IKNOWIAM

Redeemed heathen. A quiet soul listening to God whispering in my ear. Sometimes I make what I hear into a song. Contact info: [email protected]

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

My latest song demo is up on SoundCloud - a fun Irish style hymn. It was fun to write. Hope you enjoy and pass it along...

https://t.co/hgTEmF6tax

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

People who promote or teach this usually say Jesus was (or Christianity is) all inclusive; that all sinners are welcome. That is most certainly true. But the inclusiveness for the sinner and marginalized does not include their sin. Following Jesus and becoming a Christian is to grow in Christ and leaving your sin behind you, not dragging it with you, continuing to do the sin and expecting others to accept your sin. That was never a thing that Jesus taught or is found in the Bible. It is false doctrine and that is made clear throughout the New Testament and the churches that allow or promote it are in heresy.

[Dead to Sin ✞ @deadtosin610]

The most hateful, evil group of people I could possibly think of are people who know the truth about what the Bible says about homosexuality and, under the banner of love and tolerance, give hearty approval and affirmation to a sin that God clearly condemns.

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

People who promote or teach this usually say Jesus was (or Christianity is) all inclusive; that all sinners are welcome. That is most certainly true. But the inclusiveness for the sinner and marginalized does not include their sin. Following Jesus and becoming a Christian is to grow in Christ and leaving your sin behind you, not dragging it with you, continuing to do the sin and expecting others to accept your sin. That was never a thing that Jesus taught or is found in the Bible. It is false doctrine and that is made clear throughout the New Testament and the churches that allow or promote it are in heresy.

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

[Epoch Health @epochhealth]

Her body was cooled to 60 degrees. Her heart was stopped. The blood was drained out of her brain. Every monitor in the room said she was dead.

Then she woke up and described her own surgery.

Pam Reynolds had an aneurysm at the base of her brain that couldn't be operated on by ordinary means. So Dr. Robert Spetzler stopped her heart, drained her brain, and gave himself 30 minutes to rebuild the artery.

When she recovered, she told him she had watched the whole thing. He told her she couldn't have. She was under surgical drapes. She was brain dead.

So she described his custom-made instruments. The conversations between the doctors, word for word. The problems that came up mid-surgery.

"She described the music they were playing in the operating room while she was brain dead."

Spetzler's own response: "I can't explain it."

[Faithfulness Okom @AttorneyF_]

A man walks into a waiting hall with a woman. They both appear to be around the same age. Both wear matching gold rings on their left ring fingers. They enter holding hands, a toddler between them. He kisses her and leaves.

If Someone says they are married and you respond, “I didn’t literally hear him say she is my wife,” you are not being rigorous. You are being dishonest.

Suppose later the same day you see the same couple at a restaurant celebrating with friends and you ask one of the waiters “hey what are they celebrating over there” and the waiter says the couple in matching outfits is celebrating their second wedding anniversary. If you walk out still unconvinced because the man never explicitly said “she is my wife,” you are a fool.

This is the exact level of critical thinking behind this argument about Jesus not saying “I am God”. That it has survived this long is a massive indictment on the intellectual standards of everyone who repeats it. If I were Muslim, I would plead with Imams to retire it before it does further damage to the faith's credibility.

We live in a world governed by circumstantial evidence. The justice system convicts people who never admit guilt, on the basis of facts alone. A court doesn't need a killer to say “I did it.” It examines interlocking data points: DNA, cell tower pings, footage, motive, and timelines.

One piece of evidence can be contested. When fifty lock together, they form an inescapable net. To deny the conclusion because you lack a literal confession is a deliberate suspension of common sense.

And the irony cuts deep cos you guys are quick to claim Jesus was Muslim, when you don’t have a single verse where he says “I am Muslim.” The selective bias is shamefully demonic.

If we take the framework I’ve laid down into first-century Judea and look at the interlocking facts:

Jesus used the absolute "I Am" (Ego eimi), the exact phrasing Jews recognized as the divine name given to Moses at the burning bush. When he spoke it, they picked up stones. You do not stone a man for claiming to be a good teacher.

