god_honoring_struggles

Today we're looking at the subject of "struggles," "problems," "adversity," all these fun words that we know & love. We're going to see that to live a God-honoring life, we need to handle tough situations the way God wants us to.

Easel exercise: take answers from crowd: divorce, death, finances, betrayal, family "issues," church [expectations, staff trans, people blow it], job stress, job loss, loneliness, insecurity, your body: shape,disease, health)

"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."

We're going to use the movie Castaway to help us understand this passage, so let's take a look at this first clip. (Show Tom Hanks in his meeting talking about time, cut to plane, show it going down & the crash.)

It doesn't say IF you run into problems. It doesn't say, "Here's a handy tidbit in the event you get swamped by something." It's a warning. It's saying, (ppt "Lost in Space" robot) "DANGER! DANGER!" Expect it!

I think there's a common misconception that God makes everything groovy; there's this idea floating around that when we come into a relationship with God, life is going to be like a fairy tale.

Life IS like a fairy tale; the problem is we forget that in fairy tales, Cinderella had a mean step-mom & evil step-sisters, Little Red Riding Hood had the big bad wolf, and Snow White had the wicked witch. All of them had someone that was planning to trip them upthey all had struggles.

In our fairy tale life 1 Peter 5:8 says we have a (ppt) "devil that prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." And John 10:10 says, (ppt) "The thief comes to steal and destroy."

"We've been looking for a house for four years; four years of ups and downs and promises and hopes and finally, just this last Sunday afternoon, we found it. It was not only beautiful and private; it was a perfect fit for our family. The only property we'd seen that met our criteria and made our hearts beat faster, and it was vacant. We could move in immediately.

We wrote up what we thought would be a slam-dunk offer. As our agent drove to deliver our contract, he received a call that another offer came in before us by twenty minutes. Some agent in his office saw our offer and sneaked one in ahead of ours designed to beat us out.

It felt like a perfect setup. Our hearts were so hopeful, open, vulnerable. I can equate it only to something like parents waiting for four years to adopt, and finally the opportunity opens for them. God says, 'This is your turn. This is my gift to your hearts.' They are promised a baby, but on the day they are supposed to receive her, she's given to another couple. We really thought this house was a gift from God. Not getting it was a direct, intentional wound to our hearts. It wasn't about a house, for heaven's sake. That sounds silly. It was about our relationship with God, our walk with Him; and therefore, about all the other things in our lives that flow from that. The wound came in at the most intimate place of our lives; our walk with God.

And a whole lot of other crap rushed in as well. Just as sharks can smell blood in the water from miles away, the enemies of our souls smell woundedness, and they close in the for kill. Suddenly, betrayal felt true. 'God has betrayed you.' Desolation felt rue. 'None of what you believe is true.' Apostasy, abandoning all faith felt true. 'Why walk with God if you can't trust Him?' We were reeling. Thoughts went through my heart about how to get out of this book contract because I can't write except out of my walk with God; and that has been pierce. Stasi was crying. Our middle son was crying. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

Now this idea that struggles are an integral part of our life and that they're often orchestrated by a spiritual being named Satan is a HUGE key to understanding what the life of a Christ follower is REALLY like. A lot of people who are investigating Christianity (seekers) as well as Christ followers who are going through tough times say things like:

The first part of this verse says that tough situations that we don't understand will happen; we will all have times when our plane goes down. Something unforeseen is going to swamp us; something from this list, probably.

And when it happens, our response should not be, "God, this wasn't what I signed up for!" (carefully) Because this verse is telling us that this IS what we signed up for. The life of a Christ follower is a life where things happen that we don't like and we can't stop from happening.

And so many times, we feel about as helpless as Tom Hanks did when he realized what was happening. I've seen that happen in just the past months in the lives of several of my friends.

I've watched a couple open up a can that was filled with many years of unresolved stuff as they're trying to have the kind of authentic marriage God wants them to have. But there's been lots of times when it's been more like a "Pandora's box" full of issues they didn't know were in there. Trust me, they've had times when the plane was going down.

All of us have had stuff on this list hit us from the blind side. And a lot of times it comes with that horrible feeling that you only feel in the pit of your stomach.

When this happens, we feel like a Castaway. Like Tom Hanks after the crash, we feel alone. Abandoned. And a life-raft; a solution; getting our life back to normal, is no where in sight. The first part of this verse says at some time or another, we are all castaways.

