GOD HEALED MY BROKEN HEART

When God promises us something, He can be counted on to keep it.  .  I had a dream where God promised to heal me in all areas; the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Deep in my heart I believed Him. 

Jesus said he was sent to heal the broken hearted.  This he has done for me.  Most of my life I was mentally abused.  I was told by my father and later by my husband that I was stupid and crazy. They said I couldn’t do anything right.  I was even compared to the neighbor’s kids who were the same age as I.  I was asked: “Why can’t you be like them?”  It wasn’t good enough that I got on the honor roll. Why couldn’t I do better?  I studied and tried so hard to make it.  I didn’t even make the honor roll.

I could never please my father.  There was only one time he was ever proud of me.  I had won the American Legion Medal in the eighth grade.  My Dad was in the hospital at the time.  Nine years later after I got married, he was in the hospital again, dying of cancer.  My husband went to see him.  My Dad told him that he wished he would have treated me better and that I was the best of the bunch. I was surprised that my husband even told me that.  He treated me like my dad did. 

The statement my dad made of regretting that he didn’t treat me better, came a long way to heal my broken heart.  It helped me to forgive him.  It showed me that it wasn’t just my imagination that I was treated badly.  As a good consequence, I was able to forgive him but not right away.  Even today, when the devil attacks me by telling me how bad I was treated, I remember that.   It keeps me in line with a forgiving spirit.

Since I felt I couldn’t do anything right, I decided not to do anything at all when I could get out of it.  I became a perfectionist.  I set high goals for myself, knowing I would fail. This way I could say my dad was right about me.  I was just no good.

My mother wasn’t satisfied with me either.  I couldn’t even make a bed right to please her.  She would do it herself instead of taking the time to make me do it until I got it right.  It was easy to get out of doing anything.  My Dad cursed and swore at the family, my mother included.  I didn’t see until now that she was hurting inside, too.  She developed a martyr complex.  When my dad wasn’t swearing at us, he gave us all the silent treatment for days at a time.  This was often worse than his verbal anger.  We had to walk around on tiptoes so as to not stir him up again.  It wasn’t pleasant.  My siblings had their own way of dealing with it.

I was curious about life and quite adventuresome.  When I tried to get close to my mother and discuss things with her, she wouldn’t listen.  She wanted to know why I was always arguing with her.  I learned to keep my thoughts to myself.
 
My parents never showed me any love; any hugs or kisses.  I was starved for affection.  Between my parents and my church, I came to the conclusion that God was just like them.  He was stern, unforgiving and unloving.  He was ready to punish me at the least mishap. I pulled myself into a shell.  I added brick by brick to build a wall around me so no one could get close enough to hurt me.  I couldn’t stand rejection

I became the god of my little make believe world.  I buried my head in my books where people were always nice to each other.  My dream world was much better than the real world was.  Outwardly I was doing what normal people did, like dancing, roller skating, going to the movies and so on.  I pretended people were different than they were.  I could never take them at face value and just accept them as they were.  I wasn’t accepted so why should I accept others? 

My real life was in my own universe.  I pretended all the time that life was different than it actually was.  I had my make-believe playmates.  They couldn’t hurt me.  I could not and refused to face reality.  I lived a lie.  No one but no one ever knew!  I was a good actor.  I smiled on the outside while I cried on the inside.

I only say all of this to show you what a mess I was.  I know there are others who have had similar experiences or even worse.  What God has done for me since the year 2000 when I had the dream, and is still in the process of doing now in 2006, is hard for me to believe. Now, at the age of seventy-five, I accept it.  It is making me happier every day.  God has healed my broken heart and set me free!  He opened my blind eyes.  I have been delivered from the bondage of my own prison.  I praise the Lord everyday.  It is never too late.

I have been able to forgive my parents and realize maybe they did the best they could.  I’ll never know just what kind of life they had.  My past is where it belongs; in the past. It doesn’t hurt any more.  I bring it up, hoping maybe that someone reading this will see that God can do the same for them.  I just hope they don’t wait as long as I did to receive the new life God wants for all of us.