He stood before the Sanhedrin and told the high priest they would see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, coming on the clouds of heaven, drawing from Daniel 7, where the Son of Man receives everlasting dominion. The high priest tore his garments, the prescribed response to blasphemy.

He called himself Lord of the Sabbath, an institution YHWH established at creation. To claim lordship over it is to claim the authority of its author.

He forgave sins. Directly: “Your sins are forgiven.” The scribes responded: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” They were theologically correct. He did not correct them.

These were men formed in the architecture of Jewish theology. They understood divine prerogative. Their repeated response was execution. You do not execute a man for blasphemy because he is a moral teacher. You execute him because he claimed what their tradition reserves for God alone.

The verdict does not require your agreement. It required theirs. And they gave it.

To look at all that evidence and say “he never claimed to be God” means you already made up your mind before reading. But at least be honest about it and retire the kindergarten logic.

[JohnnyOnTheSpot @SpotJohnny11668]

Jesus Fulfilled the Spring Feasts Right on God's Calendar

One of the most astonishing discoveries in Scripture is that Jesus didn't just die for our sins, He fulfilled God's prophetic calendar with breathtaking precision.

Thousands of years before Christ was born in Bethlehem, God gave Israel seven annual feasts recorded in Leviticus 23. These feasts were more than Jewish holidays. They were prophetic appointments pointing to God's plan of redemption.

Most Christians are familiar with Passover, but many have never noticed how perfectly Jesus fulfilled the first four feasts.

1. Passover — The Crucifixion

Passover commemorated Israel's deliverance from Egypt when the blood of a spotless lamb protected God's people from judgment.

Then came Jesus.

John the Baptist declared:

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29 KJV)

Paul later wrote:

"For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." (1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV)

Jesus was crucified during Passover.

2. Unleavened Bread — The Burial

Immediately after Passover came the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Leaven often symbolizes sin throughout Scripture.

Jesus, the sinless Son of God, was buried during this feast.

"Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Psalm 16:10 KJV)

3. Firstfruits — The Resurrection

The Feast of Firstfruits celebrated the first harvest offered to God.

On the very day of Firstfruits, Jesus rose from the dead.

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." (1 Corinthians 15:20 KJV)

4. Pentecost — The Coming of the Holy Spirit

Fifty days after Firstfruits came Pentecost.

Exactly fifty days later, the Holy Spirit descended upon believers gathered in Jerusalem.

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come..." (Acts 2:1 KJV)

The Church was born.

What About the Fall Feasts?

The first four feasts were fulfilled with astonishing precision during Christ's first coming.

What about the remaining three?

* Feast of Trumpets
* Day of Atonement
* Feast of Tabernacles

Many Bible scholars believe these point to events associated with Christ's second coming, the restoration of Israel, and God's future kingdom.

Why This Matters

History is not random. Prophecy is not guesswork.

The cross, the resurrection, and Pentecost all occurred according to God's perfect timetable.

The same God who fulfilled the Spring Feasts exactly as promised will fulfill every remaining promise He has made.

SPOT 🎯N Thought

The feasts of Leviticus were divine rehearsals pointing to Jesus Christ. Every sacrifice and feast pointed to Him long before He came. If God was that precise with His first-coming promises, we can trust Him to be just as precise with His second-coming promises.

"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." (Acts 15:18 KJV) ✝️📖👑

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

“When light comes, it rewrites your memory of the dark. You stop remembering what blindness felt like.”

When you have a critical theological thinker who is also a gifted writer, you get posts such as this one.

Follow
@AttorneyF_

[Faithfulness Okom @AttorneyF_]

I struggled to understand why Jesus praised Peter so highly for identifying him as the Messiah in Matthew 16.

It felt too dramatic, like he was over-spiritualizing something obvious. Peter had been traveling with him, watching the signs firsthand. Of course he knew. The high praise didn’t make sense to me, until I meditated on it.

First-century Judea had a precise and non-negotiable job description for the Messiah: a geopolitical conqueror, a second David who would break Roman occupation over his knee.