Before we all get to depressed, let's go back to the movie and get a clue on what we're supposed to do next after our plane has gone down. Clip 2 (show Hanks collect water, start fire, getting food, build raft etc)

The keyword here is ENDURE. "Enduring" is an ACTION-ORIENTED word. Hanks didn't just sit on the beach hoping and praying that something good would finally happen.

When someone shares with me about a bad thing that's happened in their life, (listen, empathy etc) my first response is usually, "What are you doing about it?"

If they say, "I'm really praying about it," I know they don't really understand how to go through a struggle in a God-honoring way. (sidebar: every one in a hundred situations, all we CAN do is pray; I'm speaking to the other 99 situations.)

In our fairy tale misconception of life, sometimes we think enduring means praying and hoping God's going to make it all OK. Have you ever seen someone who's plane has gone down, and all they're really doing is; "not much?"

If we were to watch Castaway and Hank's character were to do NOTHING. If for three hours we watched him lay there on the beach, slowly dehydrating and slipping away, the tension would drive us NUTS! We would probably get up from the recliner & turn off the DVD and stomp out of the room all ticked off.

"It's this most stupid show I've ever seen! The guy doesn't do ANYTHING! He just lays there! When it rains, he doesn't try to get fresh water, he doesn't try to fish, NOTHINGthis show is SO LAME!

(Tell story of Slater at practice wrestling meet: wrestles kid who's +30lbs on Slate. Kid trips him & falls on him in one feel swoop. [lip tremble, nervous eyebrows] As they go again, Slates dazed, he's hurting and he's looking at this mountain of a kid knowing: 1, He doesn't have enough fuel in his tank to take him & 2, He doesn't like being under the weight of this kid!)

And the point of that story is it's hard to carry on, it's hard to endure when you don't feel like you can. These struggles in our life (easel) feel like the wrestling opponent who once he falls on you, you just can't get out from under him. And to endure is to keep moving with the weight of that person, that struggle on your back. And that, friends, is a very hard thing to do.

And here's where our life and the movie Castaway take very different paths. As Hanks tried to endure being shipwrecked, all he had to help him carry on was Wilson, (ppt) a volleyball with a boring personality and a bad hair cut.

"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going." 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 nlt

Here's the magical, freaky, mystical deal: If you're in a relationship with Christ and your plane goes down, you are not alone on an island. No matter how bad it gets, God never abandons us.

Here's the key: What we feel during a tough time is not always truth, most of the time it's NOT. Like I said earlier, this "roaring lion" who's prowling to mess up our lives; just happens to be the "father of all lies."

Regardless if you feel all alone like little Slate flat on the mat under the weight of someone too big to move. (easel) Here's two truths to help us endure:

When we're downward spiraling into the pit of "I feel" statements, we need to just stop. And expose our mind and our soul to these two truths. Because the truth is not what we feel. Truth is God's Word.(ppt)

And the next time you say or hear someone say stuff like, "I don't get the deal with Christianity; bad stuff happens every day and believing in God or going to church doesn't seem to stop it from happening."

We need to know or say, "Yeah, bad stuff happens, BUT, there's a no holds barred, iron-clad guarantee that no matter WHAT happens, God will ALWAYS be with me and I can get through ANYTHING with Him."

To ENDURE means for us to TAKE ACTION during tough times, believing that we're not alone and that somehow God will help us. What does "take action" mean?

One great example of how to endure a tough deal is our DivorceCare ministry. Here's a group of people who've been there & gone through it. They help you walk through it. There's something healing and encouraging about talking to someone who's grown through an experience you're neck deep in. And when they pray for you, having been where you are, something very cool happens.

Let me say one last thing about enduring a struggle. It's not your friend's job to carry on. It's not your family members' job. It's not the church's job. We need to engage in the process, with the help of: friends, family and the church. But it's an action-oriented process that begins with us. As Tom Hanks pulled himself up off the beach. We too, have to get moving; but with God's help, and the support of fellow Christ followers. We CAN get moving because we've got way more than Wilson to help us. //////

When life is good, it's like reading a book on how to swim while living on dry land; it's theory. You tell people, "Sure I know how to swim. I read this book, the instructions were clear, it was well writtenI know how to swim." You know how to swim in THEORY.

