Help?

[jessiegirl]

A little backgound. It has been over a year that I was "born again". I don't know if that is the right term. But I came to understand that God will help me and listen.

My husband and I became involved in a law suit I knew I had done nothing wrong. I prayed everyday asking for God's mercy. I can't begin to tell you the peace I felt. My husband has not really been a believer. I kept telling him that I had extreme peace because of my faith. I gave him a cross to put in his pocket. I kept telling him, "the Lord will see us through this if we pray, believe in him." I kept thinking when this is done, my husband would be so blown away by what God can do for us.

Well...we had our depositions. Mine went well. I don't understand my husbands. Long story short...it is bad.

We will lose everything we have if we lose this lawsuit. It is looking like that's the way it will go.

I have became extremely depressed. I just sleep, throw up....migraine headaches. I am wondering if God does love me. I know I love him. If I have done nothing wrong, where is He?

Will you pray for me to figure out why this is happening? Pray for me that I will realize that God does love me. That is my biggest struggle right now. I don't feel anything.

jessiegirl

 

[Deamiter]

1 Peter 1:3-9
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade -- kept in heaven for you, who thorugh faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, fo ryou are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Please don't take this as, "this is God's will, so be happy!" That is CERTAINLY not what it means. This passage also does not say that your current suffering is from God - to refine your faith. It DOES say that you can take joy in your inheritance, "though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." I don't know if you've ever read "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom, but it's about a Jewish family that methodically gets moved further and further from their home, until the end up in a concentration camp during WWII. At one point, they are praying in the camp, and Corrie's older sister Betsy insists that they thank God for the lice. Corrie protests, but Betsy is ademant - and they thank God for the lice.

In our lives there are too often trials that are more than we can bear. In my experience, nobody can avoid them - though many try. Peter knew this well, and he gave good advice when he said, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!" You are shielded through faith by God's power until the coming of the salvation.

I will pray for you and your husband - that you will see the joy in our salvation when all other joy seems to be dead. You are not called to FEEL joy, or to feel happy - as life is hurting you right now. Praising God through grief or injustice seems like a non-sequeteur, like it could not be further from the truth. However, this is what Christianity was built on.

We praise and (in these cases sometimes BLINDLY) follow God through everything we do. And in return, we are granted a loving relationship that we can neither earn, nor explain. But it is worth it.

A peace of mind - knowing what the future will hold, and being sure of your destiny is impossible. A peace in God, laying your head on His heart and trusting Him when life looks unlivable is ALWAYS there. That peace you had when you were born again is there for you every day when you give up doing it on your own. Your emotions will always be tossed in the wind, but your soul can be filled with joy forever.

 

[MakeMeAServant]

Jessie,
I am sorry that you are going through the trial of a lawsuit right now and are faced with possibly losing everything, especially since you are a fairly new Christian. But, I also know that God is going to work everything out for good for you if you love Him. Romans 8:28. So many times in my life I have seen God turn terrible situations into miracles and hope. So many times those miracles (that happened when I didn't have the human strength to get out of my situation on my own) caused people around me (including family members) to believe that God was real and that He loved them. Maybe God is still using this experience to win your husband over to Christ. Sometimes people have to be utterly broken and lose control over everything in their lives in order to be able to fully want to trust God and live for Him. I know from experience; I was really stubborn. Even if God lets Satan take your home from you, won't it be worth it if your husband becomes a Christian from that experience and has an inheritance of eternal life? God still loves you and He is doing what is best for you. Besides, even if you lose everything, God promised that He would meet your physical needs (sorry I can't find the verse right now, but PM me if you want me to find it for you). God is going to take care of you through this trial no matter what happens.

Keep having faith in God because that is exactly what Christians have to do in trials (walk by faith and not by sight or what we see) and your husband needs to see your faith right now so that He will believe that he needs God too. Keep praying to God, keep reading your Bible, and keep praising God because those things will give you spiritual strength (see Acts 16 for how God broke Paul and Silas out of jail when they praised Him). See Ephesians 6:10-18 to learn how to put on the armor of God to protect you spiritually from Satan's attacks. Read passages like 2 Corinthians 12:8, 2 Corinthians 4:1-16, Colossians 3:15, Hebrews 11 to build up your faith in God and to show you that He is diligently watching over your life. Talk to your pastor and tell him your situation (but first ask your lawyer whether you can talk to your pastor about the lawsuit in detail or in general without losing your ability to keep any information you tell him that is related to the lawsuit confidential). In order not to worry needlessly about things right now, you may also want to ask your lawyer whether your residence and/or other property you own will be protected (or if you can keep it) if you lose the lawsuit. Please understand that I cannot give you any legal advice, but your lawyer can.

God sometimes lets Satan do evil things to people because trials test our faith, make us stronger Christians, and/or cause us to get our lives right with Christ. For example, my grandfather who was not a Christian gave his life to Christ during a tornado that crushed his chest and killed his mother; he gave praise to God until he died nearly 60 years later for that tornado because it caused him to be so desperate that he had to let go of his life and give it to God (and God took care of him and healed him enough that he could eat and work again and be without pain). When God lets us go through trials, He also uses those things for good in our lives to allow us to minister to others. Because of my grandfather's conversion in that tornado and his excellent Christian example afterwards, I saw how much Christ loved me and gave my life to Jesus.

Turn your problems over to Jesus right now and He will take care of them because HE IS AN AWESOME GOD. Someday you will actually look back and praise Him for the stuff you went through (as I am able to do now) because He has worked things out so well for your good. You can rest assured that God still loves you; if God didn't love you He would never have given up His precious Son Jesus to suffer the worst torture on earth and in hell in order to forgive your sins and give YOU eternal life.

Jesus is the ultimate example of how we Christians should handle suffering. Although Jesus begged God not to make Him go through the extreme pain of the crucifixion and even felt that God had abandoned Him when Jesus took the sins and sickness of the entire world upon Him, Jesus ultimately endured and fulfilled God's divine plan of salvation because He had a stong foundation in prayer and He knew God's word from the Bible. We know how those grim circumstances of Jesus' death upon that cross (which was seemingly the most devastating tragedy for Christianity at first) worked out for our good – it was solely through Jesus’ death that we can receive salvation. Now, if God planned those circumstances to work out for good, He can plan the circumstances in your life to work out for good too. And He promised to.
I will be praying for you.

 

[Didymus]

don t trust you feelings--they can be wrong. trust Jesus--He will help you to trust Him

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

I'm sure I'm not alone in praying for you. Often God uses hard circumstances like these to bring us closer to Him, and bring us to a point of complete dependence on Him. This is, for many people, the first step in the journey of Christian faith. Welcome to the family. We're here to support you.

Jeremiah 29

29:11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.