Tag Archives: testimonies

Happy New Year!

Testimonies Never Expire, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy New Year Everyone! I have been gone TOO LONG! Didn’t I say I wouldn’t disappear again? Sorry. I can’t even explain why I stopped blogging, except to say it was a combination of things. Some things you just can’t put into words. Hope I’m over it, whatever it was. This is a NEW YEAR and I’m ready for a fresh start. Should I introduce myself again? Hi! God is great and greatly to be praised!

No, I didn’t write a book since the last post. That would have been an excellent excuse to be gone THREE MONTHS! Glad no one was holding their breath waiting on me to come back.

Just read all the previous posts to see what I was talking about before. Wow! I should be ashamed of myself for stopping the flow.  God continued to be in the blessing business while I was moping about not getting this job or that job.
Broke a seven-year CD to continue paying the bills. You do what you have to do.

God has never stopped blessing my family and me.

  • In November, I forgot to move the car for the street sweeper and didn’t get a ticket.
  • My mother is in good health and in her right mind at 77. Hallelujah! Her aunt and her best friend have dementia. On my father’s side, I have an aunt and uncle with dementia. It’s sad when you forget to cook, eat, bathe, take medicine,  lose track of time, think dead relatives are still alive, hear voices all day long, hallucinate and are dependent on others to take care of you. The mind is a terrible thing to lose! Lord have mercy! Keep my mind!
  • Worked on a month-long December project with a consultant. That was a blessing.
  • Still have a LINK card and can get groceries each month with it. It is good until March. The fridge and the cupboards are full, and would be full even if I didn’t have a LINK. That’s an extra blessing.
  • The last church outreach was going into a laundromat and choosing someone to wash their clothes. We were given a roll of quarters to do that. It’s a blessing to be a blessing.
  • Grateful for a home with heat and a car with gas. I don’t take that for granted.
  • My Pastor preached The Seven Deadly Sins Series in November. I am a sinner saved by God’s Grace and Mercy. December he preached the Birthing A Promise Series. You can stream our Sunday services at 9:30am, 11:30am or 1:30pm at http://www.newlifesoutheast.org (CST). Stream Thursday Bible Study at 6:45pm (CST) and 4am Prayer every second and fourth Tuesday at 4am (CST). God is awesome. I promise you, you will be blessed if you tap into our services. The website is http://www.newlifesoutheast.org
  • The German Christkindlmarket was in Chicago 11/26-12/24. I made weekly trips downtown after church to get all the dark chocolate pineapple they had made up. It’s an annual guilty pleasure. I bought more this year than ever before.  It probably shows on my hips and thighs.
  • Got my mother out of the house a few times to go eat or to see a movie. It’s hard to get her out. I’m the same way – a homebody.
  • End of November, there were a lot of tornadoes in Illinois. There was flooding and traffic lights went out. We had a windstorm in Chicago that messed up the roof. Shingles buckled and blew away. Called a guy I knew and got it fixed the next day for $100. Hallelujah!
  • I attend a prayer group for women the first Saturday of every month. They prayed for all of the unemployed women there and declared we would have a job this time next month. I claimed it.
  • December I took a much-needed break from Facebook. It’s time consuming and I needed a breakthrough before the end of the month, like a job.
  • In November, I called a guy I knew from my old church because I had a  question about my insurance policy. I just happened to mention to him that I hadn’t worked in 2.5 years. He was shocked. He said maybe he could help me with a part-time job. He told me to send my resume. He’s had a large insurance business for 40 years. He called me a month later in December and said he wanted to talk.  We had an interview Friday, December 13th. He said he couldn’t pay me what I was used to making, but he would give me an Admin/Office Support position starting January 6, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 9am to 4pm. Praise God!
    It’s less than 30 minutes from home and I’ve known him and his wife forever from my old church. We were in the choir together! It pays to be nice to people. You never know how they will help you down the road. God worked that thing out! I give HIM the glory, honor and praise because I had been sinking in and out of depression for a while. God has brought me through countless things before. How could I ever doubt that He wouldn’t come through with a job, which I needed so bad! He’s an on time God! It’s a very nice, clean office building with less than ten people. Glory to God!
  • I didn’t win the MegaMillions, but am rich in God’s love, Spirit and His Word. What more is needed? I’m already a winner!
  • I entered a contest someone with a blog had to win a Kindle Fire even though I already have a 10 inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. Would you believe not even thirty minutes later, my new dentist office called to say I won their referral drawing (I’d referred my mother who had a lot of work done). Guess what the prize was? An iPad Mini! There was also headphones, a mug, tea and pens in the basket. What a blessing! I tried to give it to my mother, but it was wireless only and she thought it too much trouble to get her house wired for wireless internet. Oh well. She kept the mug, tea and the pens. LOL!
  • Super blessed by my mother and brother for Christmas. I thank God for them.