But when you slip off the deck of a boat during a storm, you find out that doing what you read about is much harder. The book didn't mention all the mouthfuls of water you seem to be taking in. It didn't mention that after just a few minutes your arms and legs would feel like al dente pasta noodles. Now you understand swimming in REALITY.

But when we get swamped by a tough deal (easel) THEN we learn what it is to walk with God, not IN THEORY, but in REALITY. We learn that to believe His Word, to believe His truth is hard when we feel so overwhelmed. When we feel alone and under the weight of a real crisis, believing that God is with us and that He'll help us through it, is easier said than done!!

As we carry-on, getting action-oriented while praying and trusting in God that He's going to help us off our island; days, weeks or months later, one day we wake up and we're home. We're through the deal (easel).

Our character gets stronger because He proves to us through trials that He CAN be trusted. Our character gets stronger because we realize that believing everything we do about Him isn't crazy. Strong character is character that undeniably believes through first-hand experience, that God is who He says He is and that He CAN be trusted. Through endurance God builds character that doesn't HOPE that God will come through; it's a character that KNOWS He'll come through. ///

I think it's ironic that Paul put this phrase at the beginning of this passage, because in reality, we never realize the good in a bad situation until we get to the end of it.

I remember when I was high school, when he was having a tough time with something, my best friend, Ray, would say, "Under all this feces there's got to be a pony!"

In Castaway, after watching Hanks for hours on an island, I love the way the film-makers made us see these incredibly boring, mundane things like, ice, water, light switches and lighters differently.

Like Tom Hanks in the movie, after we get off our island, (endure our struggle,) we're never the same and we see things in new ways too. My biggest Castaway experience was a divorce, many years ago. There are pains and scars from that that will always be with me. But in the throws of the divorce, I began seeking God like I never had before, because I never needed God that much before.

Living through a divorce, God has given me seared-in determination for resolving conflict with Sandra; I really know how dangerous it is to let things go unresolved.

I know firsthand, the consequences of not treating a marriage the way He wants me to. God's shown me how prized a healthy marriage is. More than anything, God has shown me that my life and my family will work if I follow Him instead of running my own plays.

And although I'd never want to relive that experience, God has used my time as a divorcee castaway to profoundly change the course of the rest of my life.///

Now we have a special "Our Story" from Tony & Becky Vent. As you watch this, listen for how Romans 5 played out in their life. You'll see God at work. You'll see a roaring lion reek havoc. You'll see them endure; carry on, and how through it all, God never abandons them and how He loves them.