I see now that my parents did teach me many good things which I will talk about.  My life wasn’t as bad as I made it out to be.  I just developed a bad attitude.  So many hurting people and I was one of them.  If I can help just one person, it will be worth all the problems I had faced for such a long time. 
I will write another article about how I could forget the negative and concentrate on the positive.  All this is a big part of my emotional and mental healing.  God is breaking down my brick wall.

I Praise Him that I am still a work in progress.  That is why we have Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus.  He has come to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1 “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah, And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.

”The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.  And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him,””  (Luke 18, 19 & 21)

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.  Jesus is the same today as he was yesterday.  I heard the same preaching in this generation as they did way back then.  God’s Word still holds true.

   We serve a wonderful God.  God bless you.

  Hey blackeyedpeas, you'll get a black eye telling me to slow down in 30 or 40 years.  I'm just getting started---in high gear.  Moses was 70 when he was called. 
I expect to live to 100 at least if God doesn't take us all home sooner.  So I got lots to do before that happens.

Did you read "Your Old Men shall dreams dreams?  God promised me healing in all areas---physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. I'm in pretty good shape now (for the shape I'm in) in the physical and emotional.  I have testimonies about that too how God continues in my healing.  No more medicine, lost 25 pounds in a year.  An email friend helped me to get turned completely around from negative to positive in just 2 years. 

Now God is working on turning my mind inside out to dump out my old way of thinking.  That's a toughie. For an example.  I always tell people I was backward most of my life.  Lately God has me running into people I knew way back when before television.

In our reminiscences I remind them how back ward I was. They laugh heartily---"You?  Backward?"  All these years I believed it.  Even my kids don't think I was backward from some things I wrote as memoirs for them. 

Is it backward to be secretary of a magazine campaign and march into the principals office and sell him 2 subscriptions?  How about going to another town and trying out for a play?  I didn't get a part but I tried. You get the picture.

My Dad told me I was stupid and crazy and couldn't do anything right.  I believed him.  Any how they are all included in other testimonies about how God changed me into the new person He promised me to become.

I think it is time to put the follow ups on this forum.  The promise wasn't just for me but for all God's children---even you!   I didn't have a sense of humor before either.  I was a sad sack.  I laugh and smile a LOT NOW.   

I'm on a roll so I'll add this.  I went to my daughter's church today to hear a special southern gospel group.  After the service my grand daughter and her boyfriend went to a beginner's class to see if they wanted to join the church.

They had donuts and coffee for us before that started.  I sat beside a woman.  I asked where I should wait while they were in the meeting.  My daughter and her husband went to the meeting too.  The woman is a 5th grade Sunday School teacher and invited me to sit in.  Sure, why not.  I even learned something from a different perspective. 

Those kids were so well behaved and eager to learn from the Bible.  She gave them cards with the salvation message on them.  On the back they were to sign if they accepted Jesus as their Lord.  They all signed and then had the teacher to witness it.  It was beautiful to see.  Only God knows who was really sincere.  I like to believe they all were.

Oh, boy!  I get wound up and don't know when to stop.  God bless you.  I pray I can help people who have gone through some things I have.  I need your prayers and anyone else who will pray for me.  Jesus is the only way.

This is my story of how God provided a computer for me so I could write on the web.  Who ever heard of a computer in 1940?  How God had it planned for me and prepared me to do it in His timing.
 
When you are sure God has given you a task to do, no matter how unrealistic it may seem to you, hang on to that dream.  It can not fail if God is in it no matter how long it may take.  His timing is perfect.  He has the details all worked out before He gives them to you.

   Since I was about ten years old I have wanted to be a writer.  I had nothing particular in mind except I wanted to be rich and famous.  This is only because I was always ignored and I just wanted to show “them” I could be someone.  I know now I wouldn’t like that life at all.  I like my time, space and privacy. 

   I started to write little mystery stories with “It was a dark and stormy night.  The dogs were barking at midnight at some unseen enemy.”  That’s all the further I got. 

   I was an unhappy child and my parents never wanted to hear what I had to say so I wrote all my frustrations out on paper.  Later I would read them again and realize how silly they were and they ended up in the waste basket.

   From there, I went to writing letters to the boys in the service during World War II.  I was eleven when that broke out for the United States. My brother passed them around to his buddies who never got any mail.  They enjoyed the newsy down home musings of a young girl much like the sister they might have left behind.   I had other pen pals later, even in England.  I think I was born with a pen in my hand.

   In School I loved to write essays for English class.  I even wrote them for my brother when I was in eighth grade and he was a Senior.  He couldn’t be bothered.  He would rather go out with the girls.  His teacher knew I wrote them.  How, I don’t know.  She made him write on the blackboard a hundred times: “I will not let my sister do my homework for me.”

   After I got married, we moved to a dairy farm.  I was bored.  I had the nerve to write to the closest city’s newspaper to ask if I could write some kind of a column for them.  The editor made an appointment with me.  He was kind but said he had all the writers he needed now.  He liked my writing sample and suggested I go to a newspaper office in a smaller country town.  They could use a reporter for the one little farm area where I lived.

   I got the job at five cents a word.    The paper was put out only twice a week.  That wasn’t enough so I asked if I could also cover the little area on the other side of me.  In that place I picked up all the local news at the sheriff’s office.  My two big stories were a mysterious plane crash and a fire.  The editor wanted to handle the fire himself but the firemen wouldn’t give it to him.  They told him he had a good reporter and I should do the story! 

   I’m only saying all this to let you know that a dream that suddenly came true was planned by God early in my life.  Each little thing I did along those lines was training I got for the big event.

   Life began---babies, full time job besides big problems.  My dream was forgotten.  After seventeen hard long years, my husband divorced me and I was thrown out into the hard cruel world.  I was like a babe in the woods.  I can look back and see now that this was also training for what I do today.  God knew all about the hard times I would have to endure. I survived and now I can encourage others never to give up hope no matter how tough it is. 
   
   In 1987 and 1988 I wrote Mini-Sermons, one a week for two years.  I passed out about 100 each week to my customers in a large department store where I was a waitress.  No one tried to stop me so I knew I was in God’s perfect will.  I also wrote poetry and songs.  This was the happiest time in my life until the last few years.

   Sad to say, I back slid for a few years until I retired in 1994.  I moved to a high rise and for five years I did nothing but watch television (actually I had it on just for the noise) and make plastic canvas items. I did not speak or socialize with anyone.   During these long years God walked with me through my life and chastised me for all the wrong paths I had followed especially getting in and out of cults and false teachings.  Proverbs 3:11-12 “My son (daughter, too) despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction; for whom the Lord loves he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights.”

   When God was through, He showed me how much He loved me.  I then ventured out into the front rooms ready to mingle with the other tenants who gathered there.  One day I was talking with one woman and told her about the Mini-Sermons and gave her some to read. 

   She was soon moving to Colorado.  I was surprised when she said she was going to get her daughter to put them on the web.  That was a strange concept for me.  I knew nothing about computers and the internet.  She went away and in a few weeks she died.

The idea was planted into my head that I would be writing on the web.  How, when or why I had no inkling but do it I knew without a doubt that I would.

   I had no money for a computer or a web site to begin with.  Technology was way over my head.  I was first tempted with a free state of the art computer.  God said “NO”.  It was offered by a woman who was in a cult.  I passed the test for I refused it.

   I waited for six years, never giving up my faith that it would happen.  I got a letter from my life insurance company.  They were letting others besides the policy owners to buy stock in their company.  They would send me the amount of stock I had accumulated over the years.  I was not even aware that I had any stock.  The check was exactly what I needed to buy a Gateway and a printer!  Can’t outdo God.