Well, I tried to get you caught up on what’s been happening since I left. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Testimonies Never Expire. Tell somebody, somewhere how good God has been to you. The Lord loves to hear your praise just like you love to hear praise. Show Him some love! He’s worthy of praise 24/7, 365 days a year. Every day is a day of Thanksgiving!

Advertisement

My Honest Testimony and Sunday Sermon Notes from 9/22/13

Testimonies Never Expire, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This was my recap of my Sunday sermon notes for “Contagious Testimony.”
The scriptures for the sermon were from John 4:1-42.  People from the congregation were selected to give their very personal testimonies. God gets the glory for all He has done in our lives.

God delivered you out of the hand of the enemy. When was the last time you told someone? People need to know they’re looking at a miracle. You’re holding it in and not sharing it. Knock down the barriers that keep you from telling your story. You don’t need a license. You can be an evangelist and a missionary. Testify!
When Jesus met the woman at the well He tore down the Wall of Separation, Wall of Confidence, Wall of Pain, Wall of Experience, and Wall of Expectation. It wasn’t about the water, but the testimony.
Nobody can tell your story like you can. Take advantage of every opportunity to tell someone what the Lord has done for you so they will run to Him. God will send someone in your direction. Tell them how:
He healed you,
He delivered you from addiction, depression, and crazy relationships,
He kept you from having sex before marriage,
He was your Provider when you were broke,
He kept you when you were homeless,
He mended your marriage and your broken pieces,
He saved your children when they were running the streets,
He returned your children when they were taken away,
He made a way out of no way!
What’s YOUR story?
You’re a survivor and your praise should reflect what He’s done for you. There’s power in telling your testimony. If God did it before, He can do it again. He wants you to be His spokesperson. Run and tell somebody! Spread the word in the barbershop, the beauty shop and wherever you go! Contagious Testimony! Withholding Nothing!

So, after this powerful sermon I looked back and got a testimony I posted last year on my birthday. I don’t care how few people are reading this blog. I’m going to re-post that right now. Why should I be ashamed of how good God has been to me? This is a testament to what He can do for you too. This is why I started this blog, to share and hopefully others would share too. Here it is:

Lord, Your Grace And Mercy Brought Me Through…childhood sexual abuse, sniffing rubber cement and nail polish remover, the kinky, freaky and horny years, fornication, whoring, adultery, sexual movies, books and magazines, masturbation, cigarettes, marijuana, PCP (tac), free-basing cocaine, crack, pills, beer, wine, cognac, scotch, bourbon, whiskey, over-proof rum, tequila, champagne, brandy, vodka, long island ice tea, cursing, being a bitch, negativity, dark depression, evil thoughts, revenge, the daily game, the midday game, guilt, shame, condemnation, low self-esteem, self-consciousness, insecurity, rejection, loneliness, selfishness, feeling ugly and worthless, taking risks, the love of money, credit card abuse, confrontations, and lust. I still have issues, but I’m not what I did. The Lord still loves me in spite of my past. He forgave me. If He delivered me from all of this, He can do anything for you. Nothing is too hard for God! Not going to share the stories here, but I don’t look like what I’ve been through. God gets all the glory for me making it to today. Grace, Mercy, and Favor. Hallelujah!

 

Follow Me

Testimonies Never Expire, , ,

If you want to know a little more about me, follow me on Twitter. There’s only a few people following me there. As of now, there are 46 people, most of whom I don’t even know. Because of that, I tend to say more, talking to no one in particular.
Follow me at @DeborahTweets2.

Hopefully, the same momentum that grew with my increased Twitter posts will grow with this blog. I should have read Blogging for Dummies or something, because I don’t know what I’m doing. I keep coming back to a bunch of spam. That’s a fine howdy do. Make it stop!

One thing is certain: God is a Deliverer and I give Him praise and all the credit for getting me out of all the things I was addicted to in the past. Never went back to any of it. I never ever needed a psychiatrist, psychologist, doctor, counselor, mentor, rehab, hospital, clinic or any of that. Most people wouldn’t believe me if I told them of my past experiences. God made it easy for me. I stopped the addictions cold turkey and never looked back or went back. Never had a problem being around people still doing it. Then again, why would I want to see a reflection of what I used to be? That’s why we can’t judge people. We are all an ex something. Tons of stories to tell. They won’t get old because –  Testimonies Never Expire.

Testing And Multiple Choice

Testimonies Never Expire,

I put the WordPress icon on my cell so I could always have access to this blog.  Testing it out now. Hey! How Y’all doing?

