How does a family that has always acknowledged God now have a son with same sex attraction and a beautiful daughter who has been committing adultery?
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, THINK IT NOT STRANGE concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:...its "the norm."
Acknowledging God does not award Diplomatic immunity to evil or the experiences of evil that God authors for our lives. We learn by direct experience, the difference between good and evil. We can morally and intellectually know the difference between right and wrong. We have all to experience, first hand, the starkness of evil and blessing, by contrast, of good, The deeper the suffering of evil, the greater the contrast of good.
Luk 7:47 This is the reason why I tell you that her sins, her many sins, are forgiven--because she has loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." That is where we are and I am stunned and grieved and I barely know what to think.
I had a very strict Catholic upbringing. I knew right from wrong and good from bad and it did not help me in my personal choices and preferences that took me into a very inappropriate marriage where I suffered beyond what I would like to say. My parents weren’t to blame for how my life, 30 years ago, had “turned out”. It is what God appointed. I am re-married now and much happier though both my parents died before I became pregnant. It seems like yesterday yet that life yesterday is so different and I am different to who I was then and it was, is and shall ever be because of, God.
I have found that God uses deep suffering to do his deepest work. I'm not really sure I know how to live through this. Our middle daughter is just crushed that her siblings have strayed so far. Please pray for my family. Please pray God uses this time to bring repentance and a new heart.
Be assured, God
will bring repentance
perhaps not as we would require or in our prefered time, yet God will bring repentance to us all.
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Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.Please pray that I will be sustained so I can minister to them. Part of me just wants to give up- the rest of me knows that I am here to show them God's love and speak His Truth. And I have to give him praise that I have been able to do that. I surely feel the Lord's discipline in our lives. I feel such anguish
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It does hurt when God brings Grace to chastise, purge, purify and repent us of our flesh. Knowing, acknowledging, understanding, accepting and recognizing our dependence on God in the face of evil that we can’t escape requires of us the deep burning off of our carnality where in and by the Spirit of God alone, we shall all obey and accomplish the words of Christ Who says.
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.Perhaps what you want to know is HOW are we to resist NOT evil? How are we to NOT resist, oppose, disapprove, judge, condemn, turn against, destroy or exact our vengeance on evil ? I believe that the reason we are to resist not evil, is because evil is God’s profound way that He deals with us. Evil happens to us and God reveals to us that we are evil and we need to realize it, before we can really acknowledge God. We may be keeping every commandment, observing every moral issue of conscience and observing every law, yet God says this is not sufficient to enter it into the Kingdom of God. We enter the Kingdom through trials and tribulations the HURT. Is this not where you are, in pain and trial and deep suffering tribulation? I believe it is.
Mat 21:31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. No matter how many tributes, praize songs, prayers and curtsies we make to God, we cannot know God unless He reveals Himself to us through the decision of His Son who makes Him known to us. This occurs through the Spirit of Christ who causes us to become obedient to Him. God uses the most difficult circumstances, just like the one you are facing, to do His Work.
Perhaps you and your children are in the trial of your lives and you are in deep anxiety, that is not unusual for a caring mother.
Jesus Himself dealt with what happened to Him by not resisting the evil that led Him to being unfairly, unjustly and criminally executed. He looked with contempt, and patiently endured His Cross. We cannot do the same without His Spirit. Only He has accomplished the success of such Patience and Endurance that is a Fruit of His Spirit.
Heb 12:2 simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith, who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself-- where He still sits--at the right hand of the throne of God.God knows our weaknesses, our liabilities and only He can strengthen us and bring us to that conclusion He designs for us. His Will, will exact the Plan He authors for each of our lives. His Will, HIs Spirit, His Faith, His uncompromising Truth and Holiness, will be done. Perhaps you may find, God willing, some peace, assurance and comfort in God’s Timing and His Work knowing that we all need His Spirit of Endurance, Patience and Faith to sustain us in our agonizing trials. I know it is painful, overwhelming and deeply perplexing. Only God can heal, restore and make any sense to you about what He is doing. Know this though, it is God who is in control and God is not ever out of control in anything, anytime or anywhere.
I feel for your suffering and know God is good to do a perfect work in you as you rest in Him and trust Him.
Arc