What Peter was looking at instead was a broke, unbacked teacher from a backwater town, branded a radical by the religious elite, with no army, no treasury, and no political standing whatsoever. Every physical reality in front of them said no.

The friction ran deeper. Even John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus and heard the voice from heaven, later sent messengers from prison asking, “Are you the one, or do we look for another?” If John doubted after everything he witnessed, the disciples holding steady was not a human achievement. It couldn’t be.

So when Jesus says, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,” he is not being dramatic, he is being precise. Left to human logic in that specific moment, concluding he was the Christ was an impossible deduction. The Father had to pull back the curtain.

Immediately after, Jesus speaks of the cross and impending tribulation, and Peter rebukes him: “This shall never happen to you.” It prompts Jesus’s harshest recorded response: “Get thee behind me, Satan.”

Peter’s spectacular crash is the ultimate proof that Jesus wasn’t over-spiritualizing things. The whiplash is the evidence. Left to his own devices for a second, Peter blunders so severely he is called the enemy. The rock instantly becomes a stumbling block. Peter wasn’t a genius; he was a blind man who momentarily had the curtain pulled back.

The Father had unveiled the identity, but not yet its meaning. Peter saw the Who before the What. Revelation is layered. You can receive genuine sight and still be blind to the next dimension because the curtain lifts in stages.

And that is the trap inside the gift of sight. When light comes, it rewrites your memory of the dark. You stop remembering what blindness felt like. Grace becomes furniture. Present, unremarkable, owned but never received.

Paul names this disease in a single sentence: “What do you have that you did not receive?”

The same Father who pulled the curtain back for you has not pulled it back yet for the person next to you, or is pulling it back slowly, the way dawn moves. That is not their failure. It asks of you not contempt but patience; not pride but the tenderness of someone who knows they were also once blind.

“Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.”

That sentence is not praise. It is a disqualification. Jesus wasn’t honoring Peter’s perception. He was bearing witness to the Father’s action. Peter had no credit to keep, and neither do we. Every confession any of us has ever made was given, not achieved.

The only honest response to clarity you did not earn is not confidence in your own sight. It is wonder. And a tenderness toward the still-blind that only the formerly blind can carry.

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

Excellent summary on Melchizedek in relation to Abraham and the Book of Hebrews. I’ve been studying Hebrews and recently did a deep dive on Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews put a spotlight on this mysterious King who is only briefly mentioned in Genesis and made one of most fascinating King in the Old Testament.

[JohnnyOnTheSpot @SpotJohnny11668]

🔥Bible Mysteries Most Christians Have Never Studied

Part 1: Who Was Melchizedek, the King With No Beginning and No End?

Most Christians know Abraham.

Most Christians know David.

Most Christians know Moses.

But few have ever seriously studied one of the most mysterious men in the entire Bible, Melchizedek.

Out of nowhere, this man suddenly appears in Genesis 14.

After Abraham rescues Lot and defeats several kings in battle, Scripture says:

"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God."
— Genesis 14:18 (KJV)

Then something astonishing happens.

Melchizedek blesses Abraham, and Abraham gives him a tenth of all the spoils.

Think about that.

Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, honors Melchizedek.

But who was he?

The mystery deepens in Hebrews 7.

"Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God..."
— Hebrews 7:3 (KJV)

Wait a minute.

No genealogy?

No record of birth?

No record of death?

In a Bible filled with family records and genealogies, Melchizedek stands alone.

Some believe Melchizedek was simply a historical king and priest whose ancestry was intentionally omitted from Scripture.

Others believe he was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ Himself, a Christophany.

Why?

Because Melchizedek was both King and Priest.

Jesus is both King and Priest.

Melchizedek's name means "King of Righteousness."

Jesus is the Righteous King.

Melchizedek ruled Salem, meaning "Peace."

Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham.

Jesus is greater than Abraham.

The Bible never explicitly says Melchizedek was Jesus, but it certainly points us toward Christ.

Whether he was a mysterious man chosen by God or a divine appearance of Christ before Bethlehem, one thing is clear:

Melchizedek was intentionally placed in Scripture to reveal something greater than himself.

He points us to the eternal High Priest who would come.

Jesus Christ.

