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Struggles

 
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ladyquest1  

Systematic Phenomenal Woman

What can I say...I'm here for the same as everyone else. When you have so many titles & nothing to show for it, things get complicated. Life itself is a challenge for all of us, we just need a village to help us get back on track of being counted as somebody with a seat at the table of prosperity.
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The Story of the Butterfly

The Story of the Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further.


So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.


The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body,
Neither happened!
In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.


What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.


Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly

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"Strength In The Midst of Our Struggles"

I attended two funerals last week. Both were friends. One was fighting for his life the other one took his own life. One was a hero and one was defeated. The friend that took his life decided that death was the only solution to his pain. He could not see the mountain top because he allowed himself to focus only on the valley. We have all been there when the pain becomes so bad we want to give up. We refuse to see the flowers because of the weeds. We become so entangled with our pain that we cannot believe that things will ever get better. The good news is that there is joy beyond the pain, but we have to hang in there and believe in the happiness that is within our grasp.

Life can be such a blessing, but sometimes it can be hard. We live in an unperfect world, and nothing works the way it’s supposed to. Things break. Our bodies wear out. We grow old and die. People kill each other. Marriages break up. Children get hooked on drugs or alcohol or sex. Or all three. Babies are born with defects that cannot be corrected. Priests molest children. Pastors commit adultery. Our friends disappoint us. And we disappoint our friends.

Bad things happen to all of us. and sometimes we have no control over many things that happen to us or to those around us., but we do have complete control over how we respond. Struggles are inevitable, lifelong and ultimately beneficial. We encounter God’s grace through our trials in ways that would not happen if the trials had not come in the first place. It takes a mature person to understand this principle, and ironically, it is this principle that makes us mature.

I have a sign in my office that reads, "Be a Student, Not a Victim". I am not sure who originated the statement, but the meaning is profound. Many people are professional victims, always talking about how unfair life is. A victim says, “Why did this happen to me?” A student says, “I don’t care why it happened. I want to learn what God is trying to teach me.” A victim looks at everyone else and cries out, “Life isn’t fair.” A student looks at life and says, “What happened to me could have happened to anybody.” A victim feels so sorry for himself that he has no time for others. A student focuses on helping others so that he has no time to feel sorry for himself. A victim begs God to remove the problems of life so that he might be happy. A student has learned through the problems of life that God alone is the source of all true happiness.

No matter who we are or where we live, trouble is just a phone call away. A doctor may say, “I’m sorry. You’ve got cancer.” Or the voice may inform you that your teenager has just been arrested. Or you may be fired without warning. Or someone you trusted may start spreading lies about you. Or your spouse may decide they don’t want to be married anymore. The list is endless, and the solutions are sometimes difficult to find.

My own difficulties have caused me to feel anger and despair. It is hard to find joy in life when we are hurting, isn't it? But, I have learned that I have to make a conscious choice to seek joy when hard times come. Truthfully, it’s probably a choice I’ll have to make again and again and again. And to do it I’ll have to take the long view of life, to understand that what I see is not the final chapter of the story. If I can make the choice to view life that way, then I can accept that my struggles are necessary for my growth. I believe that everything that happens to us is either caused by God or sent by God.

Don’t trust your feelings when trials emerge in your life.! When those you love are in great pain or when you face senseless tragedy or when friends turn against you or when life tumbles in around you, your feelings won’t be an accurate guide. You won’t “feel” joyful or grateful or full of trust normally. You are quite likely to be filled with a whole bag of negative emotions. So don’t judge your circumstances by your feelings. Judge your circumstances by the Word of God. When you do that, a powerful conclusion emerges: These trials provide hope that God will use to benefit His children. Seeing things God’s way doesn’t cancel your trials and it doesn’t turn them into non-trials, but it does transform your evaluation of those trials. You will view them differently because you believe that God intends them to give you a great benefit that could not come any other way.