	< back God-honoring Struggles -morgan young 2.21.04 Today we're looking at the subject of "struggles," "problems," "adversity," all these fun words that we know & love. We're going to see that to live a God-honoring life, we need to handle tough situations the way God wants us to. But first, what are some of the struggles or problems that we encounter in life? Easel exercise: take answers from crowd: divorce, death, finances, betrayal, family "issues," church [expectations, staff trans, people blow it], job stress, job loss, loneliness, insecurity, your body: shape,disease, health) Before going on, it will help you make the most out of this message if you identify a struggle in your life. Today's verse Romans 5:3-5 nlt: (ppt) "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." We're going to use the movie Castaway to help us understand this passage, so let's take a look at this first clip. (Show Tom Hanks in his meeting talking about time, cut to plane, show it going down & the crash.) That clip illustrates this initial part of the passage: (ppt) "when we run into problems" It doesn't say IF you run into problems. It doesn't say, "Here's a handy tidbit in the event you get swamped by something." It's a warning. It's saying, (ppt "Lost in Space" robot) "DANGER! DANGER!" Expect it! I think there's a common misconception that God makes everything groovy; there's this idea floating around that when we come into a relationship with God, life is going to be like a fairy tale. Life IS like a fairy tale; the problem is we forget that in fairy tales, Cinderella had a mean step-mom & evil step-sisters, Little Red Riding Hood had the big bad wolf, and Snow White had the wicked witch. All of them had someone that was planning to trip them upthey all had struggles. In our fairy tale life 1 Peter 5:8 says we have a (ppt) "devil that prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." And John 10:10 says, (ppt) "The thief comes to steal and destroy." (illustration from pg 155 Waking the Dead by John Eldredge) "We've been looking for a house for four years; four years of ups and downs and promises and hopes and finally, just this last Sunday afternoon, we found it. It was not only beautiful and private; it was a perfect fit for our family. The only property we'd seen that met our criteria and made our hearts beat faster, and it was vacant. We could move in immediately. We wrote up what we thought would be a slam-dunk offer. As our agent drove to deliver our contract, he received a call that another offer came in before us by twenty minutes. Some agent in his office saw our offer and sneaked one in ahead of ours designed to beat us out. It felt like a perfect setup. Our hearts were so hopeful, open, vulnerable. I can equate it only to something like parents waiting for four years to adopt, and finally the opportunity opens for them. God says, 'This is your turn. This is my gift to your hearts.' They are promised a baby, but on the day they are supposed to receive her, she's given to another couple. We really thought this house was a gift from God. Not getting it was a direct, intentional wound to our hearts. It wasn't about a house, for heaven's sake. That sounds silly. It was about our relationship with God, our walk with Him; and therefore, about all the other things in our lives that flow from that. The wound came in at the most intimate place of our lives; our walk with God. And a whole lot of other crap rushed in as well. Just as sharks can smell blood in the water from miles away, the enemies of our souls smell woundedness, and they close in the for kill. Suddenly, betrayal felt true. 'God has betrayed you.' Desolation felt rue. 'None of what you believe is true.' Apostasy, abandoning all faith felt true. 'Why walk with God if you can't trust Him?' We were reeling. Thoughts went through my heart about how to get out of this book contract because I can't write except out of my walk with God; and that has been pierce. Stasi was crying. Our middle son was crying. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. If Jesus said the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, well then, why don't we think the thief actually comes to steal and kill and destroy?" Now this idea that struggles are an integral part of our life and that they're often orchestrated by a spiritual being named Satan is a HUGE key to understanding what the life of a Christ follower is REALLY like. A lot of people who are investigating Christianity (seekers) as well as Christ followers who are going through tough times say things like: "I don't understand why this is this happening?" "I don't understand why God lets this happen?" "I don't understand why God doesn't stop this crud right now?" The first part of this verse says that tough situations that we don't understand will happen; we will all have times when our plane goes down. Something unforeseen is going to swamp us; something from this list, probably. And when it happens, our response should not be, "God, this wasn't what I signed up for!" (carefully) Because this verse is telling us that this IS what we signed up for. The life of a Christ follower is a life where things happen that we don't like and we can't stop from happening. And so many times, we feel about as helpless as Tom Hanks did when he realized what was happening. I've seen that happen in just the past months in the lives of several of my friends. I've watched as someone lost a spouse to a disease. The plane went down. I'm watching as a friend's spouse has decided that they'd rather not be married any more; they'd rather be with someone else. The plane is going down. I've watched a couple open up a can that was filled with many years of unresolved stuff as they're trying to have the kind of authentic marriage God wants them to have. But there's been lots of times when it's been more like a "Pandora's box" full of issues they didn't know were in there. Trust me, they've had times when the plane was going down. All