I'm going to be enormously bold here, but I've been reading along on this forum and really felt I just had to write this.

"In EVERYTHING give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you..."

I'm sure you all have heard this verse, but I wanted you to notice the word EVERYTHING. Please note that it is not God's will for us to praise Him in good circumstances only...or when there are obvious angels in our midsts. God wants us to THANK HIM in every circumstance. People, He means it...EVERYTHING.

Now, I have to confess that I had a lot of choking and bile in my mouth when I thanked God for the OW. I really was not thankful for her!! But my heart was willing to obey God and so my actions overrode my feelings and I DID what I was commanded to do. I THANKED GOD.

HRMPH. That was yucky. But I was obedient, and that's what counts.

Folks, I love you all, and TTSMM, I am most extremely grateful for you carrying on the tradition that cajunky started. I truly hear and feel your pain with your wife, your past affair, and your temptations now. But my brothers and sisters, I hear this a lot:

"When is God going to answer my prayers??"

"When is He going to reconcile this marriage?"

"(Whining of miscellaneous magnitudes--heehee <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" /> )"

I can answer those questions for you. God *IS* answering your prayer. He knows better than you, and right now His answer is "no" or "not now". God will reconcile your marriage in HIS time, not yours, and to God 1000 years is as a day! So...it could be a week, folks!

This painful period of your life is searing and indescribably painful, but trust God that He knows what he's doing...and THANK HIM. You were as impure gold, and guess what? He has had to put you into the fire to completely melt you. That means the shape that you WERE is not the shape that you will become. Everything that is not of God will be burned away, and ya know what? It's gonna hurt. But GIVE THANKS.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, my Father. Thank you for loving me so much that you would completely change me into what you want! Thank you for doing the painful work that had to be done so I can be purified! Thank you for using my H/W even though they don't know they're being used for your purpose. Thank you for turning my world upside down so I would depend on YOU and not my world. Thank you for offering me the opportunity to single-mindedly turn to you for my needs. Thank you for taking away what I thought I needed so that I could see I didn't really need it at all. Thank you for teaching me how to live on little or no money and how to live on faith in you instead. Thank you for my car breaking down--I needed a new one and I know you'll bring it to me. Thank you for my kids acting just HORRIBLY and embarrassing me at the store--now I have a glimpse of how you must feel. Thank you that I haven't been intimate with anyone in more than a year, so that I can become more and more and more intimate with you.

My friends, GIVE THANKS. Thank God right now for your woes and hurts, and for the very thing that hurts you MOST.

Thank you, Abba, for the Other Woman. I know you love her and I know you are in her life too and want your dearly beloved daughter to come to you. Thank you for using her in YOUR wisdom to do what had to be done for both my husband and for me to grow. Thank you for the affair. Thank you for shaking the very foundation of my life so that I could see that I had built on my earthly marriage and not on You. Thank you for EVERYTHING.


CJ

Faithful,

I believe every one on this board is thankful for the trials and tribulations that come along with being a follower of Christ. I know, personally, that I am thankful to God for allowing me to go through this trial, to ride these rough waters, because without them, I don't think I would have seen what kind of wife I was being toward my H. I would never have seen the changes that needed to be made in ME if I had not experienced this. I not only have learned how to be a better wife, but I am learning how to be a better PERSON in general. I have learned so many things within the past 3 months that it has affected EVERY aspect of my life and for that, I am eternally grateful to God.

Sometimes, when we're focusing on our situations instead of God, the burden becomes very heavy and we feel like the all the weight is on our shoulders. That is why we encourage one another, lift each other up, and "shake" those feelings off and get our attention back to God and His will for our lives.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> "When is God going to answer my prayers??" </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Just a note, even David asked God this question, numerous times. And may we be reminded that Jesus too, the night before he hung on that cross asked God to take away the cup from him. He did not want to experience the pain, but he knew that he HAD to to fulfill God's purpose. Just the same, we get our moments of When is this cup going to be passed? When is the pain going to end? But then we reflect, get back in His word, and we know that God's will WILL be done no matter what that means.

faithful,
I was reading my Bible last night, and I just finished Genesis. Here is what I wrote afterwards.

