This morning I really needed words for my journey.
I needed encouraging words. You see I have been under constant attack for months. And I know why. It’s because God is prospering my ministry, A Voice for the Persecuted. I help Muslims who have converted to Christianity and are under the threat of death. Because of that Satan wages war against me, my family, my finances, and on and on. This morning was really no different than a hundred other mornings. But this morning I was tired. A lot is going on in my life, my mother just suffered a massive stroke, my father is in heart failure, we’ve had no income since last November. A glitch on Amazon that stopped my book promotion from beginning today sent me in a downward spiral. And for just a moment I forgot something . . .
I’ll start with when I learned of today’s problem. It was 4am. I got up to see if my novel The Winds of Sonoma was free on Kindle for the book giveaway promotion I have worked on for weeks. Blogs were set up, articles written, over 40 people involved in different aspects of the promotion. But the book wasn’t showing free! For whatever reason the promotion program had not initiated. After working with Amazon it was fixed, but to start tomorrow. I had to contact everyone involved with the change and they had to change all their pieces of the promotion. When I finally had all that done I took my hands off the key board, closed my eyes and asked God why. Why do You allow me to be attacked? Always in areas I have no control over. (As if we have control over anything!) Then, literally, as I opened my eyes, He answered.
Because I was in front of the computer screen, I saw the Oswald Chambers widget right on my own website. I’d been on the site trying to solve the problem. The title for Oswald’s devotion today was: The Habit of Rising to the Occasion. I clicked on it. And read:
God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly—”By my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you . . . .” Rise to the occasion—do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.
You can imagine how my eyes widened as I read. How is it that when the topics for My Utmost for His Highest were chosen that that is the one for this day in my life? Look at that first sentence. It doesn’t just kind of fit the question I asked of God just moments before. It is a direct, specific answer that couldn’t have been better worded if God and I were having a conversation in my office . . .
That brings me back to what I mentioned in that first paragraph. Reading that Oswald Chamber post made me realize that for a moment I had forgotten something. God is in control of my life. I gave it to Him. We were having a conversation in my office. And as I reread those words of wisdom, I couldn’t help but think of how God knew about this morning before the foundations of the earth were laid. He is in control of everything and everything from God is good. I didn’t say everything that’s good comes from God. That is a very different statement. EVERYTHING from God is good. Even glitches and delays in book promotions. They are good because of all the things the verses noted above say. God is the master designer. With Him I can leap over every wall. I can rise to the occasion. And I can praise Him for the trials because they give Him opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in my body. The words of James come to now. “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Yes, I can do that today. Today I have the joy of the Lord.
Nikki, what a great post. Perfect words as we face trials today. Thank you for sharing and for being transparent. I’ll be praying for you.
Prayers make a huge difference in my life. Thank you so much.
I’m sorry to hear about the challenges, and they are big ones, but happy to hear the words of wisdom. It’s hard to try to synchronize our timing with His. Tomorrow will work out great.
Mona, it is so good to see you here.
I’m so sorry for the attacks you’ve been under, Nikki. But what an AMAZING witness your post is. You are in my prayers.
Thank you so much for commenting.
God is with you, Nikki!
the grace of our Lord Yeshua Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always…
Much love as you walk this journey of life and trust ~
I have many messianic Jewish friends. In fact, Laura Goldstein is a character in my next book.
Blessings and love.
Prayers going up for you, Nikki. Thank you for blessing us with your journey. God’s faithfulness to you increases our faith and gives us opportunity to pray for and with you.
You are my sister in the Lord. Thank you for praying.
Praise God! That’s such a beautiful promise and swift, perfect answer. So honored to be a part of your journey and definitely see you manifest Jesus in your body on every occasion. Your faith is contagious!
Jessie, you have been on the journey with me since 2010! Oh, how God orchestrated our meeting! I’ve often told the story of how the Holy Spirit spoke to you in church and all that followed after that.
This really encouraged me and reminded me to rest/trust in God and not my own understanding in all situations. Thank you Nikki for this! I love how God meets us where we are.
Most excellent Nikki. The Lord is so faithful to us and ordains every step in our lives and is there always to meet us and show us His provision and promise.
Prayers for you (and family) always.
Hi Nikki, I can so relate to being under attack and not even knowing it. My husband and I recently shared our story in our church about what God did in our marriage. Since then our marriage has been under attack. But we see that, and are continuing to fight.
I also downloaded your book yesterday, can’t wait to read it.
I saw your call for unpublished authors ACFW loop and I didn’t know how to get in touch with you. I hope this will work. I am interested in being an influencer for you if you still need them. Let me know. I don’t facebook (if you read my blog your’ll know why) and I don’t do twitter yet, so not sure if you will still want me.
mafinnegan(at)yahoo(dot)com
Nikki – I just found your blog today and this is the second post that has really struck a chord in my heart!
Let me take a minute to explain what happened to me this weekend. I had been spending a lot of time on the computer. On Friday evening I told my husband that I wanted to take Saturday and Sunday off the computer.
Got up Saturday morning and friends began texting me that they had received friend requests from me on Facebook, although we were already Facebook friends. I jumped on the computeer just to see what was happening.
Someone had set up a Facebook account using my name, stole my profile picture and information and posted it on their site in order to impersonate me and then began to send out friend request to my 400+ friends.
By “accident” I stumbled onto the impersonator’s page and could see that he/she had all ready enticed 63 people to become friends with them, thinking it was me. I had no idea what this person had in mind, but I knew I had to let my friends know what was happening before any harm could be done to them.
I spent about 10 hours Saturday and several hours on Sunday working on it. Every time I saw one of my friends appear on the imposter’s page, I sent them a warning message, suggested that they unfriend us both and then I would send them a personal message with identifying information so that they would know it’s was me, so they could friend me again.
I did report it to Facebook with little hope they would do anything about it. Monday morning I woke and spent some time in the Word (something I had been neglecting over the past couple of weeks since my husband’s surgery required me to do everything for him). I read in Psalms where David asked God to put a stop to his enemies, and I prayed the same for me.
I came out to the computer and found that the imposter’s page had been taken down by Facebook (instigated by God, I’m sure). Then I began to wonder why God had allowed that to happen in the first place.
A friend had left a comment on my wall – “Thank you for providing a living testimony of the truth of Isaiah 43–the waters rose, but they certainly did not overflow you!”
Then I read your post today and realized that there are many purposes for God allowing trials into our lives. Sometimes how we handle those trials speak volumes to those watching.
I’ll be praying for protection from the enemy as you minister as you are called. Thank you for blessing my life.
~Jan