of us have had stuff on this list hit us from the blind side. And a lot of times it comes with that horrible feeling that you only feel in the pit of your stomach. When this happens, we feel like a Castaway. Like Tom Hanks after the crash, we feel alone. Abandoned. And a life-raft; a solution; getting our life back to normal, is no where in sight. The first part of this verse says at some time or another, we are all castaways. Before we all get to depressed, let's go back to the movie and get a clue on what we're supposed to do next after our plane has gone down. Clip 2 (show Hanks collect water, start fire, getting food, build raft etc) That clip shows us the next part of our passage which is, (ppt) "(trials) help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us" The keyword here is ENDURE. "Enduring" is an ACTION-ORIENTED word. Hanks didn't just sit on the beach hoping and praying that something good would finally happen. When someone shares with me about a bad thing that's happened in their life, (listen, empathy etc) my first response is usually, "What are you doing about it?" If they say, "I'm really praying about it," I know they don't really understand how to go through a struggle in a God-honoring way. (sidebar: every one in a hundred situations, all we CAN do is pray; I'm speaking to the other 99 situations.) In our fairy tale misconception of life, sometimes we think enduring means praying and hoping God's going to make it all OK. Have you ever seen someone who's plane has gone down, and all they're really doing is; "not much?" If we were to watch Castaway and Hank's character were to do NOTHING. If for three hours we watched him lay there on the beach, slowly dehydrating and slipping away, the tension would drive us NUTS! We would probably get up from the recliner & turn off the DVD and stomp out of the room all ticked off. Our spouse would say, "What's wrong with you?" And we'd say, "It's this most stupid show I've ever seen! The guy doesn't do ANYTHING! He just lays there! When it rains, he doesn't try to get fresh water, he doesn't try to fish, NOTHINGthis show is SO LAME! Just as Hanks got action-oriented after his plane went down, we as Christ followers have to get moving too; we have to CARRY ON. But honestly, the whole "carry on" idea is the hardest part for us to do. Let me try to explain that. (ppt Slate pic of wrestling pose) (Tell story of Slater at practice wrestling meet: wrestles kid who's +30lbs on Slate. Kid trips him & falls on him in one feel swoop. [lip tremble, nervous eyebrows] As they go again, Slates dazed, he's hurting and he's looking at this mountain of a kid knowing: 1, He doesn't have enough fuel in his tank to take him & 2, He doesn't like being under the weight of this kid!) And the point of that story is it's hard to carry on, it's hard to endure when you don't feel like you can. These struggles in our life (easel) feel like the wrestling opponent who once he falls on you, you just can't get out from under him. And to endure is to keep moving with the weight of that person, that struggle on your back. And that, friends, is a very hard thing to do. And here's where our life and the movie Castaway take very different paths. As Hanks tried to endure being shipwrecked, all he had to help him carry on was Wilson, (ppt) a volleyball with a boring personality and a bad hair cut. But listen to this verse about Who is with us when our plane goes down:(ppt) "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going." 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 nlt Here's the magical, freaky, mystical deal: If you're in a relationship with Christ and your plane goes down, you are not alone on an island. No matter how bad it gets, God never abandons us. You can say: "I don't feel God is with me." "I feel all alone." "I feel like I can't keep going." "I don't feel like I can carry on." Here's the key: What we feel during a tough time is not always truth, most of the time it's NOT. Like I said earlier, this "roaring lion" who's prowling to mess up our lives; just happens to be the "father of all lies." Regardless if you feel all alone like little Slate flat on the mat under the weight of someone too big to move. (easel) Here's two truths to help us endure: 1.(ppt)"God never abandons us." 2 Cor 4:9 nlt 2. (ppt) "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Phil 4:13 nasb When we're downward spiraling into the pit of "I feel" statements, we need to just stop. And expose our mind and our soul to these two truths. Because the truth is not what we feel. Truth is God's Word.(ppt) And the next time you say or hear someone say stuff like, "I don't get the deal with Christianity; bad stuff happens every day and believing in God or going to church doesn't seem to stop it from happening." We need to know or say, "Yeah, bad stuff happens, BUT, there's a no holds barred, iron-clad guarantee that no matter WHAT happens, God will ALWAYS be with me and I can get through ANYTHING with Him." To ENDURE means for us to TAKE ACTION during tough times, believing that we're not alone and that somehow God will help us. What does "take action" mean? It depends on the situation: ppt- talk to a fellow Christ follower about your struggle, pick their brain for action steps ppt - pick up a God-honoring book written to your circumstances ppt - find out what the Bible says about your situation ppt - talk to people who've been there and survived ppt - pray like crazy ppt - talk to a counselor One great example of how to endure a tough deal is our DivorceCare ministry. Here's a group of people who've been there & gone through it. They help you walk through it. There's something healing and encouraging about talking to someone who's grown through an experience you're neck deep in. And when they pray for you, having been where you are, something very cool happens. Let me say one last thing about enduring a struggle. It's not your friend's job to carry on. It's not your family members' job. It's not