"Gn 50:15-21. This is the ultimate forgiveness (for man). Joseph saw the GOOD (God's Will) out of the EVIL (his brother's betrayal).
------PARALLEL------
Out my HORRIBLE, EVIL acts (adultery, pronography, & other sins) God has brought GOOD (I am a Child of God once more)."

A few weeks ago I was listening to Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family). He was doing his "Best of the Best" broadcasts for 2003. This one was with Dr. RJ Kindel (I believe) and it was about forgiveness. After listening, I made it a point to forgive the woman I had the A with, not verbally, but through my actions. Instead of ignoring her, I said "Hello" and wished her a Merry Christmas.
Since then, Satan has placed many thoughts of the A in my mind, trying to tempt me, and it's disgusting, BUT I forgive her.

On another radio show, Dr. Charles Stanley (Insight for Living), mentioned that all of us complain to God when we are going through "it". Instead of saying, "God, when will this be over?", we should be saying, "God, how am I doing?". Paraphrase - Am I learning what You need me to learn here? Am I becoming more like Your Son, Jesus Christ?

God's Grace,
ttsmm

Now this is hard
Thank you for my divorce and my wife's marriage to the other man in her life. I know this is meant for good in my life. Thank you for my lost of work for a while, so that I may rely on God's will in my life. Thank you for the three year wait for my wife's return so I may draw closer to you.

Psalm 139:14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;Wonderful are Your works,And my soul knows it very well.

time,
Welcome to the Prayer Forum. The men and women here are very supportive of eachother. I read a few of your posts and I can only imagine what you and your children are going through.
Please stick around. We all pray and fast on Weds for each other. Here is the latest posting on that Weekly Prayer and Fast

God's Grace,
tryingTOsaveMYmarriage

Father God, You are in control of all things. You, and You alone are the Master of ALL. You alone determine if our next breathe is our last. Every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! You loved us enough to give us a free will to condemn ourselves, and yet You also provided us with a Savior, that if we would confess Him as such, that You would save us from this world. If there is sin in our life Lord, we confess it, that we may draw close to You, that we may come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may walk in the glory of Your unconditional love, that we will be with You forever. Teach us, show us, change us Lord, into the men and women You want us to be. It is Your plan Lord, and not ours that matters. Forgive us when we don't understand Your perfect plan and we begin to murmur and complain. Father, we surrender now, we give it all to You. You guide our steps from now on. Teach us Your ways O'Lord, and protect us from our own. Lord, You Yourself are obedient to Your word, teach us to do the same. And now we claim Your forgiveness Father, Your healing and complete forgiveness. Thank You Lord. In Jesus name. Amen

Father, I thank you for loving me so much that you never stop teaching me how to be better. Lord, I had the opportunity to work on my M long before the A's. I just didn't get it.

Thank you for your preserverance in not saying "You will never get it, I done trying with you". Than kyou for having faith in me that you knew I would lean on you during the trials my M would face.

Father, thank you for alowing me to see that the man I have made of myself could be much better when turned over to you my Creator. Making me into a Godly man is painful Father, but you know the plans you have for me. Plans to prosper and be grow in Godly wisdom. Plans that could never have been fulfilled with the vessel I have made myself into.

Lord, help me to continue relying on you for everything. Remind me to be thankful in all these things and to remember to ask you "how am I doing; am I learning the things you want me to learn?" (Thank you TTSMM).

Thank you for your blessing also. In the very precious name of Jesus. Amen

Thank you Faithful for the reminder.

S&C

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.

Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.

