What is Repentance? it is “right about face”, it implies that I have been walking in one direction – living my way and now I have chosen “By the grace of GOD I will forsake my sin, and do His Will,” that is Repentance—a turning “right about face.”
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that we have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced ourselves through with many acute [mental] pangs.
Titus 1:13 And this account of me are [really] true. Because it is [true], rebuke me sharply [deal sternly, even severely with me], so that I may be sound in the faith and free from error.
Psalms 38:17 I am on the verge of collapse, facing constant pain. For I am ready to halt and fall; my pain and sorrow are continual before me.
Hosea 4:7 The more (I) increased and multiplied [in prosperity and power], the more (I) sinned against GOD; GOD will/HAS changed my glory into shame.
Job 1:21 And said, Naked (without possessions) came I [into this world] from my mother’s womb, and naked (without possessions) shall I depart. The Lord gave, and The Lord has taken away; blessed praised and magnified in worship) be the name of the Lord!
Psalms 139:24 And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the (right) way everlasting.
1 Corinthians 4:3 But [as for me personally] it matters very little to me that I should be put on trial by you [on this point], and that you or any other human tribunal/judge should investigate and question and cross-question me. I do not even put myself on trial and judge myself.
What I am confessing, is that I sinned to the point that I have hurt my partner of 25 years, to the point that we both are hurting so much from shame. So it’s time for me to deal with what’s accumulating inside me before it causes larger and more deadly avalanches.
Job 9:28 I become afraid of all my pains and sorrows [yet to come], for I know GOD will not pronounce me innocent [by removing them].
If anyone thinks that the Christian life is a life free from pain they are terribly mistaken. It is a life with as much, if not more, pain in any other normal life without GOD. What marks the contrast is the way we handle pain as Christians. When GOD is with us, pain takes on another meaning. For now, we overcome through the pain. We return good for evil and love for hate in and through the pain. We learn not to retaliate, and we endure pain as a good soldier of GOD. So, we never give in to despair. Our situation never becomes hopeless even though the pain may be great. In all things, we overcome because we have learned to handle pain.
The shaking we both are enduring, and the hits we both are taking are tools in God’s hands to bring out an incredible beauty in the both of us: strength, tenderness, maturity, confidence, and compassion that comes only from “Walking by Faith” through God’s Word. So we are trying not to wallow in the “why is this happening?”. Instead, we will keep asking, “How can GOD use this?” We will not despair when we keep running into things and things keep running into us when our whole world is spinning and colliding. It isn’t to destroy us but to give us a beauty we’ve never had before. We will let GOD have His way in this turbulence, for we will “display His splendor” for the rest of our life!
THROUGH FAITH & HIS WORD!!
Isaiah 50:7 For the Lord GOD helps Me; therefore have I not been ashamed or annoyed. Therefore have I set My face like a rock, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to GOD, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies ofChrist’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of GOD everywhere.
It is my testimony, and I shall not be judged nor persecuted only LOVED. For it is my desire for our family to grow in WORD & LOVE TOGETHER By the grace of GOD I will forsake my sin, and do His will, that is Repentance—a turning right about face.
“Life Is Only What You Make It”
Vernessie M. Joseph-Burbank