April 11, 2017

Greetings My Friend When I went to Divorce Recovery at a church that I did not attend I met several people who told me their story mostly the ones that had gone through what I was going through. At the end of the story they gave the credit to Jesus which was new to me, the church I grew up in did not do this. As time went on I learned this story telling was called giving their testimony, at first I thought the believer had only one story but as time has gone I have learned we have many stories or testimonies. After I got used to hearing these testimonies I wondered how they knew how to tell their story, our lives have many different things that lead us up to a given moment. Through the years I started giving my story and it has gotten better with each telling, I have even learned when I am talking to someone who is dealing with health issues to talk about my health and how Jesus has helped me. The same goes if someone is dealing with abuse, I talk about the abuse I endured in my life. I see Paul telling the Corinthian believers "For you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and be encouraged, and these spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace." I see the believers told each other about what Jesus had done in their lives, their story lined up with the teaching of the Apostles and the Apostles also taught as Jesus did from what we call the OT. Reading the Bible I learn how the lives of the ones before taught the next generation about the mistakes they made, the things they got right and they were taught by God to remember all the times He provided for them or corrected them. The 10 Commandments teach us as well, we learn the things that matter most to God and we soon discover why we need to love God first, not to lie and on. We learn by the Word of God and we learn by telling our story to others how God has helped us. Remembering has helped me a lot, when I was younger I remembered all the hurt I endured but by reading God's Word I discovered God telling the people of Israel to remember how He provided for them in the past. By changing the way I did my remembering I was able to let go of a lot of pain, I felt heard and understood when I remembered how God has loved me, cried with me and them insisted that I move on. God taught me I could survive cancer, that I have a family of believers who want me when I feel like my own family has given up on me. I can now say as Paul said that he was content in all things. He knew wealth and he knew poverty and he was content either way. God led Junior and I to move to Virginia and down here we have met people who are comfortable with our rather direct ways. Before people were pointing out that we did not need to be so "honest". I am grateful I met people who gave their testimony and met this sharing how Jesus has helped them get through their struggles. When I had cancer I met people who told me how many years they had survived cancer, today I see how comforting many people find that they too can one day tell someone else that they too can survive their struggle and that there is a God who longs for them to turn to Him and to trust Him. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet