Testify!

[Buckshot4900]

Saturday morning bump.

Terry, let me start by saying, we serve an almighty God and apparently you have an open ear and heart for Him to speak and work through.
I too have dealt with a family drug addict and can vouch for God being all powerful when we give it 100% to Him and decide to do only what and when He speaks.
What most people don’t want to understand is that God is a God of love, but, also a God of wrath.
It has been proven to me on several occasions that “tough love” is alive and well.
Looking back on my 70 years here on earth, I wouldn’t take anything for my journey…good or bad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Bro. Bill]

Terry, let me start by saying, we serve an almighty God and apparently you have an open ear and heart for Him to speak and work through.
I too have dealt with a family drug addict and can vouch for God being all powerful when we give it 100% to Him and decide to do only what and when He speaks.
What most people don’t want to understand is that God is a God of love, but, also a God of wrath.
It has been proven to me on several occasions that “tough love” is alive and well.
Looking back on my 70 years here on earth, I wouldn’t take anything for my journey…good or bad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Amen
I also wouldn’t change a thing!
I was taught early in my ministry by a older pastor “ Without suffering there would be no compassion”
This has stuck with me. God has lead me thru so many situations since that evening In August of 2003.. and I see now that all I went thru was to understand and help others!

[Gumbo Man]

Sunday Bump

[psebowhunter]

Thank you all for your stories, I needed this.

[Bro. Bill]

Thank you all for your stories, I needed this.

Revelation 12:10-11 KJV
[10] And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. [11] And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

It Hair lips the devil to share What God has done in your life!

[Bone Thug]

Great thread. I’ve read every post.

Thank You, Lord for Your mercy and grace!

[Dusty Britches]

Gumbo Man, I may have missed it, but did Becca ever ask Jesus into her heart and surrender to Him?

[OleTomTalker]

I hope after reading this nobody thinks I’m beating myself on the chest because I’m not. All the Glory goes to God who has put me where he wants me to be so in some possible way and can be used as an instrument to glorify his existence and power.

We bought a home on the water at Lake Livingston in 2008 as a place to come and enjoy the lake life on the week ends. Never had we even toyed with the idea of moving here before we retired and even then we weren’t certain where we would go once we did. By 2010 we were feeling burn out from our careers and started thinking about the possibilities of starting a new life in Livingston which we truly loved given the slower pace of living here. I worked in the Petrochemical industry and my wife worked in the Medical field. So we talked about starting a restaurant if we could find the right location and took a leap of faith. We didn’t understand why the “calling” was so strong being that we would be leaving good careers and starting over with no guarantee of success.

So we sold our home and cashed in 401s and moved to the Lakehouse in 2011. We found the property that we would start our buisiness and purchased it and began building our little diner. We heard all of the stories about 75% of all restaurants failing within the first year but we marched on trusting that it was Gods will that we be where we are.

We opened on March 14 2014 and it was a butt whipping like we had never experienced. My god it was hard work and pulling from our local labor pool was even harder. Very little qualified applicants would come by as the mindset was would fail soon enough anyway and there was no security.

And then walked in Becca. She came in August of 2014. 5’ 2” inches tall and looking like a 15 year old boy. But she was a 33 year old gay girl. I enterveiwed her and hired her based on experience and recommendation from another employee. The next day she showed up with a bag of clothes and started training. I asked what was in the bag and was told that it was a change of clothes and she would being staying with a friend that night after work. That went on for over a week before I realized that she was actually homeless and was staying with whoever would take her in for the night. She was as tough as nails but within a short time, maybe 3 months or so we realized that she was an addict. A heroin addict to be specific with a wrap sheet a mile long. We didn’t tolerate none of that and had terminated several for being under the influence or not coming to work because of being under the influence.

