#testimony – @restbeyondtheriver on Tumblr

Anonymous asked:

Can you please pray for me? I'm really struggling with feeling responsible for ushering the salvation of people in my life. My church is working through this series on selecting four people in your life and helping them to know Jesus. My pastor says things like "Without your help someone is facing an eternity without their Creator." I know that as Christians we are tasked with spreading the good news, and when I think about the amount of people I know or have met who aren't saved I feel overwhelmed and guilty. Maybe it's a generational thing too but I'm gen z and it just seems like people my age either get combative or put up a wall when you mention faith. I'm more than willing to have those conversations with people when the opportunity arises but until then all I've been doing is praying for others and trying to live like Jesus/be a light. Still I worry that I'm not "trying enough" and I'm letting God down.

I'll use my salvation story as an example & maybe it will help:

#prayers #testimony #ask

restbeyondtheriver

I was a scared 12 year old raising her hand when the preacher said “raise your hand if you know you need to make a decision for Christ” as the service was ending. A deacon in a suit & tie ran out in the parking lot to tell my mom after the service in case she didn’t know. She didn’t, & we were three steps from the car. Without him we never would have walked back in, I never would have prayed to accept Christ that day, my entire life would look different now.

Don’t be afraid to check on people. Don’t be afraid to feel silly. Don’t be afraid to try. I don’t remember his face, or how out of breath he must have been. I remember his action for Christ, & I am grateful for it. Someone else will be too.

#testimony #my testimony

restbeyondtheriver

Anonymous asked:

PART 2; “J” Since i was confused and i dont feel safe asking these questions to my community because i know id get the usual response— God is holy and we should question these things and just follow what “we” say. The fact that I don’t feel safe going on the same church and I only question everything our pastor says, I decided not to go to the same church anymore. My question: have you experienced deconstruction or changing church before? If yes, How do you handle loneliness and isolation?

Hey J, I want to validate you first, & say God asks us questions & He answers a lot of questions in the Bible. Questions are good & seeking Godly wisdom is good. I was really lucky to have pastors who said to never take their word for what is in the Bible or believe what they say as fact, - they always wanted us check the Bible for ourselves. Opinion is not scripture, & no one has a right to say they are the authority on the Christian faith except for Jesus Christ.

The short answer is yes. Loneliness, isolation, deconstruction, & working out my faith has dominated my late teens/early 20’s. I’ve written a lot about it on here, & it’s probably the only reason I have any kind of online presence at all.

I think I handled it by making a lot of mistakes, honestly. I’m not sure if this is how you feel, but I never wanted to give up working out my salvation with fear & trembling. I always knew I wanted God to be at the center of my life even though I had no idea what that was going to look like. I lost a lot of faith in people, & in myself. I needed to. I came out the other side of it with a lot of personal faith in Jesus, & less dependent on my/other people’s past works to prove it.

I can tell you that sky doesn’t fall when you tell God you are frustrated at the world around you & that you are losing faith, or that you needed to make changes but don’t know how, because I’ve done it a hundred times. God was not afraid of my anger even though I was. Put your finger on the verse you don’t understand or that makes you disillusioned, & tell God that. Aloud. Tell God you don’t understand Him. Slow steps, slow reactions, pray about it all.

#ask #advice #testimony #relationship #j #church

restbeyondtheriver

Anonymous asked:

Just wondering - what denomination church do you attend? Do you consider yourself a born again Christian and if so how do you explain to non Christians what that means to you and your life? Have a lovely day 😊❤️

Hi! I go to a baptist church, but would go to any church no matter what denomination if the theology was sound. I am a Bible girl before I am anything else, & I do consider myself a born again Christian.

If anyone ever asks me a question about my beliefs, I try to quote scripture because that is what changed my own life. I point to the cross/resurrection in pretty much every question I receive online & in person because it is what sets serving Jesus apart from other gods.

Other than that, I try to act more than I explain, because the Bible says that we will be known for how we love & our actions towards others. Usually the reason I am able to say I am a Christian in a conversation, quote the scripture that gave me the conviction, or testify to someone is because I did a bible-based action first & they gravitated towards that. When I live from the Bible people will ask why, & when I explain that I am trying to act out of love for Christ, it means they know where the action came from, & that it wasn’t of my own doing.

