Discouraged But Not Defeated

"But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one."
2 Thessalonians 3:3

Satan has a funny way of using negativity to get under our skin. To make us forget God's faithfulness and to make us feel discouragement in areas of life where we should feel encouraged.

But, God's faithfulness is so abundant and so limitless that He never fails to gently remind me that He's got my back, that He goes before me and that He has all of this life in the palm of His hands. And for that, I am so thankful.

God kept laying these words on my heart to share. Hopefully someone else can be encouraged. Recently, I've been discouraged. Satan has found ways to use things I'm passionate about and things that I work hard on to be a source of frustration and stress. People, in their human nature have been critical and negative, resulting in my own second-guessing and questioning of my purpose. I've questioned my motives, I've questioned my ministry and I've questioned if God really has me in the right place. Let me tell you, discouragement is not fun. Feeling frustrated and angry about things you're normally excited about is from the devil. It's straight from Hell. And I knew it, and I let it get to me anyways.

And then, you know what? God gently reminded me that He is right here next to me. I selfishly prayed that I would get a chance to "prove the nay-sayers wrong" and He has given me that opportunity. As soon as the opportunity finally presented itself, Satan crept in for an instant, making me second guess myself again - Maybe I can't do this. Maybe it is a bad idea. But with determination and perseverance, I set out to achieve my goal - raise money for my God's church.

Be encouraged, dear brothers and sisters. Let me share with you how I have been. I set out to get donations for a church event. Church events are my thing. I have felt over the past few years that everything I've worked in ministry for has built up to being an "event coordinator". Among all the other things I do at church, this is by far my favorite thing. I enjoy it - yes it brings me stress - but the reward of seeing my brothers and sisters enjoy fellowship, enjoy food and evangelize and live out the gospel are things that bring me so much joy.

For this event, I have a very short window of time and getting donations is not something that is easy to do without time. But you know what - God doesn't need a lot of time, so neither do I. Let me tell you, friends. I set out over the past 3 days to solicit donations from local and national businesses. Some of which I have worked with in the past, some of which I know personally and some of which I have no prior relationship with. I've been blown away by the generosity of others. I have handed out over 30 letters and talked with so many people in person, via phone and via email that have just been so willing, so excited and so generous. I've gotten easily almost $400 worth of items donated in just 3 short days and I still have dozens of letters that I am waiting to hear back from.

People always say that God works in mysterious ways.  But to me, this is not mysterious, it's just God at work. He is good, all the time. He could have easily humbled me through this experience and taken the opportunity away, closing this door - as He has done so many times. This time, though, He humbled me by showing me grace and encouraging me through the selfless charity of others.

Satan did not defeat me this time. I'm praying that he doesn't discourage me anymore, either. So, to any of you reading this who have helped through a donation, THANK YOU! You've been the hands and feet of Jesus and you can know that God put you in my life to encourage me. I'm so thankful. Thank you for letting God use you in big ways. I'm praying for you and hope that He can encourage you, too.

Love,
The Farmers Wife