   I was excited about being on the internet.  A whole new world was opened up to me.  I looked up different Christian sites.  I discovered they were asking for testimonies.  I sent them to different places.  In a short time, I became the featured author on Club Praise.  They published so many articles and no more.  It is still on the web.   From there I was given the title of leader/director on another site.  It was closed for health reasons.

These first two were amazing to me.  I was like a mouse in a corner so to be given the title of “featured author” was like God calling Gideon “Mighty Warrior”!  As to the second place, I never led or directed anything in my life.  I forget half of the sites I have at least one item on.  More places were opened; God closed some.  I got on Onlinearchive.org.  I was their top writer.  It was closed for awhile.  It is open again!

   A woman suggested I go on www.faithwriters.com .  From their private messenger I am getting offers to write for different online magazines and newspapers and also actual paper ones; this one included!  I had to turn some down.  I can’t handle them all.

   I have no idea where God plans to take me from here but by faith I am ready to go along for the ride.  It is the most exciting thing in the world when you live in the perfect will of God.  “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”  These desires are not our selfish desires but the desires He will use to further His Kingdom.

   If you get an idea and think it might be crazy and it won’t go away, stick to it.  God will unfold it to you in His timing and your readiness for it. 

    May God show you the special plans He made just for you.  Never get discouraged no matter what the odds may be.  IT WILL GET DONE.  God bless you in your endeavors.

   UPDATE.  I am now writing for a small Christian newspaper “My Walk With Jesus”.  Next year one of my testimony articles was accepted to be in a woman’s book.  I won’t say anymore until I get and sign the contract in a couple months.  At least these are a start.  Only God knows what He will do next.  It is all so exciting and I am meeting wonderful Christians all over the world in the different forums and all from the comfort of home.  Keep on believing.  God loves you and wants the best for you.


   

Here is my idea on tithing---for what it's worth.  I'm not sure where I first heard about it but I just believed I had to do it.  Maybe the church I was in said it was necessary.  I didn't question it. 

I don't believe it has anything to do with salvation.  Or that it should be a requirement to "join" a church.  Today my daughter said that some churches require that you tithe or you can't join the church.  I don't believe that is right to demand it.  It's between you and God.


Here is my experience whether I did it for a right reason or not.  I have always been on a very low income.  Barely had enough to make ends meet.  Yet I tithed first.
One day I decided not to tithe and I would catch up the next week.  Wishful thinking, maybe.

My bills came in as usual but this time there were a couple more than I ever expected.
I didn't have extra the next month but I did manage to pay the extra bills.  Oh, I was a waitress so my available money was never the same.  I paid tithes as before.
Life went on with the same struggle.

Another time the same thing happened.  I didn't tithe. More problems than before.
Then it dawned on me that maybe God was testing me (a personal thing---nothing to do with just paying tithes) to see if I trusted Him enough to take care of my needs no matter how unrealistic they were. 

Ever since I have been paying my tithes the first thing and I don't even think about it.  Whatever my needs or what the cost is, they are always met in unexpected ways.  My WANTS may often stay unmet.

God wants us to be a willing giver and not by the Law and do it begrudgingly. II Corinthians 9:7 "Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not begrudgingly, OR OF NECESSITY, for God loves a cheerful giver."  He will honor what is in your heart.  So it's up to you what you feel you should do. 

I have a testimony of how God supplied me with a computer when I knew that I was to write on the internet.  I had NO idea where the money was coming from.  God supplied the means.  My story will be on the appropriate forum.

Listen to your heart and you will do well.  God bless you.  Joan

I wrote a thank you all for teh kind words and lost it.  I won't even try to repeat it all.  Thanks again.

                            I would like to know how to get some neat graphics like you have,

I enjoy this site.  I'll be posting more after I get my stuff in better order.  I send to about 20 sites.  I'm trying to keep record of where I send what to so I don't sent the same one twice.