#ask #bible #testimony #about me

restbeyondtheriver

Anonymous asked:

What do I do when my prayers feel like they are not heard and do nothing, when things I thought were from God go unfulfilled, when I am filled with so much anger and hatred towards my current ever growing worse circumstances? I dont know how to go on anymore. The disappointment has killed my hope and faith and left nothing but confusion and rage.

I got my old Bible out of my drawer because this sounds so much like I did a couple of years ago. I am giving you all the verses I have written around/underlined.

Job 23 , Psalm 63 , Psalm 78 , Psalm 101 , Psalm 116 , Psalm 119 , Matthew 26 , 2 Corinthians 5 , Philippians 3 , Hebrews 1, Hebrews 11 , James 4

It was not always easy for me. There was a lot of pain & bitterness in the margins of this Bible. I worked to be close to the Lord while processing pain because I so badly wanted to be close, even though the season was a volatile one. It gave me perspective on what was still very difficult.

I was talking with my mom this morning & got emotional when she brought up this exact season of my life, & she apologized. I said, “It’s okay, it’s good for me to think about how long ago it was. That was a long time ago.” & it’s the first time I’ve ever felt completely out from under this season, which lasted for years.

For me, being honest with the God I find in the Bible is the best help for heavy emotion & dealing with heavy circumstances. Neither lasted forever, & I didn’t want to give up my relationship with Christ over them. It was the over arching desire from the Bible, because of the Bible, & kept me moving towards Bible.

My advice: Keep going. You can do this.

#ask #advice #bible #jesus #relationship #circumstances #testimony

restbeyondtheriver

Anonymous asked:

Being ghosted by someone who i thought really cared for me. He says he wants to hang out with me then never follows through. I kept trying to reach out to him but it seems to mean nothing to him. I never do this, i never have feelings for someone like this, so that makes it a lot worse. I feel so disrespected. I'm so angry at him and at myself for continuing to try. I just need prayers that i can get past this anger because i can do nothing about it at all. I just want to move on and forget.

I have had a similar experience, & I know this is primarily a prayer request, but I’d like to share with you if that’s okay?

#you can do it #prayers #testimony #encouragement #relationship

restbeyondtheriver

Anonymous asked:

I want to have a consistency in my relationship with Him. I keep telling Him about it, then I just shut down again. I shut down when there's something negative going on too, like I don't want to share it with Him I just want to share my happiness. Sorry for the longevity. Any advice? 2

I want to stress this first because I haven’t in the past: My writing is very emotional, but you don’t have to be that in order to pursue the Lord. I am not always so impassioned either. Humans wax & wane, & God expects that.

some more thoughts:

-God knows we are imperfect, & it is why the cross is so important.

-It is good to know that when you feel like you need to be doing something, it makes you shut down. That’s good to know about yourself.

-I’m not sure if this is the case for you, but I found if I let myself sit in my own quietness for awhile, that I actually had a lot to say, I was just a bit paralyzed.

-Start small

If you don’t have one, get a bible you really, really like.
prayer journals help a lot. I bought a small journal in 2016 & when I started I only had a few sentences a day. Now I can write for hours.
make Christian music playlists
find podcasts to listen to. I have been liking The Porch a lot recently.
The bible app will send you verses if you want. I have one sent to my phone at 9 am every day.
pick one thing you know is a problem & want to work on. For me right now that is affirming instead of correcting/snapping at people. Awhile ago it was realizing I needed to change what I was watching on tv.
Find something that really makes you think about the things of God that is natural to you, for me, that was/is this blog. It may be something else for you.

-Here’s a quote from matt chandler I like a lot, that has helped me when I’ve felt inconsistent & silly when I try:

“It’s not face painted blue, running into the field to slaughter the Lord’s enemies. Sometimes it’s just getting up & going & sitting across the table with my wife & asking how she’s doing.”

We are never going to arrive, but we are going to grow. & the closer you grow to God, the more of yourself you will want to share with Him. It starts with little changes & priorities. You can do it.

#ask #advice #testimony