Did you know you are Divinely Inspired and Victoriously Anointed (DIVA)? If you are like me, sometimes the vernacular becomes so commonplace that it looses its punch and therefore requires a fresh look. Therefore, let’s devour some brief definitions of these words:
Divine ~ of, from, or like God
Inspired ~ to fill with the urgency or ability to do something
Victorious ~ having won a victory, triumphant
Anointed ~ expresses the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit upon Christians (2 Corinthians 1:21)
You are a DIVA and your testimony IS meant to be a powerful witness, all to the glory of God! We shall take another week to compose your testimony. I encourage you to do so. Michelle added her testimony last week and it is lovely. Praise God!
“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Revelation 12:11
Have you composed your testimony? DIVAs can do it! Post it here in the comment section.
In His Grace,
Amanda
Well, as I sat to write my testimony I began to wonder…. “Which part?” My testimony is forever continuing. With each step of obedience God calls me to, there follows a story of fear, lots of emotions, a story of struggling with trust, confidence, and assurance that this is in fact God’s voice. However, in the midst of all of the ‘worldly’ struggles I experience, there lies a story of love, devotion, redemption, and faithfulness…a story that tells, in action, His love for me.
See, He in fact serves us. Now, before you assume quickly…take a minute to reflect. (Matthew 20: 25-28) Jesus called them together and said, “you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord is over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be the first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 23:9-12) and do not call anyone on earth ‘father’, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you, will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exhausted.
To make this connection, you must also understand John 15:1-17, which to pull just a few scriptures say…5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me YOU CAN DO NOTHING.
This, my beautiful sisters, implies that He does not need us, but in fact, we are in need of Him. And if you believe this, then you must realize that this means we are in need of HIS services, which implies He is serving us as we are IN NEED OF HIS SERVICES. He is the giver, as we are the RECIEVER. We must humble ourselves so the we may be exhausted by His services through us. Oh that is so exciting to me!!!! Praise be to a God who loves us so much that He would humble himself to serve us so He could, in turn, services others, through us, that can only be reached through our choice of humbling self and holy living by the power given to us through our precious Lord and Savior.
So, my testimony is today. My testimony is what is currently happening though me so He can reach someone who needs Him. It is an ongoing story of laying self down so that I can receive the greatest power of services from the greatest servant this world will EVER know. My encouragement to you is not to just tell your story of a moment, but tell your story of today. What are you struggling with now, how will you humble yourself for today…for this moment? There is power in our testimonies and our testemonies require actions with today to become a testimony of yesterday, or a year ago, etc. The Word says, faith without works is dead (James 2:14), which would mean that our testimonies are stories of our faith in action…..today….this very moment. My story is for the person God sends at the right time and at the right moment. 😉
So, in a nutshell, my testimony involves a daily choice to be loved first by Him, so that I can love others (1 John 4:19). To be served, so that I can serve. I chose, and choose daily, to be served, so in turn, I have strength to CHOOSE forgiveness, trust, love, acceptance… to overcome addictions of smoking, drinking, and cussing…to sever bonds of unrighteous anger, a need for control, and selfishness…so that He could finish my Master’s degree in Chemistry when the odds felt completely against me… I choose to be served so He is able to guard my heart against the things of this world. I choose to be served and to abide in Him so He can produce fruit in me that will FEED HIS SHEEP! (John 21:15-19) HALLELUJAH!!!!
Oh how I love that I am able to truly love you because Iget to know true love from Him. Much love and prayer and gratitude for your lives…YOU MATTER! AMEN!
I love you Beloved sister
Recently, I was asked to share my testimony and so I am posting a part of it. As with any person we all have a history of life lived, before Christ.
The entire world does, on a timeline of history, they call it BC.
But for me, Jesus birth, death and resurrection impacted me personally, not just historically. The facts of who I was and what I did before Christ are inconsequential. Suffice to say..I was a sinner.
A past life of living without the true WAY.
But now in God’s eyes, my past is dead, buried, and my sins are gone. Deleted, erased.
I was what is referred to as a good person, a well meaning person.
A sinner.
A better than you a and worse than you, sinner.
A Sinner- a rebellious one who refused to acknowledge the Creator in thought or deed. One who conceptualized my ability to live and die in my own way. To walk out my life in my own way.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Hebrews 10:16-17 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
But then Jesus became the center of me, filling in the less than and more than concept of me.
A new creation in Christ is now my identity.
