Help for Adversity - Pt. 5 - possible reasons for adversity

Happy Monday Morning

Sweet Friends,

Hope you had a nice and restful

weekend...............

Ours was definitely restful and a wee bit boring 

and gloomy,  I have to say!!  Until Sunday anyway.

This past week has been overcast and cloudy and

 last Friday and Saturday were rainy, so It reminds 

me of why people up North get SAD disease.

May God Bless you Gals
 with sunshine in your souls!!

  It reminds me of when we

lived in Germany almost 40 years ago,  the 

weather where we lived was like that all the

time with misting rain, much like London weather

 I heard,  and for this gal who had never been out

of sunny Florida it was quite a challenge.  I thought 

the sun shined like that everywhere, course,

I was only 19 years old at the time.

Well, we had something very interesting happen

 on Friday but I will wait and tell you tomorrow

or this post will be really long.............and 

maybe I might have even more news by then.

At least we are hoping so!!

Well,  Today we are still talking about the possible

reasons for adversity or trials, so this would be

Adversity tip

#7

If you have asked the Lord to search your heart and

He has not pointed out anything to you,  then more

than likely, there could be something the Lord needs to

 prune out of your life, like relationships that might not be 

good for you, fears, idols, attitudes and the like.

 Pruning can hurt as much as discipline. Sometimes I say,

and believe, because I have experienced it..... it can

 be like having surgery without anesthetic.

Discipline hurts but pruning also hurts,  and they can

feel very similiar. I remember someone saying once
God may hurt you but He will never harm you, and
I believe that to be true too.  For instance,  if
you had a broken leg and the Dr. had to set it 
and cast it,  it would hurt,  but are his intentions
to hurt you or  to help you!!   God's intentions
are always to help us and make us more fruitful,
so we can live the abundant life He wants for us.

John 15:1-5 says

 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

 while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes

 so that it will be even more fruitful.

 3You are already clean because of the word

 I have spoken to you.

 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can

 bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.

 Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains

 in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;

 apart from me you can do nothing

About 10 yrs. or so ago, I came to see and understand

this truth about pruning in a new way, when I had a

 pinched nerve. I have never experienced this kind of

 excruciating physical pain in my life, I could hardly even
 think, let alone pray more than "Help", and it lasted about
 3 weeks 24-7, and even tho I went to the Dr., all they did
 was give me muscle relaxers and anti-inflamnatories
 which did nothing at all for the pain, or anything else
 it seemed, then my Pastor, at the time, told me I should
 try his Chiropractor cause he had a pinched nerve once,
 and the Dr. helped him,  so I decided to try him.
 Praise God for this man!!

As I began to get some relief I began asking the Lord
 what had I done, how had I sinned, and to please tell me
 so I could make it right with him, but he revealed nothing,
 but I felt like surely I must have done something to be
 going thru this awful pain and I was a bit frustrated that
 I was getting no answers as to why this was happening.

Then, somehow don't even remember how, I got
 my hands on a lil book by a man called Bruce Wilkerson,
 called "Secrets of the Vine".

It was a divinely appointed book,  I can assure you,


I totally related to the book because he said that
when bad things would happen to him, he would
ask the Lord about sin and when the Lord didn't
tell him,  he would get angry with the Lord, then
he would be in sin,  and it was like a viscious cycle,
until, he realized what God was really up to!
Pruning!!

That is when I realized if I wasn't being convicted

of any sin,  then this must be a pruning experience

and it really helped me to relax a bit and to start

looking for what God was trying to show me or

teach me or take out of my life.

 One point he makes is that if you are being pruned, 

it will not stop until God is done doing whatever He is 

trying to accomplish, if  it is sin and you repent of it,

it will stop immediately.  Great thing to remember!!

I highly recommend the book!!  In fact, many times when
I or we are in a trial I will reread it....

cause you can really do it in one sitting, and it is full of
 truth and wisdom and just a great reminder.  

That book also helped me realize that the story of Job is
 really about a story of pruning, as well as testing.

I truthfully, had always struggled with the job story,  and
 this book really helped me to see it in a whole different
 light. The result was the pruning of an attitude and
 a fear that I had.

It was also the beginning of God teaching me about the
 importance of praise,  but that is another subject for 
another time, but will come later in this series.

Now back to the job story...........Again......Satan 
was nothing more than God's errand boy. Because in 
the end God completed restored Job to better than
 before,  and in my own life I can honestly say that
 God always put back more than He takes away!!

Even if it doesn't seem like it at first,  you

will realize it in the end,  and I will talk about
that later in the series as well.

Next week,  we are gonna talk about one
more reason for Adversity,  so hope you
will come back next Monday.  
and
Just in case you missed last weeks post
Click Here


So glad you came by for a visit today,  hope
you take away something that will help you
the next time trials come your way........
which probably want be too long, if you are
 like most people,  someone said, don't know
who....but
 " you are either in a trial, coming out of a trial,
 or about to enter a new one!!"


Jesus did say "In this world you will have 
trouble or tribulation,  but take heart!
I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

You have a Marvelous Monday
Sweet Friends,


Love, Hugs and Heart Blessings!!
Nellie