Since. we are human it is hard to seek the joy when we are surrounded by problems. Joy does mean the absence of all pain. Joy is deep satisfaction that comes from knowing that God is in control even when our circumstances seem to be out of control. The key to joy is knowing that God is in control. If you know that, you can be satisfied at a very deep level even while you weep over what is happening around you and to you.

There are many of us who make some disappointment, some loss, some grief, the excuse for shirking plain duty. There is nothing more selfish than sorrow, and there is nothing more absorbing unless we guard against its tendency to monopolize. There is nothing that so lightens the weight of a lifelong sorrow as to make it the stimulus to a lifelong devotion; and if our patience has its perfect work, it will not make us sit with folded hands, weeping for the days that are no more, but it will drive us into heroic and energetic service.

We need to focus on the promises of God. Dwell in the Word of God. Give thanks for what you can give thanks for. Refuse to give in to bitterness and despair. Make a conscious choices to seek joy. Make up your mind to go on with life. Grief is good and proper and is healing and even ennobling, but after grief has done its work of healing and helping, then we must move on. The past is gone and we can’t go back.


Sometimes God uses suffering to test our faith. Will you still obey God in the darkness? Will you serve God when things aren’t going your way? Will you hold on to the truth when you feel like giving up? The Lord uses times of difficulty to humble us. When things are going well, we tend to get puffed up about our accomplishments. But let the darkness fall and we are on our knees crying out to God. God also uses hard times to prepare us to minister to others. He comforts us so that we may comfort others.

Until your faith is put to the test, it remains theoretical. You never know what you believe until hard times come. Then you find out, for better or for worse. When the phone rings with bad news, when your son winds up in prison, when your best friend betrays you, when you lose your job, when your parents suddenly die, when life comes apart at the seams, then you discover what you truly and actually believe in the depth of your soul. Until then, your faith is speculative because it is untested. You can talk about heaven all you want, but you’ll discover whether or not you believe in it when you stand by the casket of someone you love.

Do not give up no matter what happens or how bad life may be. Hold on for better days. When trials have finished their work in us, we will not lack anything the Lord wants us to have. If we need faith, we will have it. If we need hope, we will have it. If we need love, we will have it. Nothing will be left out; nothing will be left behind.
When trials come (and they will come to all of us eventually), there is something we can’t know and something we can know: We can’t always know why things happen the way they do. No matter how hard we try to figure things out, there will always be many mysteries in life. The greater the tragedy, the greater will be the mystery. God does not explain himself to us. As we go through life, we can look back and see many blanks that we wish God would fill in for us. Most of the time we will carry those unfilled blanks with us all the way to heaven. When hard times come, we can know that God is at work in our trials for our benefit and for his glory. To say that is to say nothing more than the words of Romans 8:28. For the children of God, “all things” do indeed work together for good. Sometimes we will see it; often we will simply have to take it by faith. But it is true whether we believe it or not. There is no growth without struggle.

First, there are the timid, those who fear the trials of life. The message is, Be of good cheer. Fear not. Nothing can touch you that does not first pass through the hands of your Heavenly Father. Though the arrow be shot by the evil one, it cannot touch you unless God should will it so. And your Father who loves you will never give you more than you can bear. Though you may feel that you are far past the limit, you aren’t. God measures his trials along with his blessings. If he afflicts you, it is not to destroy you but to develop in you the gold of Christlike character.

And to those who are suffering right now? Nothing is wasted—not your pain, your tears, your confusion or even your doubts. All of it is grist for the mill of God’s loving purpose. “Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.” Receive with joy what God has given you, and bless his name When hard times come, when trials fall upon us, or we seem to fall upon them, when the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune knock us to the ground, what should we do? Remember these two words. Pray and stay. Don’t run. Don’t hide. Don’t shake your fist at God. Don’t start arguing with the Almighty. And don’t waste time trying to make excuses or empty promises. And don’t try to bargain your way out of trouble. It doesn’t work, and you don’t have anything to bargain with anyway. Seek God’s face. Spend time with the Lord. Listen for his voice. Ask God, “What are you trying to teach me? Wait. Be patient. Don’t rush God. (You can’t rush him!) Refuse to run away. Affirm by faith that God is at work even though he seems invisible and your life seems chaotic. And don’t do anything foolish or hasty. If you are tempted to take a quick and easy road out of your troubles, stop a moment and think about it. Give God time to work.