🎯 SPOT ON Truth:

Some of the greatest treasures in Scripture are hidden in passages most people read right past.

Melchizedek reminds us that every page of the Bible whispers the name of Jesus.

Stay SPOT 🎯N the Word. 🙏

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

What a wonderful and insightful essay on God's Divine Promises. Would make a excellent outline for a Bible sermon or a series of sermons...

[Faithfulness Okom @AttorneyF_]

There are four distinct architectures of divine promise in scripture, living inside four figures: Abraham, Joseph, David, and the Son of Man.

Through every circumstance, the word of God is fulfilled, but what each man must wrestle with on the ground is completely different.

Abraham’s promise is unconditional.

Nobody needs to envy him for the covenant to hold, and no adversary is required to build his road. But Abraham faces a unique demon: time. He must fight the clock, which means fighting his own fading human logic.

The specific cruelty is that he does not fight alone. Sarah is aging beside him, so internal doubt inevitably externalizes into a domestic conversation, a compromised decision, and a woman named Hagar. An unconditional promise is never an easy promise. It is a slow one, and slow promises break marriages.

Joseph’s architecture is different because adversity is not an obstacle to the plan, but is the mechanism itself.

God gave him a dream, Joseph announced it at dinner, and that announcement ignited the exact chain of custody that carried him to the palace. Remove the envy, there is no pit. No pit, no Egypt. No Egypt, no throne.

His ‘enemies’ are just unwitting freight carriers for his destiny. What makes Joseph’s cross uniquely torturous is the reality that the people who despise him are the very people he belongs to. Nothing shatters identity more than the hatred of those you love. It forces a rapid, brutal maturity. Joseph must become a man before he has ever had the chance to be a boy.

David faces a far more rational threat. The man being displaced by your arrival will never love you. King Saul does not need a revelation to feel threatened; you simply have two anointed men in a room with only one throne. Hostility is just the natural temperature of that environment.

Notice, though, that Saul’s hatred cannot move David anywhere. Unlike Joseph, David is already in the right country, the right tribe, and the right bloodline. What makes David’s trial distinct is absolute proximity. Joseph is removed from the envy early and shipped across a border. David suffers it at the source. He eats near Saul, playing the harp for the man who will throw a spear at his chest in the morning. He must trust that God can solve a problem while standing directly next to it.

Then there is the Son of Man.

In the book of Daniel, long before any cross, garden, or earthly trial, the Son of Man approaches the Ancient of Days and is handed dominion, glory, and a kingdom that will never pass away. For him, the crown is not a future event. It is a present reality. He walks into every room already possessing what the other three are dying to see.

This completely changes the nature of his fight.

Abraham fights time. Joseph fights the heartbreak of beloved hatred. David fights proximity to a violent king. The Son of Man must fight certainty itself.

He knows exactly what he carries. Because he knows, he must constantly resist the ultimate temptation: the presumption that the process is beneath him, that the suffering is optional, and that the path is inefficient.

He must actively restrain himself from summoning the legions of angels available to him at any given microsecond. In Gethsemane, in Pilate’s hall, and on the hill, he has the authority to end it all. Not escape it, but end it. He is not a man in a pit hoping someone pulls him out. He is the crowned king choosing to stay in the pit.

This is the hardest posture in scripture.
Abraham, Joseph, and David are patient because they have no alternative. The Son of Man is patient while holding the absolute key to his own release. All four carry the promise, and all four must endure. But only one of them restrains his own hand. And that specific restraint is what saves the rest of us.

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

A well timed testimony…

Acts 20:28
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

[Skeletor 🧼🧽🫧 @TheMuppetPastor]

Lori (not real name) was a major figure in women’s ministry at the church. She brought in new converts and reached all sorts of lost souls. For the past five years, she was a pillar of her church.

A stunning woman, she also was a former prostitute.

But while she had come to Christ and repented, Lori knew how to reach others on the edges of society.

Lori soon caught the eye of the minister’s son, and after about a year, he asked her to be his wife.

The same congregation that loved Lori’s testimony was in an uproar. What? That pastor’s son could do much better! She wasn’t meant for a good boy like him!

