First of all I want to ask for forgiveness to the ministry and to the LORD because it took me so long to send my second praise report. I have to confess that I have been discouraged during the past weeks and I haven’t been consistent with my lessons. Recently, I came to a place where I found myself in deep self-pity again and I realized I was letting the enemy do his work in me; I was feeling sad because I am in a foreign cold country, far away from family and friends, and was spending Christmas and New Year without my husband; then the LORD spoke to my heart and told me that HE is my Husband and that I don’t need anything or anybody else.
“For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth”. Isaiah 54:5
So I decided to wake up and see things from a different perspective. I asked the LORD to forgive me for being so ungrateful and to please let the Holy Spirit show me and guide me to see the things how HE want me to see them, and because the LORD is so good and HE answers our prayers, He just did that. So today I want to praise HIM, my LORD, my JESUS, my LOVE, because only HE can love me the way HE does.
I realized that when 2016 ended, it had been the toughest but the most wonderful year of my life because during my trials I came to know that the LORD is real and He is with me all the time. Yes I don’t have my family, my friends and my husband with me, but I have HIM and that is more than enough, although HE has giving me a new family in church, new Godly friends and so many, really I have to say it twice, so many financial blessings, that at this point in my life I ask seriously what else do I really need?
I wake up every morning thanking HIM for the new day, the new opportunity, and most of all the new me, because oh boy the LORD really changed me!!! I am not more the contentious women I used to be, I still struggle with my flesh, because the same word of GOD says, “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:17, 22–23). “And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way” (Luke 6:31), but I know His work in me has not finished yet, and if He is not in a rush, why would I be?
I praise HIM for the blessing to be a mother, and for the gift of having this little 5-year-old with me all the time, watching her grow in her life and in the LORD is amazing, this is HIS and only His miracle to me, and I ask HIM every day to fill me with His love so I can show her and others HIS love for us. “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
I have learned during this entire year to be content in every circumstance because “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones” (Prov. 17:22). I also have learn to be kind and give blessing to people, even the unkind ones, because all I want is to be obedient to the LORD, and He instruct us to do that “not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing” (1 Pet. 3:9). LORD I praise you every day of my life for You LOVE for me. You are all I need,
“For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth”. Isaiah 54:5
I realize that the LORD is more than my husband and I don’t really need anyone else in my life to make me happy, or to have Joy because those things come from HIM.
“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones” (Prov. 17:22).
I have learned to be content in every situation and praise HIM for everything because that is the way to send the enemy away, and because at the end of the day, nothing that happens to me is a surprise to the LORD.
“not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing” (1 Pet. 3:9).
This is the best weapon against the enemy, give blessing to the ones that hurt us is the best way to show Love and as it says in GOD’s word, Love never fails.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33).
When you put all the focus on the kingdom of God and obey the LORD’s principles, He will make sure you get what you want because He is first in our lives
~ Carolina in Canada