How Good The Lord is to me, prayer request included.

[USMC0332]

After 15 years of Salvation, the Lord finally broke me. My strength finally ran out. Even though I have wanted it I have not been able to surrender. I have been a spirit filled believer since '92. Th God of Peace reached into the mirey clay and pulled this Marine away from my destruction when I was 22. I was a rough and tough Biker. I accepted Him when He showed me that Awesome power and gave me Peace beyond understanding. I have struggled in this walk. He saved the beautiful amazing woman that has been my wife a few months after, and I was there. I have seen Miracles, witnessed instant healing, I have seen a lot. We have been married 12 years and have 3 beautiful children. We have made a bunch of painful mistakes, hurt each other, but, hung together. The world has thrown everything it has at us, especially in the last 2 years. I had fallen into depression. He was right there with me during all of it, even when I had turned away. Sunday I was touched by Him. I finally surrendered. I accepted His will. My life has been changed. Depression has been defeated. I was given renewed HOPE. Forces are at work against me. Monday my wife and best friend told me she did not want to be together. We have had a hard time, but I believe in the Love that we share. I know that the enemy is out to destroy this marriage. I have been walking in his PEACE. I have been in prayer. My life is awesome in all areas but this one. I stand in Faith that this marriage will survive. I stand in Faith that God is doing a work in us. I stand in Faith that the blessings of God are here for this family. I believe that God will accomplish His work in our lives, and I believe we will be together. My life is forever changed. I will walk with Him no matter what. Please pray for us. Lord I plead the Blood of Jesus over this family. God is bigger than any problem.

[USMC0332]

Tomorrow I move out. Life doesn't always work out as you planned. God is in charge and all is well. No reply necessary.

[buffermop]

SEMPER-FI...........Never give up

[Brett]

USMC0332,

I will pray for you and your family. Hang in there and remember our plans and God's plans are not always in agreement but His plan is always perfect and sometimes we just have to learn to accept it. Steel gets it's strength by passing threw the fire.  Gold is purified by that same fire.  Be thankful for the bad times as well as the good for it is during the bad times that He is strengthening us and/or purifying us in preparation for the next step in His perfect plan. 

God bless.

[USMC0332]

Thank you. I have no clue what I am doing so I hold on to Him. I will be served divorce papers any day now. This is a tough place to be in but I am trying to keep my spirits up. He has a plan for my life, and right now I have no idea what it is. If we are to be together it is for Him to do, not me. If not I will still have a great life. I truly am clueless about what is going on, but I believe in what ever plan that is laid out before me. If you are a Bible reader, I was lead to Psalms 126. I will hold on to this one. Thanks, I need all the help I can get NOW!!!!!!!

[bilmac]

First of all Marine let me thank you for your service. My generation almost wrecked the military during the Viet Nam debacle, and yours rebuilt it into something that is absolutely magnificant. I hope that soon the young people that have rebuilt our military will enter politics and rebuild our country like you rebuilt our military.

About your personal situation, you undoubtedly know the sayings that are intended to buck a person up, like what doesn't kill you makes you strong or the Christian saying that it is the tough times that causes you to grow. I know that these are just words that you have heard before, but there is a reason why people have caught on to them and they are repeated over and over.

 You are looking in exactly the right place for comfort from your Bible. At one time I was lower than a snakes belly,and just wanted to throw in the towel. There just wasn't anything that I could do to fix my horrible situation which is about as low as you can get for a strong guy. So I started reading Psalms and I don't suppose I read over a hundred verses before the weight just fell away. I realized that everybody goes through some bad times and actually mine were pretty minor compared to what poor old David faced.So I said a prayer got off my bed and acted like a man. Next thing I knew, an almost certain disaster that was going to strike just went away. I don't mean just my attitude, an actual physical event , a fire that I had lit that was unstoppably headed for an Indian village in Alaska just quit, after we had been battling it for several days with no hope of stopping it when I got my heart right with God,and I realized that I was helpless, God saved me.

Just a personal suggestion, that I am undoubtedly unqualified to give. Think about a move. Dream a little about what you would really love to do with the rest of your life, pull up your stakes and go for it.There is so much opportunity here in the mountain west for honest guys who are willing to work, don't believe what you see on the drive by media about hard times, they do that every time a Republican in office is facing an election, they think it helps their guy out. The sky is the limit out here, go for it.