The issue became so controversial that it was brought up at a business meeting. After concerns were raised, the pastor’s son stood up and walked to the podium.

“You know; Lori really isn’t on trial here tonight. Instead, it’s that shed blood of Jesus Christ. Because the same blood which covered YOUR sin is somehow incapable of covering hers.”

There was a stunned silence.

And suddenly, weeping.

He was right. How could they claim to be saved by Jesus, yet declare another sinner beyond redemption? Did they think the same blood that covered Paul couldn’t cover Lori?

There was hugging, apology, and one of the musicians rushed to the piano for an impromptu round of “Nothing but the Blood.”

“Oh precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus”

This was an anecdote shared with me today about a Pentecostal church somewhere off in Tennessee. I wanted to share it because sometimes judgmental people need a reminder about the Savior.

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

A wonderful testimony…

[Byron Donalds @ByronDonalds]

To you, it's just a Cracker Barrel parking lot. To me, it's where I gave my life to Jesus Christ.

I was 21 years old. I was working at the Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee after some of the worst years of my life. I'd made mistakes. Real ones.

I grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, raised by a mom who worked hard and didn't accept excuses. But I made decisions that should have ended my story before it ever really started. By the grace of God, they didn't. But every day, I was carrying them.

One afternoon, a church group came into the restaurant, just back from a revival. I served them their meals like I served any other table. But something happened while I was serving them. I can't fully explain it to you. The Lord spoke to me. He said, “Stop running from Me.”

It knocked me back.

I went to find the table, and they were all gone. I could see through their windows that they were getting on their bus, and I knew deep down that if I let them drive away, I was going to keep running. So I went outside. The last woman, just as she was stepping onto the bus, turned to me and asked, “Are you okay?”

I told her, “No ma’am, I’m not okay.” I told her the Lord was telling me to stop running.

That whole bus emptied out, stood with me in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee, Florida, and prayed over me right there.

I gave my life to Christ that day. Right there.

I still get emotional about it. Because I know what I was before that moment, and I know what He's done since. He gave me a wife who shares my faith. He gave me three sons. He gave me a career, a community, a calling I never would have dared to ask for. He took a kid from Crown Heights who’d run out of chances and gave him a life that doesn't make sense apart from grace.

People ask me sometimes why I talk about it. Why I bring up the parking lot. Why I don't just keep that part private and let folks see the polished version.

I'll tell you why.

Because there's a young man out there right now — maybe in Tallahassee, maybe in Tampa, maybe in Miami, maybe in a small town in the Panhandle — who thinks his story is already over. Who thinks the mistakes he's made disqualify him from the life he could have had. Who thinks God doesn't want anything to do with somebody like him.

I'm here to tell him: that's a lie.

In life, you're not who you are at the lowest point. You're who you choose to become after.

The Lord met me in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. He'll meet you wherever you are.

You just have to stop running.

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

The Joy of the Lord is a great equalizer; a peasant can feel like a king when he is blessed with the Joy of the one true King

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

@almarquardt And you cast her a pearl - well done!

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

Critical thinking at it's finest. Another banger by @AttorneyF_ ...

Legal reasoning that would make Paul smile.
If you aren't following him; you're missing out.

[Faithfulness Okom @AttorneyF_]

Christianity is the only major world religion structurally built on reasoning. Isaiah 1:18 isn’t an ornament, it says “Come, let us reason together” this is the actual operating system.

God for instance does not drop the resurrection out of nowhere and demand blind surrender. He spends centuries building a case.

He starts with Sarah’s dead womb, pulling life from what biology wrote off. He establishes a pattern so that when He later asks Abraham to sacrifice that same son, Abraham isn’t taking a leap in the dark. Hebrews 11:19 says Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. He applied logic to a pattern he had already witnessed. A pattern that also simultaneously prepared Israel for a virgin birth. If God can resuscitate a barren and biologically dead womb, he can make a virgin conceive.