I am now and can be everything He desires of me and manifests through and in me of himself.
This can be true for you as well as me.
No matter what I put on the back of or front of this equation. Jesus must be the center.
You and I and our abilities are less than until everything in and about us, meets and manifests “His more than.”
~Debbie
If you would like to see a visual/ picture of my art parable about this.. http://visionsofhisword.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-christ-christ-in-me.html
ABC- A Simple Salvation Prayer-http://visionsofhisword.blogspot.com/2009/04/welcome.html
Amanda, thank you for allowing me to share my testimony on your website ❤️
Good Morning Ladies.
I have had an awareness and knowledge of God since I was a young child. His presence in my life has been a constant guide. I have always known that He was with me, even in the darkest times of my life. I have had various health issues, that God has used to make me stronger. I continue to struggle, but I know that these things are only temporary. Jesus has always been faithful, even when I have failed miserably. Coming to Christ at a young age does not mean that I have led a life free of mistakes. I have made plenty of mistakes, and not always lived out what I said I believe. Jesus has always been there when I came back to Him, and remembered what He did for me. He has been faithful to wash away the dirt and grime from my unrighteous behavior, and re-instill in me worth and value through His unfailing love. I have reoccurring issues that it seems He is always dealing with, my big issue is anger. Praise God is He faithfully pulling that ugly weed from my life. It is a process, and it is taking a long time. Mostly because I am stubborn, and sinful pride gets in the way of the complete work He wants to do. But my heart longs to be whole, and completely His, in that I am confident that He will complete the work He has begun in me. And! He promised that He would. Mostly I want to be a life that glorifies Him! Music, and words(the written word, i.e. books) have consistently been a way that God uses to draw me to Himself. I love music, and I love words. Both are powerful instruments in my life. I believe God uses both of these instruments in me to draw others to Himself.
Deanna, Your love of worship is a blessing. Thank you for sharing your gift.
Here is an excerpt from “Faith Triumps” on-line bible study regarding my testimony. Grab some coffee and put your feet up! …..I would like to share with you a recent experience with this type of miraculous surge of faith. Fifteen years ago my husband suffered multiple bleeds throughout his brain. The doctor misdiagnosed him which left us bewildered for several days as he suffered. With just a slight move of his head he became dizzy so he endured extreme nausea. He slept for days; probably because he had no other way to escape the situation. Every time he tried to sit up – he would throw up. Not many days later the things he said became nonsensical. Then, as if it could be any worse, he could not even finish sentences. We had been in contact with the original doctor and we consistently were told to give it time – the nausea was just a reaction to the medication he was taking. One day I realized I could no longer take care of him and I called for another opinion. The person I spoke with was stunned that he had been left in that condition for so long and that he should immediately be taken to the hospital. My first taste of fear set in.
The doctors at the hospital knew immediately there was a serious problem. Multiple tests were ordered. I remember sitting outside in the hall during one procedure. The hall was empty and the lighting was dim. There were no chairs so I had to sit on the cold floor and wait. I never felt so alone. Fear crept back in.
We finally received the news. The doctor was grim as he told us my husband had several bleeds scattered throughout his brain. I remember how the doctor looked at me with such sorrow and pity. There was no offer of hope from him. He gave the diagnosis, said he was sorry, and left the room. Fear reminded me it was still there.
We discovered the hospital he was in was not adequate to handle his condition so he would have to be moved. Because the move was my idea, I had to sign a release to not hold the hospital responsible if he did not make it during transit. No one else stood by me in that decision. The burden was indescribable. Fear stood by me.
It was late at night when the ambulance pulled into the hospital. We were in Dallas at the time and I remember seeing people laughing and having fun in the West End. It seemed so odd to me that some people could experience such intense suffering while others could have such joy. My husband was admitted to ICU and they informed us that he now had hydrocephalus. About a week later he was scheduled for brain surgery to try to determine the cause and to stop the bleeding. The night before surgery I remember the nurses rolling him out of ICU for us to say goodbye to him because our daughter was not old enough to go into the ICU area. I remember thinking it seemed insensitive for the staff to suggest we should say our goodbyes but in his situation no one could even offer hope of a positive outcome. Fear was now my constant companion.
Everything we had been through leading up to this moment caused this experience to be more than I could emotionally handle. At this point, I swung the door wide open to fear. Once this happens the only One who can close it is Jesus. Looking back I can say that even during what seemed to be the darkest hours, God’s sovereign hand was still involved. I did not recognize His ways at that time so I choose to trust fear.