Best wishes Marine, you are on my prayer list.

[Graybeard]

I think it unlikely your comments will be seen by him. This is a very old thread and a quick check shows that he was Last Active:  July 11, 2007, 11:01:04 PM so shortly after his last post he left this site and who know what might have become of him.

Hopefully our prayers helped him in some way but he has not chosen to return to tell us what happened. From that I deduce the wife did in fact leave him and that his life took a turn for the worse and that he likely is no longer on the internet to tell us how his life is going now. Such is very common on the internet folks are here today and gone tomorrow and we often never again hear from them to know how the bad things in life that were troubling them to cause them to post turned out.

[USMC0332]

Gratefully I signed up to have these messages show up in my email. And by the way thank you for your reply. I have not had much interest in sporting things for a year now. I have been a bit more involved with all of the personal growth that the last year has forced me to have. And I laugh thinking what a year it has been. Well it took 363 days and $13,500 for this terrible event to finally be completed. Warning long post! Every thing I used as a crutch or shield from this world has been taken from me, and I do hold on tight! I guess He took me seriously at my surrender! The house I we bought in '96 will be forclosed on June 5th. My wife was pregnant with her boyfriends baby, which was born the end of December. I am sterile so there was no doubt as to who the father was. April, 25 last year I was laid off from my job as a union Sprinkler Fitter. I have not had work in my 12 year career since then. I was laid off for 16 weeks and got a job in the Grounds & Trucking department in Minneapolis. I am not well suited to government work so I will be moving on soon. It is a 70 mile commute and after support and withholdings I take home $7.48 per hour. She will now be getting more for back support. When I started this job it took me 3 weeks before I got paid. I did not have my 2x a month unemployment check to give support from and she flipped out on me so I stopped giving her any. We have had no friendly conversation since then and honestly I see no need for her to ever speak to me again. She filed a goofy order for protection on me for a conversation that was taken out of context with a third party so we communicate by text message information related to child pick up and drop off only. I figured that her new man wanted my family enough to buy a brand new house and he could pay for them for a while. I paid off our bankrupcy lawyer and other debt left behind for me before support kicked in. My 3 children live 50 miles away. It is hard to be away from them so much, but I am glad that she is that far away. I am done and that is ok with me.
     I counted on my wife and family, money, my career, my house. Those are all gone.
The Lord has amazingly provided me with the ability to remain in the house this long. I thought I was going to have to move out in February. My Dad has helped, but this is far bigger than that. I am alive as myself for the first time in many years. I also am alive. I came very close to ending my life MANY times. I have not traveled this far with a ton of style and grace. I have had to rely heavily on my faith, and sometimes that tiny sliver of hope. I have had to lean on the important people that are in my life. I have found that I am a man rich in friends. Money can't buy those. They are God sent. I could never lean on them before. I had to thru this and still do. I have made plenty of mistakes, and still am trying to figure out this new life. I really have no clue. I can say that the biggest mistake I will ever make is behind me, and I have learned a whole lot from it. I would not be the person I am today without these lessons. I also would not have been prepared for the life that lies ahead before them. The economy and support make it not possible to rebuild my life working in this country. I am in pursuit of work abroad now and the big adventure lies ahead. I have always wanted to travel like this, but I had a family and could not. I won't survive the downtrodden life that is left here for me. I also refuse to have my children watch me waste away and hate the life I have. I need to go where I can flourish and succeed. That is not here right now. I no longer believe in this government that can hold me down in these circumstances. I will still support my children financially, and stay in contact with them, but have to pursue my life now. The good Lord can change these plans at any time. To me it feels like what I need to do. This is not the plan I had for my life. Nobody plans for their world to disappear in a day. I still struggle in one way or another almost daily, learning more as I go. Thank you. I would appreciate any prayers and job leads anywhere in the world for a foreman with a lot of piping experience. What a Looong, Strange Trip It's Been.....

[USMC0332]

Looks like I may still be relying on my skills. Any input is good input.

[weasel]

Sorry to hear of your hardships, you're sure being tested. There's always a reason God does these things. I'll try not to be longwinded, but I was widowed at 38 as it was we were facing bankruptcy then also. The last thing on my mind was another relationship, was a loner and lonely. 3 years later bumped into an old friend, 3 more years and was married to my best friend, she ended up fixing the near bankruptcy problem and next month we'll be totally out of debt, including 2 rentals. I guess your priorities change with subsequent relationships. And I knew I'd never be out of debt or even current with my bills. All the credit for it goes to God, but he sure used my little babe to put it all together. Nothing like giving your life to Jesus and making him the Boss.