Life is not an easy way and any representations to the contrary are false. There is an abundant life to be had, and there is spiritual victory, and there is joy in the Lord and the filling of the Spirit, but those things don’t come in spite of our trials. Most often they come through and with and alongside our trials. And for the most part, we can’t choose our trials nor can we avoid most of them. But we can choose how we respond. That part is up to us. Joy or bitterness. Forgiveness or anger. Trust or unbelief. Faith or fear. Love or hatred. Kindness or malice.Temperance or self-indulgence. Gentleness or stubbornness. Mercy or revenge. Peace or worry. Hope or despair.

Our perspective makes all the difference. Our trials are not sent to make us fall. They are sent to cause us to soar by grace. They are not meant to defeat us but to be the means to a greater spiritual victory. They are not intended to make us weaker but to make us stronger. They are not sent to hurt us but to help us. Every hard trial is another step on the stairway that leads from earth to heaven.

GOD BLESS
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"The Dark Times of Life"

The Dark Times In Life

Life can take a turn
You never thought it would
Suddenly so much can change
With so little that's understood

You ask so many questions
It seems without reply
Your heart is pained with so much doubt
And unanswered questions 'why'

It's almost like we walk through life
Just feeling our way around
We can't see the road ahead
Nor our feet on the ground

Darkness is all about us
We struggle to see the light
Just a glimmer now and then
But then fades out of sight

We cry out to God again
To show us where to go
He says 'Just take another step
To where peace freely flows'

And as we keep on taking steps
Guided by the Lord
We find in time, we walk into
The joy we knew before

It's in those times of darkness
When we feel we've lost all hope
God can do a work in us
That brings a deeper growth

So when we face the dark times
We should come before the Lord
For good will come if we believe
And hope shall be restored
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"God's Plan"

God's Plan

Some things are beyond planning.
And life doesn't always turn out as planned.
You don't plan for a broken heart.
You don't plan for a failed business venture.
You don't plan for an adulterous husband
or a wife who wants you out of her life.
You don't plan for an autistic child.
You don't plan for spinsterhood.
You don't plan for a lump in your breast.

You plan to be young forever.
You plan to climb the corporate ladder.
You plan to be rich and powerful.
You plan to be acclaimed and successful.
You plan to conquer the universe.
You plan to fall in love - and be loved forever.

You don't plan to be sad.
You don't plan to be hurt.
You don't plan to be broke.
You don't plan to be betrayed.
You don't plan to be alone in this world.
You plan to be happy. You don't plan to be shattered.
Sometimes if you work hard enough, you can get what you want.
But MOST times, what you want and what you get are two different things.

We, mortals, plan. But so does God in the heavens.
Sometimes, it is difficult to understand God's plans especially when His plans are not in consonance with ours.
Often, when God sends us crisis, we turn to Him in anger. True, we cannot choose the cross that God wishes us to carry, but we can carry that cross with courage knowing that God will never abandon us nor send something we cannot cope with.
Sometimes, God breaks our spirit to save our soul.
Sometimes, He breaks our heart to make us whole.
Sometimes, God allows pain so we can be stronger.
Sometimes, God sends us failure so we can be humble.
Sometimes, God allows illness so we can take better care of ourselves. Sometimes, God takes everything away from us so we can learn the value of everything He gave us.