Look at the Book of Hebrews. No other religious text matches its structural intent. It wasn’t written to merely assert authority; it was written to argue. It addresses deep doubt, deconstructs a competing framework from within its own texts, and walks wavering believers through a sophisticated intellectual crisis. Other religions rely on later theologians to patch up their texts. Hebrews does it internally. That is a different category of scripture.

Now turn the lens.

Look at Islam’s foundational structure: one man, one cave, one angel, 23 years, and zero witnesses. If Christianity rested on a single person claiming they saw the resurrected Christ, it would rightly be dismissed for a lack of evidence. Yet Islam’s entire revelation hangs on a private, solitary encounter no other human could corroborate. The Quran arrived through a chain of one.

Even its view of angels lacks checks and balances. Daniel 10 shows an angelic messenger being resisted by spiritual forces for 21 days, needing Michael’s help to break through. In the biblical framework, angels operate within a contested cosmic order; they aren’t automated, infallible pipelines. Islam makes Gabriel the sole transmitter of truth for two decades based on a single, unverified human experience.

The five daily prayers, the very core of Islamic practice, never appear in the Quran. You must rely on later Hadith collections to even find them. A system that claims to correct the Bible, yet depends on outside oral traditions to fill its own structural gaps, hasn’t answered anything.

Islam doesn’t resolve doubt with argument. It resolves it with institutional pressure; a closed system that criminalizes exit and suppresses questioning, presenting forced conformity as divine conviction. That is not clearing doubt; that is just outlawing it.

Christianity looks at the skeptic and says: Come, look at the empty tomb, examine the evidence, reason with Me. Islam’s response to the crucifixion is simply: “it was made to appear so”.

Think about what that requires. It means God staged a cosmic illusion on a hill in Jerusalem, actively deceiving the followers of Jesus, only to later punish humanity for believing the very trick He played. One faith is secure enough to invite its own interrogation. The other has to resort to a divine magic trick just to keep its narrative from collapsing under the weight of historical fact. 😂

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

Seems the veil between weak Christians and non-Christians is growing thinner each day...

[Megan Basham @megbasham]

So much of the church seems to have adopted a false understanding of compassion that requires us to never strongly rebuke anyone for anything.

Our society shows the fruit of it.

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

I concur; there is a lot of biblical conversation here. John Lennox is one of God's treasure...

[Melissa the Hopeful🏠Homemaker @BiblicalBeauty]

Steven Bartlett, host of the podcast, The Diary of a CEO, released an interview with Christian apologist, John Lennox, this week, and his closing comments to him were fascinating:

"One of the most compelling arguments for God that you've presented (and your way of seeing the world and being) is not actually necessarily anything you've written in your books or not not necessarily anything you've said. It is actually you.

You have a certain peace and contentment that I rarely see in people that I interview, but I often see, and I've almost always seen, in the Christians that I've interviewed, and this is a interesting phenomenon for me...it seems to be a trend that a lot of the Christian apologists that I've interviewed have that anchoring that so many of us are looking for."

What a great witness.

Link to interview below

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

God's plan for you is always better than yours. He is always listening and already knows what you want. But what you want and what you need, usually doesn't align at first. The flesh will always want you to give in and uses fear to motivate you but you needn't succumb to it. Instead, surrender to God and He will help you overcome fleshly fear and the Peace He has planted in you will grow and flourish.

[IKNOWIAM @MindfulCookies]

One thing I enjoy about posts by @ProLifeisProGod is that often uses her own story very well, like this one, to speak on how she sees God working in her life and as we read it, we nod along in agreement, thinking this is kind of like what God has done or is doing in my life....

[PNW Ronda @ProLifeisProGod]

For years I had a thriving secular counseling practice.
One day a few years ago I heard, "Do Christian counseling" and felt instant fear. I was sure I wasn't hearing my own thoughts because I had zero interest in taking a 'risk' with my business.

A few weeks later a friend asked me (without knowing anything) if I would attend an 8 month Biblical Counseling course.

I signed up for the course, telling myself it was the first step towards making the switch. Really, I was kicking the can down the road.