I did put a few things on the women only section.  Some pretty tough stuff.  I hope it will help others.  Main reason I am writing as God wants me to do.

Love you all with God's love, just me, the old lady turned 16!  Joan

P.S.  I tried to answer but I lost it sooooooooooooooooo.

Love Is

Love is ---not always realizing what is happening
But it accepts the overall feeling of unexplained joy
When a couple meets EYE TO EYE; they become one.
Words do not need to be spoken.

Love is---not always saying what is deepest in the heart but
Not really caring---it can't be said at times of speechless wonder.
 Everyday talk becomes the Sun, the Moon and the Stars.
It's there but not ours to question.

Love is---finding pleasure in silly little unimportant topics.
The two know that no one else could understand
The sense of uncontrolled laughter.
Only being together can make it seem reasonable.

Love is---a walk in the silence of the woods.
It listens to nothing but nature at work and the beat of two hearts.
Little creatures grow and stretch as they go on their way.
The roots of the plants reach up through the dirt to beautify the earth.

Love is---You.  Love is---Me
Love is---Together we make one.
One that can't be torn apart by merely saying it isn't so.

Love is---God between---holding both heart strings.
Love is---Never touching but SOUL and SPIRIT
Are closer than hands can ever know

Love is---Two spirits soaring off into the
Blue---Together yet apart
Tied but free.

Love is-----Not questioning---just accepting
The way it is---letting the
Chips fall where they may.

Love is-----A pattern that is forever changing
Yet it stays the same.
Love is-----The heart beat of all who Love.

God---the CREATOR---the fuel
That keeps all hope A-L-I-V-E!

LOVE JUST IS!

Since God is being taken out of everything, and not allowed to say:One Nation under God" , This will be a new Pledge of allegiance in a country were God is everything.  It belongs to the King and no one can take it from Him. He is King of Kings and Lord of lords.  And I am proud to be one of His humble servants, now and forever.

                 I  pledge allegiance to the United State
   of God’s Kingdom of which I am a royal subject.
   I pledge to love, honor and obey to do His every will.
   Though others tell me I am wrong,
   His wish is my command.  I know my King is true.
   My friends may walk away from me.
   They may think I lost my mind.
   But God has made me one of His  (very) peculiar people.
   His Kingdom is not of this sad world.
   I’m only here for awhile.
   ‘Til He prepares a place for me,
   I’ll be the odd man out.

   I may get tired; I may just wonder why I keep on going.
   Or say what I don’t feel like saying.
   But God, through the precious Holy Ghost,
   Tells me I must if I would be one of His own.
   When the going gets tough and the path gets rough,
   I’ll remember God’s only Son.
   He cried for me; he died for me.
   He never cared how rough his way might be---he loves me so.
   This is how I must love him.
   And soon one day lay down my head
   And sorrows will all pass away.
   I’ll be in my mansion in the Kingdom of God
   Since I pledged my allegiance to Him.


   

   Rev 21:23  “And the Lamb
   is the light thereof.”
   
I hope to see you all there one day.  I will know you tehn.  Joan

WHICH SPIRITS ARE YOU CONTROLLED BY?
      
   Inside this physical body there is a continuous war going on.  There are so many spirits, good and bad, fighting to take control of us.  When we hear the word “spirit”, without knowledge, we can easily be deceived.  To be able to fight a battle, it is best to know as much as you can about your enemy.  From time to time, I will write about the different spirits we have to deal with every day.  Do you want God’s spirit in control or the devil’s?

   Proverbs 20:27 “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.”  Belly means heart or womb.  Proverbs 3:19   “For many walk…..that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” “Spirit” means “breathe”.  It is thought to be the conscience given by God to aid in self-examination and self-control.  It is an inner control just as chastening blows are eternal controls.  Proverbs 20:30 “The blueness of a wound cleans away evil: so do stripes the inward man.”   I used to wonder what the belly has to do with anything.  Did you ever get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that something wasn’t right?  Or you get the feeling you shouldn’t do a certain thing?  It is called instinct.  That definitely is a conscience control but it is not always obeyed.  That is how we get in trouble. 

   “The candle of the Lord” is like an x-ray or other tests doctors use to probe inside to find a disease.  He cuts the bad parts away to give the rest of the body a chance to heal.   God gives us the chance to control our own spirit or let the devil have his way.  Proverbs 25:28 “He that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”  God is pleased when we pray constantly for Him to show us the way we should go.

   God gives this spirit to all men when we are born.  It is up to us how we use it.  This spirit was just lent to us to decide which way we want to go.  Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then shall the dust (our body) return to earth as it was: and the spirit is returned to God who gave it.”  This statement should really humble us to make us realize we are nothing without God.  We are nothing but a handful of dirt to be thrown back to the earth for man to trample over!  God’s breath blown into man is what gives us life.  Man was meant to live forever but sin caused death.  God’s mercy gives that life back to us when Jesus died in our place.  How great and loving is our God!

Looking through the Concordance, I was surprised to see how many different spirits are trying to control us.  There are so many spirits we do battle with every day.  The Holy Spirit is given to live within us to do battle for us to get rid of them when we do let him.  They don’t give up.  They keep trying to get back in.  We are the ones who decide whether to let them in or not.  We always have an out when we accept wrong spirits in ignorance.  Isaiah 29:24 “They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.”  There is always hope if we ask God to “Create in me a clean heart, O, God; and renew a right spirit within me”  (Psalm 51:10)  And verse 11 “Cast me not away from your presence; and take not away your Holy Spirit from me.”  We cannot survive without God’s Holy Spirit.

   The same spirits living in Jesus are the same spirits we should desire if we are to be like Jesus.  It is possible because God has made man in His image.  Isaiah 11:1 & 2 “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:  and the SPIRIT of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of  WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING, the spirit of COUNSEL and MIGHT, the spirit of KNOWLEDGE and of FEAR (reverence) of the Lord.”

   Isaiah 42:1 “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.”  Not only will Jesus judge the Gentiles but also those in the city of Zion and Jerusalem.  Isaiah 4:4 writes “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of JUDGMENT, and by the spirit of BURNING.”

   I will give you some of the bad spirits you may be receiving.  They may not reside there all the time but return for a “visit” when you open the door to them and don’t kick them out right away.  Often we are not even aware when they come upon us.  They are so sneaky.  They attack when you are down in your spirit.  The devil sends them to you to try to keep you from receiving God’s blessings when you are in His will.  He especially likes to hit when you have had a mountain top experience.  He wants you to tumble off that mountain.

   Here are a few scriptures mentioning bad spirits:

Numbers 5:14    “And the spirit of  JEALOUSY came upon him.”

Deuteronomy 2:30 “But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord your God HARDENED his spirit.”

Judges 9:23  “Then God sent an EVIL spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem: and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.”

I Samuel 1:15 “Hannah was a woman of a SORROWFUL spirit.”

I Samuel 16:14 “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an EVIL spirit from the Lord TROUBLED him. (a troubling spirit)

   (God’s spirit can leave us when we turn from Him.  The devil will then proudly step in and hit us with as many awful spirits as he can.)

I Kings 21:5  “But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is your spirit so SAD, that you eat no bread?”

Isaiah 54:6  “For the Lord has called you as a woman forsaken and GRIEVED in spirit” (talking about Israel)

   Can you see any of the above spirits in you at times, good or bad?  It can be overwhelming.  Later I will write about the spirit of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.  May the Spirit of the Lord rest on you and all else will fall into place.  Thank God for His Holy Spirit.

May God bless you?


All scriptures are from KJB.

Battle Maiden,

I too was raised Catholic. I knew about Jesus but I didn't really care if I had a close relationship with him.
My parents and priest made me feel guilty all the time.  I was told if I did something "bad", God would punish me.  I knew nothing about a loving God.  Only a stern and mean God.