You mentioned lack of work, there is a certain demand for similar work as yours in our area, the gold mines irrigate leach pads to extract microscopic gold and the miners make good money, $20+ hr.  I always liked mining. If you're interested, PM me.

We'll pray for you.

[USMC0332]

I am glad to hear of your blessings. The last thing I am interested in is a relationship. I make over $20 now and this system will prevent me from making a living. I could make around $40 if I relocated and still only have $13 to rebuild with nothing but lawyer bills. I won't spend years trying to have a life and have my kids watch me live a life I hate. Depression would bury me. I quit college because I couldn't stand starving for nothing. If our government will try to starve me out I will leave it behind also. There is better for me somewhere else. If nothing turns up, I guess my answer is no. I know I sound crabby, I need to go to bed. I apologise. Thanks.

[Sweetwater]

Glad to hear you have stuck with this. Yours is not an easy road, but it will bear witness to the Lord's grace and mercy. The Lord regained my attention when I ended a 14 year disaster of a marriage with one child arriving in the 12th year. I didn't 'hear' well and went my way, diving right into another marriage. Four kids later, she decided my hunting partner and neighbor was better company and we ended after 6 years. This time, the Lord really got my attention and I totally gave in to HIM and HIS guidance. Four years later, I married a gal I had known through Church groups for 10 years - she is definitely 'the one' the Lord had intended for me in the first place. Our life is not all roses, but Jesus is at the center of our home and is the glue that keeps all the pieces together. Work has been now and then, and I have been through bankruptcy and foreclosure - but this Fall, when I make the last payment on the last child, will mark 23 years of child support that had peaked at $2000/mo and due to lay-offs had reached arrearages of $25,000. I didn't believe that would ever be paid off.  I understand your feeling of not being able to rebuild your life on wages here, I didn't think I could, either. I felt I would never have anything. BUT, I have it all. I have Jesus, and HE gave me Salvation as well as the Greatest Helpmate imaginable. I'm old enough to retire, but haven't worked anywhere long enough to build up any retirement, so we keep working.  We don't own our home, but I do rent from my best friend of 10 years. That is a blessing all by itself. I'm 900 miles from my kids, but they call or write or text nearly every week, sometimes several times on a given day. My son, my youngest, has spent the last 3 summers with me and is excited about coming again next month for this summer - his last summer before college. I have missed a lot of my kids' development, but they get excited when we can get together! Only the Lord could pull that off when you are the absent parent and the kids are being filled with poison about you.  I have one grandson. His mother called a bit ago. Said she and my son-in-law had bought a piece of property and wanted me to walk it with them so they wouldn't build something where I wanted my house to be. She is expecting me to retire where she can have me around, and wants it enough to invest to make it happen. My GOD, your GOD, can/will make it happen when it is in HIS plan, in HIS time. Praise God in all things! We have learned that God will honor the desires of our heart, in HIS time. We have also learned to 'listen' to HIM in our prayer time, not just talk to HIM. I had refused to leave where my kids lived, but life got better right quick for them and for us when we listened to the Lord and realized that through the layoff, the bankruptcy and foreclosure, God was opening doors for us in an area that we would have never gone. HE gave me the best/highest paid position I had ever had, and a tremendous ministry, as well as the opportunity to be near my parents for a few years. After a few years, HE again moved us, and this time to a place we did want to go. The wages weren't as high, but other benefits outweighed the difference in pay, and we are very happy with HIS direction.  
We think our lives are behind us, but, truly, they are ahead of us, and the LORD has great things in store for you as you seek HIS wisdom and guidance. HE will never fail you. God Bless You!

Regards,
Sweetwater

[tatonka]

"For God does not give us the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and of a sound mind" I believe this is II Timothy 1:7. This has given me great perspective of the power and nature of God. It has allowed me to understand that we have the power to overcome all things through obedience to his laws. He has given us sound minds to reason and his love when we can't. Fear comes not from God but from the adversary and he has only that power that we give him. It is my prayer that you can find the peace of which you search. May the windows of heaven be opened unto you and his solace be distilled in you through His love and grace. Never give up!