The problem with Becca was going to be more difficult. You see we had already seen who she could be and who she was trying to be and we had fallen in love with her. When she was sober she lit the room up and had a laugh that would make a snake smile. But she was over powered by years of drug use and in and out of prison and jail. So it was time for me to do what God needed me to do and that was get her life turned around. But I didn’t have the tools at the time. You see I thought that you could love a person and give them everything that My wife and I thought she needed to get her on track. I was wrong. We were out matched and in way over our heads. I fired her several times to get her attention but would reach out to her within 2 days and bring her back so I knew that she was ok and safe. We knew that the only way she could get clean again was to go back to prison and eventually she did. She failed a drug test at her probation office and was sent back to prison. Before that happened I would pray with her every night at the end of her shift and she wanted so bad to have a better life but rehab, for her could only happen by incarceration.

She was given 3 years in State prison and was sent to the prison in Dayton. To prove to her that God had put her in our path we visited every Sunday in the morning so we could be at work by noon. We kept money in her commissary acct so she could provide for herself what the prison didn’t. We wanted to prove that Gods love did not end at the slamming of the prison gate. She did 1 1/2 years and was released on parole to our home. We had her released to us so we could protect from the old friends and even some of her own family that were nothing but addicts them selves. We provided a soft landing so that she could restart her life but we had a lot of rules. But she was fine with all of that and felt secure knowing that she was protected from her past. Within 6 months she was ready to fly on her own and got her own place and works for us still and is still drug free and we are so proud of her as if she was our own daughter.

Now nowhere do I claim to have saved Becca’s life. God has done that by putting me where he needed me knowing that he would send her as soon as I was strong enough spiritually to take such a task on. Our path to Livingston has been so obvious to my wife and I and Becca’s path to us even more so. As Christians we are called to seek out those that will be saved.

AMEN!! Bring your fish and loaves, he'll do the feedin!

[Bro. Bill]

AMEN!! Bring your fish and loaves, he'll do the feedin!

Amen

[GarGuy]

I have posted several testimonies over the years but I'm not sure I ever posted this one. I'll be more brief than Normal.

Carla and I were facing a situation that was dire. There was no possible positive outcome. We got in the car and I just started driving us around as we talked about things we were facing. She looked at me and asked what our next step should be. I told here there was no answer.

Carla said, "there is our answer!". She pointed at the dash display in the Honda CRV. It normally has a bunch of small items on it. Now it had one word in block letters the entire size of the display... JESUS.

The name stayed on there for probably 5 minutes before returning to Normal display . We had our answer and He made a way.

[rolylane6]

I have posted several testimonies over the years but I'm not sure I ever posted this one. I'll be more brief than Normal.

Carla and I were facing a situation that was dire. There was no possible positive outcome. We got in the car and I just started driving us around as we talked about things we were facing. She looked at me and asked what our next step should be. I told here there was no answer.

Carla said, "there is our answer!". She pointed at the dash display in the Honda CRV. It normally has a bunch of small items on it. Now it had one word in block letters the entire size of the display... JESUS.

The name stayed on there for probably 5 minutes before returning to Normal display . We had our answer and He made a way.

Chills, I just got Chills!!!
Thanks for sharing that one!

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[Gumbo Man]

I have posted several testimonies over the years but I'm not sure I ever posted this one. I'll be more brief than Normal.

Carla and I were facing a situation that was dire. There was no possible positive outcome. We got in the car and I just started driving us around as we talked about things we were facing. She looked at me and asked what our next step should be. I told here there was no answer.

Carla said, "there is our answer!". She pointed at the dash display in the Honda CRV. It normally has a bunch of small items on it. Now it had one word in block letters the entire size of the display... JESUS.

The name stayed on there for probably 5 minutes before returning to Normal display . We had our answer and He made a way.

There are times no matter where we are in our Christian walk that God has to remind us that we have taken our eye off of his promise that he made us. When adversities hit us, and they will, we do what is our responsibility and give him the rest and March on. That’s how we are strengthened in our faith.