Leaving the church didn't get me saved.  I went to another Church, took instructions (which I didn't at all understand) and "joined" the church.  MY first 3 children were baptized Catholic.  My 2nd 3 were baptized as Lutherans.  I sent them all to Sunday School but I didn't attend myself.

I was mentally abused (but never physically) by 3 husbands---wrong choices of course--I believed that was all I deserved)  I was raped but God turned it around.  I was able to pray for the young man.  I was almost 50 years old.  He accepted Jesus.  Went home and shot himself but he lived twelve hours after that.  I believe he had time to make it right with God.  Remember the thief on the cross.  I will put this story "Bless those who curse you and spitefully use you" on this site. by "livingbyfaith".

Have you been able to forgive those who hurt you? 

I would like to hear more about you and how you overcome so many bad experiences.

Your sister in Christ.  God loves you and so do I.  Send me a PM if you care to.  Joan

  How do you do a quote?  I forgot how. 

Re: WOW! - The Year 1905

You had this old lady stumped.  I don't think any of you were born yet in 1905!!!  I wasn't even born yet.  I remember the 50's tho.

My family didn't have a TV but my neighbor did.  It was exciting when they asked us over to see theiir 7 " one---black and white of course---in 1948.  What did we watch?  WRESTLING!!!!  The mother did a lot of yelling at the wrestlers.
She shocked me when she yelled: "Break off his arm and hit him over the head with the bloody stump"  Violent, wasn't she?

We had an ice man but he used a beat up truck.  One day he used it for ice.  Another time he was the rag man.  This was earlier than the '50's, though.  We liked the ice man and followed him.  He would give us pieces of ice. 

We were scared of the rag man (two personalities)  "Any rags; old iron" was his call.  When we heard that, the neighbor twins and I ran into their house and ducked behind the couch until he was gone.  When we were "bad" (not me!!!) we were threatened that we would be given to the rag man.

Those were the days.  Just an old timer, Joan

   Guess I'm not quite dirt yet.  I knew 14 of teh answers.  I was ten years old in 1940!  So long ago

I'm partial to "Revival" music: How Great Thou Art; I Have Decided To Follow Jesus; I'll Fly Away; I'd Rather Have Jesus (than Silver or Gold); Old Rugged Cross; Amazing Grace; This Is The Lord's House; Pow'r In The Blood; Thank You Friend . . . and many more I can't think of right now.  I also like newer hymns but the "old ballads" just have my heart!

Blessings-

  Ditto for me.  I have to add "How Great Thou Art." "Nothing but the blood". "What a friend we have in Jesus."  to name just a few more.

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Any scripture you choose is always a good one.  But the one or ones that especially touches your heart is the one that somehow brought you closer to God.

Mine is Hebrews 4:12 "For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

I can't say that one without also going to Psalm 139:14-16  "I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made...my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret.  Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in your book all my members were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." ( did skip some of the words.)

I am always so amazed that God knows all about me.  He knows my beginning and my end.  He made a pattern to use just for me.  No one else is exactly like me.  (I don't want to be cloned.)  No one else is exactly like you either.

Hebrews is especially dear to me now.  God promised He was going to heal me.  Right now He is dealing with my thoughts and intents of my heart.  Showing me the errors that have been deeply buried.  He is bringing them to the front to make me aware of them.

  Then He can get rid of them when I am ready to let Him do so.  Our souls and spirits are often in much disagreement but God can change that, too. 

Study them together.  In  75 years plus 9 months, God fearfully and wonderfully made me.  I don't know how long He worked on you so far.  He is the potter and we are the clay.   He continues to mold us until He is satisfied with the finished product.  Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
I hope this makes sense to you but that is the way I see it. When God works on me, I get closer and closer to Him.    Same should be for you.  He is a wonderful, loving God.  We owe Him our all.