<small>[ January 01, 2004, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: FaithfulWife ]</small>

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Painful moments, trust God.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I am learning how to do this very slowly (I wish it would sink in already! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> ) Yesterday I had such a painful moment but I need to trust God that He knows what He's doing and He's continuing to work even though I think He's not. Please help me trust you, O God, even when things look grim and hopeless.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> Every moment, thank God </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thank you, Father, for the talk my husband & I had on Friday, for showing me a sign of possible reconciliation, showing me that You are still in control even though I have moments of hopelessness and despair. Thank you for my husband's heart of stone the next day because it shows me that You are working on reconciliation and Satan is getting angry because he's losing the war. Thank you, God, for easing my frustrations this morning as soon as I walked through the church doors. Thank you for giving us the gift of Your only son, sent to die for us so that we may live eternally. Praise Your holy name!!!

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> Thank you for giving us the gift of Your only son, sent to die for us so that we may live eternally. Praise Your holy name!!! </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">It all starts with Jesus. Without Him, we were the walking Dead. Doing our own thing, looking out for #1, etc. When we are born-again, our Focus shifts. We (are supposed to) realize WHY we were created.

We sing a song in our church. The words go:
"Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord!"

Scriptures tell us that "If we were silent, God would raise up STONES to Praise Him!"

Let us not forget that our BREATH is to be used to Praise Him. Our LIVES are to be a PRAISE to Him.

We have a lips to Praise Him. We have EYES to see His creation. We have ears to Hear His Creation and the sounds of it. We have legs to move toward other believes, part of His Body. We have arms to reach out to Touch, to Hold, to Love His Church (the Body).

See, I am learning to use ALL the "parts" of my *wonderfully and fearfully made" body to Praise the Creator who put them all together for His Wonderful Purposes.

THANK YOU, LORD!!
\O/

thank you God for letting me have the free will to make an asc of myself in front of my d as she screams for me and mommy to stop fighting.

thank you for having mommy call me names in front of my c and making me out to be the evil one in this m.

thank you for having me lock myself in a freezing basement because i am afraid to go outside and listen to her bulls***.

thank you for allowing me to ruin my d's day. she baked a little cake with her ezbake oven for me and mommy (separately) to eat. then fight started just before the cake, so she is now depressed (Please take her into Your loving arms and protect her from the harshness that Mommy and Daddy throw at eachother.

thank you for not showing me that you care about my m or my w, this way i can have something to complain about, because i am full of grief.

should i go on?

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="images/icons/mad.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Teary]" title="" src="graemlins/teary.gif" />

My husbands son came to my house tonight. We started talking about different things, about his fathers affair, the ow and such. Right before he left he said something told him to tell me that I had to forgive the ow and also to love her. I said I haven't been able to do that and I especially don't want to love her. I do know that what he said is the truth. That has been a hard thing for me to even think about doing, but I know it is something I have to do. We have to do things that seem like it's impossible to do, things that we feel like we shouldn't have to do, and things that we don't want to do, but no matter how we feel, it has to be done. And thanking the Lord for our trials is one of them.

<small>[ January 04, 2004, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: Cheryls ]</small>

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by tryingTOsaveMYmarriage:
<strong> thank you God for letting me have the free will to make an asc of myself in front of my d as she screams for me and mommy to stop fighting.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Abba, thank You that You love TTSMM inspite of the fact that he acted in a human way and made a poor choice. Thank You that You created his voice and his arteries (which were stretched to the limit). Thank You that in Your infinite wisdom You offered TTSMM an angel here on earth in the disguise of his daughter, so You could virtually show him that he is loved and valued.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"><strong>thank you for having mommy call me names in front of my c and making me out to be the evil one in this m.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thank You for creating mommy with a firey, passionate spirit that YOU gave her. Thank You that mommy is creative and imaginative in choosing her names. Thank You that You are currently sparing mommy the pain of the guilt and anguish that she would surely bare if she were to face herself and realize the damage that she's doing to TTSMM and their D. Thank You that You were so wonderfully divine in creating us with ways to save our sanity, even if WE are the ones who are acting insanely. The human mind is truly a miracle of Your creation.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"><strong>thank you for having me lock myself in a freezing basement because i am afraid to go outside and listen to her bulls***.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thank You for that LOCK!! Thank You that it was sturdy and strong and unbreakable, so that TTSMM could literally flee from evil. Thank You for the bitter cold in the basement, so that TTSMM could stay alert and alive and aware of his surroundings. Thank You that TTSMM is suffering, because he knows that suffering is to be counted as JOY because that means YOU are changing him and working in him. Thank You for sparing his ears from hearing further bulls***. Thank You that TTSMM had the wisdom to flee. Thank You for providing him a place that was not outside and that offered some shelter. Thank You for the dankness of the basement--it reminds us of how good we have it right upstairs!

