)."
Shortly after that my kids had a discussion with me were they explained exactly why my husband may not feel he is welcome here or that I care about him anymore. I would even leave the house when he was coming over. This "no contact" idea was something I picked up early in my stand and although it was good at first, the Lord has been speaking to me to let it go for a while. Believe me when I say it was easier not to!
Since that time I have made some changes and some wonderful things have happened as I reached out. My husband asked me to do two things for him-quit drinking and quit smoking. I did neither while he was here. God gave me victory over the first, but the second I have struggled with. I have quit maybe oh I don't know 100 times? Smoking was starting to become a tool I was using. I knew my husband would not be home until that change was made and by holding on to it I was (in my own deep recesses of my mind) in control. I hid the fact that I was smoking from my husband, but having my husband around for any length of time was out of the question and surprise visits were not desired because it would expose the lie. Although I have confessed and repented to Him, it feels good to confess it to my brothers and sisters in Christ :-). But Saturday I decided not to return to that safe place again and quit for the last time.
I was able to send my husband a card for the first time in 3 years.
Although I have never once in the last few years taken my problems to my husband, I did (after MUCH prayer) take our rent problems to my husband.
Several wonderful things have happened here.
1. My husband paid our rent. He had a conversation with my daughter about something he had previously told her he was thinking of buying and told her it needed to wait as he wanted to save the money to make sure we were taken care of this summer. He was not sure if we would need help until school started and he wanted to make sure we were taken care of.
2. My mother in law asked my daughter to lunch and when Maggs got into the car my mother in law asked if I was coming. My daughter said no she is cleaning the oven and Maggs said my mother in law was genuinely disappointed as she said she meant the invitation for me too. I will say the invitation did not sound to me as if I was invited or I would have gone, but my MIL insisted on ordering my lunch to go and they brought it home to me.
3. My hubby has e-mailed me over the last few weeks. Now in its self not a huge thing, but the e-mails have been specifically to me not "Recipient List" and have been about safety issues he was worried about with the kids and I. I also received one in the middle of the night from him saying he had been thinking of me and thought of something he wanted me to do with our cars. Really cool! He was thinking of me at 12:00a and was taking a leadership role in our home.
More than that I am actually giving him chances to be the leader in our home and take care of us.
Please note a couple of things. I never ever stopped praying for my husband and I have always believed the Lord will restore my marriage and your marriage too. I also must say that I should have been listening to the Lord as He spoke to me that I needed to make a few changes and no one should ever do anything just because the Lord is telling someone else to do something. If I have learned anything it is that every journey to a restored marriage is unique and although there may be many general principles, the Lord always leads each of us to do what He wishes in our individual situations. My hope is what I can help and encourage someone else with what the Lord is doing in me.
I wanted to share a few things the Lord brought to me while I was praying and seeking Him for what I should be doing with regards to my restoration. Below are two of the many things the Lord used to confirm for me what He was speaking. My thanks to you all for letting me unburden myself and also for letting me share how God is moving in my marriage and in me!
I usually share the Small Straws that specifically strike me, but this one I kept for me and shared with just a few friends because the Lord just gave me the sense it was for me and I really spent time on praying over it. The second is a prophetic word on restoration and how many become "Comfortable With Captivity".
Small Straws In A Soft Wind by Marsha Burns - - July 2, 2007: Beloved, I am bringing correction to a specific course that began three years ago, which has been a transitional time in which you have had to make an extreme effort to stay in the divine flow of My purposes for you.
Many times the battle became so fierce that you would have lost heart unless you had seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13). You have been in the Valley of Weeping. I have seen your tears and have been your only help in times of trouble. Now I have opened a door of hope where you will have breakthrough and rejoice in the progression of victory. I am giving you new strength for the journey before you, says the Lord.
Hosea 2:13-15 NKJV I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers; but Me she forgot," says the LORD. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor (trouble) as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. My husband has been gone 3 years, we have been divorced 2 and I started my "no contact unless he contacts me" rule about 3 years ago.