Speaking of testing, I had to take a Prove It typing test, data entry test and analytical skills test at home for an employment agency.  It was timed and the results were given to me and sent to them. The questions on the analytical test freaked me out. The problems were outrageous! You were given a series of numbers, figures, shapes, and had to figure out what came next.  Another type (I’m making up something to give you an idea) A is B’s sister-in-law and C is married to B’s nephew and E is the grandmother of F, who is related to A. How are C and B related? There were several questions like that. Even though it was multiple choice, I didn’t have a clue and guessed.  Then I had to draw circles, squares, diagonal lines and arches according to their specifications and then say what the drawing looked like.
I did very well on the data entry with 97%. Have been typing 30wpm with my index fingers since the beginning of time. Don’t know what they’ll think about that. Only got a 66 on the analytical test. Surprised I got that much.

Never liked testing. I only got a 14 on my ACT and still managed to get a degree from Northwestern University even though the high school counselor, Sister Someone, told me “Oh no! You can’t go to THAT school!” Don’t you love proving the doubters wrong?

I give God the credit for loving parents, a good education, a middle class upbringing, with hugs, kisses and encouragement in the midst of all the dysfunction and traumatic experiences. We have to find good in everything and know God brings you through the crazy stuff to add to your testimony. God has kept me in this season of unemployment.  Now that my resources are getting dangerously low, I know He’s going to step in. If He did it before, He will do it again. Jesus is the answer in the multiple choices of life. I will choose Him every time and it’s always the right choice. 

I have to go to bed. We have 4am Prayer in the morning at church. It’s every second and fourth Tuesday. If you want to tap into ONE HOUR of praise, worship, and prayer, watch it live at http://www.newlifesoutheast.org.
4am central standard time. God bless.

Depression Is A Hot Mess!

Testimonies Never Expire, , , ,

Rest In Peace

Okay, I’m back. One month and three days later. I was depressed and took it out on my blog. I stayed away like someone mad at a lover, waiting to see who was going to make the first move. Well, there was no one to do it on this end, so I’m back with my writer’s head hanging low, ashamed that I let things get the best of me and make me stop writing, especially when I had so much to say.

Also, have been wondering where I fit in the job market? There’s got to be something out there with my name on it. Getting really sick of being unemployed. It’s been too long. Need to be busy making a difference in the world. There’s greatness in me bursting at the seams.

I guess I went about this blog thing all wrong. Didn’t know you were supposed to read other blogs and get to know people first so they would come check you out.
I’m always alone, no matter where I go or what I do and actually thought when you start to write, people would miraculously appear and start talking to you. Is that funny, or what? Even on Facebook, I have 553 Facebook friends and there are about ten people who comment at any given point in time, but not at the same time, even though I’m talking to ALL OF THEM all the time by sharing things they need to see. So, I started a blog to write daily and hopefully have more interaction, but it’s more of the same, except worse.

I’m like, why should I start sharing all this personal stuff and there’s no one reading and talking back? Whatever. I’m here now. Let me tell you this, blog page:
Two weeks ago, a girl I used to get high with back in the day, died. She was my age. She died alone during one of the hottest weeks and wasn’t discovered until three days later only because her daughter called the janitor from another state to go check on her. How messed up is that? She was cremated, and a week ago they had a memorial service. It was very nice.  I  revised the obituary and volunteered to take pictures during the service and repast that followed. That was the least I could do.

Our lives came together in college because she was friends with my college roommate. When our friend moved out-of-state, we started hanging together. Once, I spent the night with her and we went out to a club and she picked up a man and brought him back with us. Her daughter must have been conceived that night. Luckily, I was in another room.
Well, that’s a long story I’m not going into. Suffice it to say, our lives went in different directions when she started doing a lot of things, I got involved for a year and stopped, and she continued to do stuff until it got out of hand. I didn’t want any part of it, and we lost touch. That’s all I’m going to say about that. Her death made me want to come back to this blog. I had to say something.

What kept me away from this blog an entire month when I intended to come back the next day, is beyond me. Blog depression.  I was even thinking of dumping this blog and starting something different, a little more lighthearted or humorous, but last Saturday, everywhere I went I heard: testimony. Took that as my clue to come back and give it another chance.
God has been too good to me. Even though it was long ago, God delivered me from drugs, alcohol, sex, sexual sins and so much more. By His grace and mercy I’m still alive today. Believe me, I’m grateful. There’s a song that says: Millions Didn’t Make It, But I’m One Of The Ones Who Did.  An old friend is gone. May God have mercy on her soul.
I’m still here for a reason. Still trying to figure it out. I think I was born to write. It’s the only thing I do well. Okay, it’s late. I’ll be back soon. I promise this time.