I go to a non-denomination Church.  My preacher takes a whole chapter and expounds on it.  He doesn't care how many toes he steps on.  Definitely not a people pleaser.  The church does have its faults.  No perfect church.  At least it tries to go by God's rules.  The congregation is like any group.  There are disagreements between a few people.

He doesn't have any rituals to make a person a member.  He always says if someone leaves it may be because God wants them somewhere else for His purpose.  I had to leave for awhile because I don't have a car and no way to get there.  I surely wasn't getting fed at the church I was going to.  It was in walking distance from my home. 

People complained because a 5 minute sermon was too long!  They just want to be able to say they went to church.  What could they learn in that time?  My preacher goes on until the Holy Spirit tells him to stop.  He likes football as much as the next guy.  He tells us at the beginning of the service he would like to see the game but if his message goes over the time, he will just miss it.  If anyone wants to leave early, that's up to them.  It's a shame that church is dictated by sports.  So many church activities are planned around them

I went to a Bible Study in same church.  Someone would read a scripture.  I would say what I believed it meant.  One of two women always contradicted it.  Said that the Bible was written by men.  They would turn around and quote from some commentary.  I wonder who wrote them?  I didn't stay in that Church very long.  I was glad when I could get a ride to go back to my church.  I didn't get spiritually fed at the other church.  I was starving for God's Word.

That was just one of the "dead" churches.  Rev. 3:15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold not hot, I would that you were cold or hot.  So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will spew you out of my mouth."

THE CHURCH---A HOSPITAL FOR TROUBLED SOULS
      If we are human beings and live on this planet earth, then we can be listed as a patient on the hospital list.  Troubles come in many sizes and shapes.  They can be emotional, physical, spiritual or financial.  Job stated in 5:7 “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”  We can’t escape it but there is a sure cure for all ailments.  The Master Physician and psychiatrist of all is Jesus Christ.  He can prescribe the correct medicine and therapy for any illness we may encounter.  There won’t be any side effects.  In fact there will be much improvement from what we were before.

   If we think we have NO problems and are very self-righteous about it, we are sicker than the rest who know they have problems to face from time to time.  If we are “perfect” in our own eyes, we don’t belong on this earth.  No one has overcome everything.  I know I haven’t but God, through the Holy Spirit keeps working on me.  He works on you, too.  Before the healing begins, we have to be made aware of our weaknesses and admit to them.  Jesus alone can make us whole.

   Jesus was reprimanded for eating with publicans and sinners.  Read Matthew 9:9-13.  He was in the home of Matthew, the tax collector.  Publicans were looked down on for their practice of cheating the people.  We still don’t like tax collectors too much today, do we?  Jesus replied: “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

   The ones accusing him were the ones who thought they had it altogether and didn’t need help from anyone.  Many people think that way today.  The truth is we all need God and Doctor Jesus to keep us well.  An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure so I’ve heard.  I don’t know about you but I could use more than an ounce. When we read God’s Word everyday we get the medicine we must take to keep us alive and well. 

   Proverbs 3:1 “My Son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments:”  Verse 5 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not onto thine own understanding.”  Verses 7& 8 “Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil.  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.”  Read Proverbs often for it is full of wisdom.

   Jesus knows what man is thinking and understands him to the very core.  He knows of the deceit man carries in his heart.  The church, if it is truly a Spirit led church, helps to root out any negative thought or false notion we might have.  It feeds us with proper food which will nourish our souls to improve our spiritual health.

   Doctor Jesus diagnoses the ailments each patient has.  The preacher gives out the proper doses Jesus prescribed.  When he preaches, he never knows which person he may hit with his message.  It is the truth that each person needs to hear so he can overcome a bad trait he wasn’t even aware that he had.  Regular visits to the DOCTOR are needed to make sure there is no new development.  A good Bible teaching church will keep giving us the medicine we need.  We may not like the taste but we have to swallow it so we can get better.  God bless you as you continue in the path He has laid out for you.

All scriptures are from KJV