Make plans, but understand that we live by God's grace.
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"Letting Go of The Past"

     Depression usually occurs from some situation in our past that we haven't resolved. Anxiety occurs because of worry or fear about a future event.
In His sermon on the mount, Jesus teaches the multitudes, to live one day at a time. We all have regrets, mistakes and sins in our past. The enemy don't let us forget. But God forgives and forgets.
     Some times our past may be filled with people who have hurt us very deeply, maybe abuse of just neglect. To move on we must forgive the people who have hurt us. When we do not forgive we empower those that have hurt us to continue abusing us long after they are physically out of our lives. Forgiveness brings healing from our past.
   And how many times have we spent days dreading a situation that assaulted our faith and stole our peace, only to find ourselves worrying about something that never happens. How many sleepless nights, tension headaches and bouts with heartburn do we endure as we ponder the "What If's" of life.
       The simple yet profound truth that Jesus taught two thousand years ago, incredibly still has relevance today. What would our lives be like if we allowed God to heal the hurts of our past and give us "perfect peace" as our lives unfolds.
     Make up your mind that you are not going to be held captive to your past, or a be a slave to worry about your tomorrow. All we really have is today, live in His peace and joy.
                                              God Bless

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Starshine  

Struggles

Got the dreaded email today,

finish calls today and I would have made 8000 of them since November- project and my part time job gone...Great and always in December..

I can't believe it..

 

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Kerii18  

.~*Something to Remember*~.

A lil Something to Remember......  When times are hard, and you think that they can't get any worse.... they may, but only for a short time. The struggles in our daily lifes are moreless challenges, they only make us stronger and give us the determination to better ourselves.

  If your not happy with your life, Change it!  Your the only one who can change the direction your life is going in.  And always remember theres always someone out there FAR WORSE OFF then YOU!  And most likely they would give anything to be in your shoes or have your problems... such as Finacial, Family, Divorce, children, Friends, Food, car issues, ect.  There's some people that wish they could have these things to complain/worry about...Theres people who dont have a penny to their name, who've lost their family or never knew them, or have seperated from their soul mate, who've lost a child or never could have one, who dont have friends, dont have food AT ALL, never had a car.... who'd give almost anything to just have one of these things!

  Dont be upset or depressed because you struggle with these issues, be thankful you have these to complain/worry about.  If you want to be in a better place, MAKE That CHANGE!!!  And always Remember, Nothing comes easy... and everything Takes time!  Start today, put a smile on your face, wipe that tear and realize... tomarrow is going to be a better day! 

BEST WISHES... Sending  Faith, Hope and Love your Way, KERI

 

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sebrins  

Help Paying Rent

Hello my name is Sandra! I need help getting cought up on my rent before my landlord boots us out.Back in 2004
we fell on some hard times. So at the first of 2005 we decide to file bankruptcy so we wouldn't lose everything we had. We thought we would be all right after that but I was wrong.Shortly after we filed we found out my husband mother had cancer. So we tried our best to help her and her daughter out we put our selfs back in the red again.
The house that we tried to save by filing bankrupcty for was now in trouble again. We had missed a couple of payments and the mortagae company was trying to get our bankrupcty dismissed so they could foreclose on the house. We finally had to release the house from the bankruptcy so we could try to sell it before they foreclosed on it. Which we did, but we didn't get no money out of it because we had it mortage to the hilt.We missed those payments because my husband had to have life saving surgery,And was out of work for 8 weeks.Well after all that
we got enough money together to rent this house that we now are living in. This was oct of 2005. I have no family
to depend on I lost my mother to cancer when I was 9yrs old, And lost my father to a massive heart attack when
I was 13yrs old.I lived with my brother  untill I was 16yrs old. I pretty much been on my on since then. I was married once to some one who I thought would be my husband forever,but I was wrong. He use to beat me,so I got  a divorce. Then I met the man I married  to now, and he has been the greatest.All I ever wanted out of life was someone to love me and for us to have a family. Well that wish came true. I have a loving husband and a
four year old daughter. Which leads us back to our struggle.

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sebrins  

sebrins

I always help others,but now I need some help. Is there anyone who can help me? I fell behind on my
rent by three months. And now the landlord is fixing to evict me and my family. We have no where else to go. So if there is some that can help please leave me a message. Thanks Sandra

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