During that period of time, I went from a full caseload (20-22 hours a week) down to averaging 8 clients a week. I attributed the drop to the economy (I'm cash pay and don't take insurance) and comforted myself that it wasn't just me, every therapist forum I was on was replete with stories of therapists leaving the field because they weren't able to pay the bills--even if they accepted insurance.

My practice has had ups and downs, so I figured my caseload would go back up on its own.

The problem wasn't that clients were leaving, it was that they were healing and leaving therapy (wonderful), but no new referrals were coming in.
This is the case for most therapists right now.

At that point, my fear around switching to Christian counseling went through the roof. The business felt so fragile that I was paralyzed.

The Holy Spirit kept at me. At random times, every few days, I heard, "Do Christian Counseling".

Finally, I submitted. I repented for ignoring Him for a year and a half, prayed for comfort, and changed all of my content.

I gained four new clients within 2 weeks. I was relieved but didn't grasp what was happening. Then I noticed a pattern.

Almost like clockwork, I'd think, "Please comfort me around my business" and within HOURS I'd have a new client inquiry.

Therapists are still struggling, especially cash pay.

I'm overbooked. The next client will have to go on a waitlist.

The LORD is not an ATM. He doesn't work the same way with all of us. His relationship with every single one of us is unique-- perfectly tailored for what we need.

I've been physically ill for almost two years and He hasn't healed me. He has His reasons for that and I know whatever those reasons are, they are for my good. It probably isn't even any of my business why he hasn't made me healthy.

My biggest issue when I was saved was a lifetime of financial fear. This was no small thing. I destroyed my life due to foolish decisions I made out of financial fear.

This professional journey feels like my Egypt. He showed me that if I resisted him, I would suffer and if I trusted Him completely, He would provide.

Whatever you are struggling with, consider how the process is perfectly tailored to you. What is He teaching you? No matter how awful your situation may be, He is right there with you, loving you perfectly.

[Skeletor 🧼🧽🫧 @TheMuppetPastor]

In 1978, M. Scott Peck wrote a book the blew the minds of millions across the globe.

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because when we truly see this truth we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult, once we truly understand and accept it, then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

M. Scott Peck

This simple statement helped to explain a basic truth that many of us somehow fail to grasp. Perhaps it’s the movies and tv shows we watch, which make us think that life is easy and success is just a mild amount of effort. Maybe it’s the soft bigotry of low expectations. But for whatever reason, so many of us act surprised and offended when life places difficult obstacles before us. Many of us operate under the delusion that “Once I obtain X or once we get through Y, I everything will be fine.”

My friend, you live in a fallen world, and everything will never be fine.

But that’s OK.

Often atheists like to claim that Christians suffering with health issues are proof that if God exists, He doesn’t help His children.

This, again, fails to understand the basic truth that life is difficult and happiness is only guaranteed in heaven.

The New Testament was written by men who died for Jesus, with only John receiving a natural death. The Bible is full of stories about the suffering of Hebrews under punishment from God after they turned to idols. One book of the Bible concerns the suffering of the righteous Job, and another contains poetry which walks through deep despair upon seeing the destruction of Jerusalem.

When Jesus was on this earth, He never once promised an easy life for His followers. In fact, He guaranteed the opposite.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.””
John 16:33 ESV

In this world you…might…have tribulation?

No, sorry. The world is “will”. A certainty.

You need to understand that Jesus never promised to take all your troubles away. Rather, Jesus promised to be with us in all of them. Always.

Many lose faith during times of great trial, and to be honest, I was one of them. I didn’t truly understand that life was going to be difficult and that Jesus had never guaranteed anything but trials.

Yet why was I shocked? The answer was before me in the Bible.

We largely cannot control our trials. All we can do is control how we react to them. Will our trials break us? Or will they draw us closer to Christ and teach us valuable lessons and insights?

Stop being surprised by life’s hurdles. Accept that they will always be present and life will never be free from them. This won’t make them go away, but it will make them less ominous. Jesus is with you in each trial, Christian! And He has overcome the world.

[C-Wonder @CWonderGM]

That’s funny Pearl, the Apostle Paul didn’t brag about how better he was than other people. In fact he did just the opposite.⬇️

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”
1 Timothy 1:15 NIV