the church's job. We need to engage in the process, with the help of: friends, family and the church. But it's an action-oriented process that begins with us. As Tom Hanks pulled himself up off the beach. We too, have to get moving; but with God's help, and the support of fellow Christ followers. We CAN get moving because we've got way more than Wilson to help us. ////// And this verse goes on, (ppt) "And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation." Let me try to explain this (stay with me). It's easy on a sunny happy day in the life of me, to say, "I believe in God. I believe in everything He says in His Word." When life is good, it's like reading a book on how to swim while living on dry land; it's theory. You tell people, "Sure I know how to swim. I read this book, the instructions were clear, it was well writtenI know how to swim." You know how to swim in THEORY. But when you slip off the deck of a boat during a storm, you find out that doing what you read about is much harder. The book didn't mention all the mouthfuls of water you seem to be taking in. It didn't mention that after just a few minutes your arms and legs would feel like al dente pasta noodles. Now you understand swimming in REALITY. And then every time you go swimming after that, you get better. You swallow less water and you develop into a better swimmer. Up until something tough happens to us as a Christ follower, we're like the person reading a book about swimming whose nowhere close to water. But when we get swamped by a tough deal (easel) THEN we learn what it is to walk with God, not IN THEORY, but in REALITY. We learn that to believe His Word, to believe His truth is hard when we feel so overwhelmed. When we feel alone and under the weight of a real crisis, believing that God is with us and that He'll help us through it, is easier said than done!! BUT; (hope!) As we carry-on, getting action-oriented while praying and trusting in God that He's going to help us off our island; days, weeks or months later, one day we wake up and we're home. We're through the deal (easel). And when we realize that we're OK and that God got us through; we realize that our faith and trust in God is REAL. He REALLY DID get us through it! Our faith in Christ isn't theory anymore; it's a REAL part of our beliefnot because we READ it, but because we LIVED itwe EXPERIENCED GOD THROUGH IT! Our character gets stronger because He proves to us through trials that He CAN be trusted. Our character gets stronger because we realize that believing everything we do about Him isn't crazy. Strong character is character that undeniably believes through first-hand experience, that God is who He says He is and that He CAN be trusted. Through endurance God builds character that doesn't HOPE that God will come through; it's a character that KNOWS He'll come through. /// Let's see our last clip from Castaway. (appreciation for ice, bottled water, flicking lighter, turning lights on & off) That illustrates the first part of our verse, (ppt)"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us." I think it's ironic that Paul put this phrase at the beginning of this passage, because in reality, we never realize the good in a bad situation until we get to the end of it. It's usually not in the mire and slugging-it-out that we say, "Hey, this is cool I'm learning blah-blah-blah!" I remember when I was high school, when he was having a tough time with something, my best friend, Ray, would say, "Under all this feces there's got to be a pony!" It's usually after the rain has cleared that we see the pony; understand how it was good for us. In Castaway, after watching Hanks for hours on an island, I love the way the film-makers made us see these incredibly boring, mundane things like, ice, water, light switches and lighters differently. Like Tom Hanks in the movie, after we get off our island, (endure our struggle,) we're never the same and we see things in new ways too. My biggest Castaway experience was a divorce, many years ago. There are pains and scars from that that will always be with me. But in the throws of the divorce, I began seeking God like I never had before, because I never needed God that much before. Living through a divorce, God has given me seared-in determination for resolving conflict with Sandra; I really know how dangerous it is to let things go unresolved. I know firsthand, the consequences of not treating a marriage the way He wants me to. God's shown me how prized a healthy marriage is. More than anything, God has shown me that my life and my family will work if I follow Him instead of running my own plays. And although I'd never want to relive that experience, God has used my time as a divorcee castaway to profoundly change the course of the rest of my life./// Now we have a special "Our Story" from Tony & Becky Vent. As you watch this, listen for how Romans 5 played out in their life. You'll see God at work. You'll see a roaring lion reek havoc. You'll see them endure; carry on, and how through it all, God never abandons them and how He loves them. Our Story song: I Will Overcome -Charlie Hall verse And I can see that my hands are trembling, I can see that my legs are weak I can see that my head is spinning, but I will overcome And I know that my heart is hurting, And I know that my soul it aches And I know that it seems I'm failing, but I will overcome, yeah chorus: O Lord I'm strong in You, O Lord I am wise in You O Lord I can see in You, so I will overcome O Lord I'm loved by You, O Lord I am free in you O Lord I'm complete in You So I will overcome, I will overcome, I will overcome bridge: God listen to me shout, I'm so far from anywhere and I'm calling out Lead me, lead me to the rock that is higher than I You're my breath, You're my breath, You're my very life Infinite, Holy King meets weak and frail Christ in me And I will overcome not by my strength but by Your grace and love (pray--feel the moment---offer prayer) <back top o'page email morgan