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"><strong>thank you for allowing me to ruin my d's day. she baked a little cake with her ezbake oven for me and mommy (separately) to eat. then fight started just before the cake, so she is now depressed (Please take her into Your loving arms and protect her from the harshness that Mommy and Daddy throw at each other.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Abba, You know that it is my firm belief that children are Your angels here on earth--they just don't know it. So, Thank you SO MUCH that You sent an angel to live right in TTSMM's home! That is so wonderful of You!! Thank You for the strength that You have given Your angel--and the intuitive wisdom that she has directly from you that she has not yet learned to ignore like us grown-ups! Thank You for her kind, soft heart that baked the cakes. She is so precious! What a gift! Thank You that she is there and that You have provided for her all that she needs in order to survive this and grow. Thank You for the opportunity to show her that even grown-ups can make a mistake and apologize. Thank You for this chance to make things right with her and love her up!! Thank You for this living example of what a godly person would do if they made a poor choice: REPS. Take (R)esponsibility, (E)mpathize, the (P)lan to change, and offer (S)afety. REPS.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"><strong>thank you for not showing me that you care about my m or my w, this way i can have something to complain about, because i am full of grief.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Father, I'm sorry Your beloved son TTSMM is in so much pain. I'm sure You can hear the bitter wound of his soul as he cries out to You from the depths of dispaire. I personally pray that You comfort him and send ministering angels into his life to restore his faith and patience. Meanwhile, Thank You, Father, for Your wisdom in saying "No" right now. I trust you completely. I know for a fact that Your interest is in TTSMM's soul and the soul of his wife, and I know for a fact that You know just what to do to bring each one of them to YOU. Part of faith is leaning completely, and I choose to lean completely on You. I KNOW that You know what You're doing, and I accept Your "no" for now.

Thank You for hearing our prayers.


CJ

Thanks, CJ.

Your posts always bless me!

God Bless,

Faithful,
WOW <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

That was pretty amazing. I'm just reading now because I have been pretty busy at work (NOT neglecting prayer, praise and worship though).

Thank you ABBA, Father, for making me bored at work, and listening to my heart to convict me of my wrong-doing.

Thank you for my boss approach me, in a fair manner, letting me know that she is aware of my consistent lateness and that my hours have to change; conviting my heart.

Thank you for the potential blow up today, and having my D tell me, "Daddy, I think you should go for a walk." (We made a pact that if she saw Mommy and Daddy arguing, she would tell me to go for a walk), and I did go for a walk.

Thank you for Noelle's feeling nervous today; therefore she requested me to stand by her when she did the first reading in church today at her "First Penance" ceremony. (VERY PROUD DADDY <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" /> ).

Thank you for making my S obstinate and strong-willed. This has made me change the way I discipline, as well as ask, him to do or NOT do things. You have made me improve my parenting skills.

Thank you for giving me good Christian men and women in my life (FW you can post that email, I think many, many people will benefit), who care about me, my M, and in spreading Your Word.

And, Thank you Dear Heavenly Father, for all the trials, tribulations, and turmoil You have allowed into my life. I know deep in my heart that You use these situations to "round off the dishonorable rough edges" which I still carry. Our Almighty Potter, mold me into the vessel You had intended for me before I was born.

I ask for the fruits of the Holy Spirit be bestowed upon myself, and my fellow prayer warriors, especially the gift of patience (I think the biblical name is more descriptive - longsuffering). Thy Will Be Done. Amen.

Love in Christ,
ttsmm