AnnJ

Many difficult situations have confronted me in my lifetime. At the age of seven, they removed me from my neglectful, alcoholic mother. My adoptive father terrorized most of my teenage years through his acts of sexual abuse. My husband abandoned me after 15 years of marriage leaving me alone to raise our three daughters. I have spent the last 13 years alone dealing with the heavy responsibilities of raising those girls and running a household. During that time, God has not only worked His healing power in my life, but He has enabled me to minister to others who have known abuse and other forms of emotional suffering. I can honestly say that if I could go back and change one day of my life I would not do so for I have seen the power of God at work in my life. I have seen Jesus glorified time and time again as my testimony leads others to give their lives to Him and find the same healing and wholeness in Him that I have found.

Gods part: He knows chose me and knows I am His. He has given me eternal life through the shed blood of His Son and therefore I will never perish. Jesus said that no one can snatch me from Him for God is greater than all. He protects me by the power of His name. He is able to

Obedience is the outgrowth of forgiveness. To receive forgiveness we must first understand who we are without Christ, how utterly sinful we are and how unable we are to save ourselves. Having accepted this truth, we can then accept the gift of salvation. We can understand why Jesus died and how important it was for us that he did so. With that great outpouring of love on our behalf how can we want to do anything else but please him? Grace comes first. If works could save us, Jesus would not have had to die. True faith requires obedience, but it is God

If we identify more with our present homeland, then that is where our focus is. If our focus is on this world, it is likely this world controls us. The more controlled we are by this world the more likely we are to conform to it. I do struggle with this far too often. To get away from this it is necessary to refocus our attention on God through prayer and Bible study.