"THE HEARTBEAT OF DESTINY--GOD DELIGHTS IN OUR RESTORATION" By Francis Frangipane : Mar 26, 2007 Ministries of Francis Frangipane francis1@frangipane.org
The prophet Jeremiah had warned that, unless Israel repented, Jerusalem itself would be destroyed. And so it happened: King Nebuchadnezzar's armies laid siege against Jerusalem. No food or supplies entered the city; Jerusalem eventually was utterly devastated. As the Lamentations of Jeremiah declare, the surviving Jews were carried off to captivity. It was one of the bleakest times in Israel's history.
Yet, it is written that the Lord "does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from Him" (2 Samuel 14:14). Thus, even though the Jews went into exile, the Lord had already purposed to restore Israel. He said,
"'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope'" (Jeremiah 29:10-11 NASB).
I love this about the Lord: He is the God of restoration. The Lord had "plans...to give (the exiled Jews) a future and a hope." Just as there was a time of exile, so there would be a time for restoration. No matter what things looked like during the time of captivity, the Lord desired to restore His people.
Comfortable With Captivity
Yet, for some of the exiled Jews, restoration to the Holy Land seemed unimaginable. When the grace came to bring Israel back, many chose instead to stay in Babylon. The familiarity of their captivity nestled them into Jewish enclaves. They eventually began to root in Persia and Babylon, and even prosper. In time, they grew comfortable in the land of their exile. Indeed, to this day, the descendants of these exiles still live in Jewish communities in Iran.
Yet, among the exiles, thousands did, in fact, recognize the heartbeat of destiny. God's Spirit stirred them. He awakened a holy dissatisfaction with their present circumstances. In their spirits, they felt the excitement of divine anticipation calling them to their eternal purpose. The time of restoration was at hand, and they returned to the promised land and rebuilt the temple of God.
Seasons of Restoration
Today, for Christians, we too must guard against becoming comfortable in Babylon, the land of our exile. Babylon is a land of intoxication (see Revelation 17-18). The Holy Spirit desires to restore us, not to a distant geographic place, but to the image and power of God's Son.
It is this spiritual life--the "measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ" --that is our "promised land" (Ephesians 4:13).
Thus, every time I read the Scriptures and I see the magnificence of God's promises to the Church, I lament that so many of us are still living in exile. Do you not also feel this longing for more? Is there not something in you that desires to walk in the fullness of what God has promised?
Yet, let us remember: just as the Lord restored the Jews to their land, He desires to restore His Church to Christ-likeness. Let us not despair or lose hope! For before Jesus returns, there is an unfolding season of restoration. Yes, even today, the true, born-again Church is living in the period the Bible identifies as the "restoration of all things" (see Acts 3:19-21). If we will not lose heart, God has promised a season when His Church shall walk in fullness! The works Christ did, we shall also do (John 14:12). We shall "be filled (through all our being) unto all the fullness of God" (see Ephesians 3:19-21).
From Glory to Glory
Let me also say for the soul that has been embattled, God cares about your individual restoration. Just as the Lord restored David's soul (Psalm 23:3), He desires to restore to us what we have lost. No matter what we have gone through, even if we've fallen and failed or grown weary, the Holy Spirit is seeking our restoration. Even if you feel shamed and self-condemned, the Lord has a word for you. He says,
"Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; and do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; but you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more" (Isaiah 54:4).
We must not allow our hearts to remain planted in standards fashioned in Babylon. Remember, though some Jews remained in captivity, many thousands returned during the restoration. They returned to possess what God had promised.
Let us also advance with confidence toward the fullness of Christ. Let us embrace the heartbeat of destiny, for the Lord delights in our restoration!
Francis Frangipane Ministries of Francis Frangipane Email: francis1@frangipane.org
-- God bless! Kris
Isaiah 34:16 None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together." (NIV) Isaiah 57:10 "You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.' You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint." (KJV) Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." (NIV) Luke 1:45 "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" (NIV) Job 14:14 ".....all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." Malachi 2:16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel. (NIV) Psalm 124:8 "Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." (NIV)
Ruth Anne Wheeler Voxtrot Communications http://www.voxtrot.org Proud owner of the following lists: Ladies Fellowship, LF Newsletter, Bread of Life, Christian Drummer and swgCares at http://www.associate.com
The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. ~ Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV)