The surgery went perfectly. Even the surgeons brought in medical students to view his case because it was miraculous, but I remained afraid. Two weeks later he needed another surgery. The surgery again went perfectly.
Five months later we were to move to a small town and the only real medical facilities that could handle his condition would be an hour away. Fear was a stronghold and it was not turning loose.
My husband did not have any real health issues for about the next 8 years, then he had another brain bleed. This time the bleed was in the center of his brain and there was nothing that could be done; surgery would cause too much collateral damage. The doctor said to go home and hope the bleeding would halt. God showed his great mercy to us yet again. It indeed stopped bleeding. Before it did however, the increased pressure in his brain caused his eyes to not work with each other, as both eyes focused in different directions. While he waited six weeks for the blood in his brain to be reabsorbed in his body, he wore an eye patch so that he could at least operate with one working eye.
I have to tell you that for all those years I lived in fear. I always wondered if something would happen. Almost everything gave me cause for concern. Fifteen years ago when this ordeal first surfaced, I knew God for salvation purposes but I did not know His Son who made it all possible. God was a God of the history books for me. I never knew He was approachable or that He even cared. The lack of relationship is what made trusting fear so easy.
Not long ago I received a call from my husband and he described symptoms that were extremely similar to symptoms he had 15 years ago. At the time I was surrounded by kids doing presentations, yet all I wanted to do was fall to the floor in a ball of despair. I had to fight the same delusional thoughts as an ostrich. I wondered how this could be happening again?
As the years had past I had not only grown to know the Lord but I also had grown in faith. Fear was trying to make its appearance again so I knew I must seek someone strong in faith who could pray with me. What a blessing indeed to have believers in your midst! I thank the Lord for that every day! As soon as I turned my eyes up I saw that the Lord had arranged for her to be right before my eyes. Together we rebuked fear. By the end of the prayer I was laughing in the face of the crisis because the joy of the Lord had overwhelmed me. My faith became strong again and I could effectively pray.
My husband spent the next several weeks with extreme dizziness (from the blood putting pressure on different parts of his brain) and all the other symptoms that accompany brain bleeds. We had planned a vacation before all this happened and were discussing if we should still go. He decided we would go and he would live with as much life as he could.
One night while we were away he told me to look at his eye. One eye was looking straight and the other was off to the side. It was the same thing all over again. This time, however, my reaction was different. I received a surge of faith! I felt no fear at all and no concern over the future. I looked at him (although it seemed as if I was looking at the problem instead) and said with no fear, “Yes. I see that.” I turned my face away from him then and quietly said, “And THAT…does…NOT… move me.” Finished. Nothing further said and no emotion felt. It was finished. The next morning his eyes were normal again and it was either that day or the next that every symptom of his brain bleed had disappeared. Praise God! I did not allow fear to dictate terms of the trial as it had in the past. Fear and faith do not go hand-in-hand. You choose one or the other. The Lord allowed this crisis to end with a sudden surge of miraculous faith which lead me to confidently believe without a doubt that whatever the outcome, it was under the sovereign control of the Lord our God. Faith triumphed.
Fear did not reign that day as it had so many times in the past regarding a health crisis. I learned when we are bound by fear we become useless. If a crisis calls for prayer we do not call on fear or recount grief. If a situation calls for standing in faith we do so as a warrior in the army of the living God. Fear? Who needs it! Make no mistake – it is your enemy. As a believer you are to rebuke fear and stand in faith. While you are at it, rebuke everything that dares rival the spot reserved for faith. Remember to stand firm in your faith or you will not stand at all.
With the crisis past, the Lord brought back to my memory my temptation to fall to my knees in fear. The thought that came to my heart was, “I was tempted to bow down to the fear and by the strength of God alone was I able to resist. Take that overwhelming emotion fear provoked and fall to your knees giving glory to God!” I also sensed that I had grieved the Spirit by being more sensitive to the power of fear than to the power of God. Do not bow down to fear or any other thing your King says you have victory over. If you are tempted to bow down to fear, turn and bow to the King and bring Him glory instead!
AMEN. Amanda ❤️
Wow, Amanda. Thank you so much for sharing that. I am overwhelmed by your story. I recently woke up with fear and fought against it with Scripture, but it remained. But I didn’t let it own me. I asked God to forgive me for my unbelief and asked for strength and to take away the fear. He is faithful! I’ve missed seeing you all!