Beautiful post Shimmie!!!
Farida, I feel you, I have been where you are many times over the past few years. The Bible says to not be weary in well doing, because we SHALL reap if we faint not. My pastor reminded us yesterday that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. So if weeping is here, JOY MUST follow.
One of the biggest most widespread tactics of the enemy right now seems to be to steal our FAITH. By stealing our faith, he can just take everything else he wants from us like candy from a baby (our peace, our happiness, our joy, etc.). So put on the armor of God DAILY - especially the SHIELD OF FAITH so that you can quench every firy dart the enemy sends your way. (See Ephesians 6 below).
I wholeheartedly agree with Shimmie's post. Although I still struggle with many of my prayers going "seemingly" unfulfilled, I also have to marvel at the cleansing that has happened over the past 2 years. Old habits no longer have a grip on me. The work is not complete, but I am amazed at how far I've come through this cleansing process. IT HURTS! But it will be worth it.
Sometimes we don't really get to know who God is until we have been in the fire. Think of the 3 Hebrew boys. They trusted and believed in a God they could not see even at the risk of death, but they did not SEE GOD until they were in the fire. And God delivered them so that they came out of it without even the scent of smoke.
Please don't let the enemy win. Don't let him take your shield, and certainly don't give up and just hand it to him. If you drop it (like I have done several times myself), pick it back up and ask God to help you carry it. God sees what your end will be, and it is good. Please keep trusting. Love and hugs Farida! You WILL make it through.
ARMOR OF GOD:
"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
"Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one."And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints...." Ephesians 6:10-18
GOD SHOWS UP IN THE FIRE:
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”
25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. 28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.