[Rubi513]

I hope after reading this nobody thinks I’m beating myself on the chest because I’m not. All the Glory goes to God who has put me where he wants me to be so in some possible way and can be used as an instrument to glorify his existence and power.

We bought a home on the water at Lake Livingston in 2008 as a place to come and enjoy the lake life on the week ends. Never had we even toyed with the idea of moving here before we retired and even then we weren’t certain where we would go once we did. By 2010 we were feeling burn out from our careers and started thinking about the possibilities of starting a new life in Livingston which we truly loved given the slower pace of living here. I worked in the Petrochemical industry and my wife worked in the Medical field. So we talked about starting a restaurant if we could find the right location and took a leap of faith. We didn’t understand why the “calling” was so strong being that we would be leaving good careers and starting over with no guarantee of success.

So we sold our home and cashed in 401s and moved to the Lakehouse in 2011. We found the property that we would start our buisiness and purchased it and began building our little diner. We heard all of the stories about 75% of all restaurants failing within the first year but we marched on trusting that it was Gods will that we be where we are.

We opened on March 14 2014 and it was a butt whipping like we had never experienced. My god it was hard work and pulling from our local labor pool was even harder. Very little qualified applicants would come by as the mindset was would fail soon enough anyway and there was no security.

And then walked in Becca. She came in August of 2014. 5’ 2” inches tall and looking like a 15 year old boy. But she was a 33 year old gay girl. I enterveiwed her and hired her based on experience and recommendation from another employee. The next day she showed up with a bag of clothes and started training. I asked what was in the bag and was told that it was a change of clothes and she would being staying with a friend that night after work. That went on for over a week before I realized that she was actually homeless and was staying with whoever would take her in for the night. She was as tough as nails but within a short time, maybe 3 months or so we realized that she was an addict. A heroin addict to be specific with a wrap sheet a mile long. We didn’t tolerate none of that and had terminated several for being under the influence or not coming to work because of being under the influence.

The problem with Becca was going to be more difficult. You see we had already seen who she could be and who she was trying to be and we had fallen in love with her. When she was sober she lit the room up and had a laugh that would make a snake smile. But she was over powered by years of drug use and in and out of prison and jail. So it was time for me to do what God needed me to do and that was get her life turned around. But I didn’t have the tools at the time. You see I thought that you could love a person and give them everything that My wife and I thought she needed to get her on track. I was wrong. We were out matched and in way over our heads. I fired her several times to get her attention but would reach out to her within 2 days and bring her back so I knew that she was ok and safe. We knew that the only way she could get clean again was to go back to prison and eventually she did. She failed a drug test at her probation office and was sent back to prison. Before that happened I would pray with her every night at the end of her shift and she wanted so bad to have a better life but rehab, for her could only happen by incarceration.

She was given 3 years in State prison and was sent to the prison in Dayton. To prove to her that God had put her in our path we visited every Sunday in the morning so we could be at work by noon. We kept money in her commissary acct so she could provide for herself what the prison didn’t. We wanted to prove that Gods love did not end at the slamming of the prison gate. She did 1 1/2 years and was released on parole to our home. We had her released to us so we could protect from the old friends and even some of her own family that were nothing but addicts them selves. We provided a soft landing so that she could restart her life but we had a lot of rules. But she was fine with all of that and felt secure knowing that she was protected from her past. Within 6 months she was ready to fly on her own and got her own place and works for us still and is still drug free and we are so proud of her as if she was our own daughter.

Now nowhere do I claim to have saved Becca’s life. God has done that by putting me where he needed me knowing that he would send her as soon as I was strong enough spiritually to take such a task on. Our path to Livingston has been so obvious to my wife and I and Becca’s path to us even more so. As Christians we are called to seek out those that will be saved.

That may have made my eyes water a little.

[Hoggslayer]

Best thread ever. Thanks for sharing.

The enemy is defeated by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

[PineyWoodsBow]

I came to Christ when I was 23. A very dramatic conversion. Then I read the Bible. I am now an atheist.

Jason


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk