Since the madness I endured last year, I wanted to throw in the towel when the scammer laid us off. Realizing I had been had, for the umpteenth hundredth time, I gave up. I always know it is temporary, but I just couldn’t take any more after this one.
Why Joyce Meyer?
Being in the bible-belt of America, I needed something to help pull me out of my rubble. Low and behold, Joyce Meyer appeared on my brother’s TV one morning. She is a 72-year-old Christian minister who has been spreading the word of God for years. She is spry, direct, and knows her stuff.
I am not a big fan of organized religion. I don’t like people telling me how to believe in God and the universe. I don’t like fear as a tactic in doing so as well. I don’t appreciate those who don’t respect another’s beliefs in the world. I believe our path back towards God is very personal. But it is our own, and for US to decide.
She, however, is different. As I sat watching her one day, she looked straight at the camera and said (paraphrasing) “Maybe someone out there needs to hear this. Maybe you have had another big lesson, and you want to give up and can’t see through the fight. I promise you, you will get through it. God will give you your promotion.”
We can’t have any kind of spiritual growth if everything is roses and butterflies. We can’t know our faith in God when things are smooth sailing. It is about your attitude and how you react. BUT, she threw me a rope and I took it. I have taped her show since then, and I sit and watch them every morning now.
She IS the closest thing to my spiritual beliefs, but with ‘religious labels’. She talks about love, joy, happiness, and being positive in your approach. She doesn’t use hell, fire, and brimstone to get you to believe OR fear. But slowly, she got me back up and upright. She also taught me MANY things and has made me look at things from different angles.
You see, she was sexually molested by her own father for most of her young life. Her mother knew and did nothing. She overcame this, she forgave them and took care of them the last 12 years of their lives.
When she started her ministry, it was 40-something years ago. Women did not preach then. But she felt very strongly it was her calling. They even tried her husband doing the preaching. Not his role in this life. In order to fulfill the calling she felt was in her heart, she was actually kicked out of the church she had been a part of for years because she wouldn’t stop what she felt God called her to do. She lost many friends, and still continued to study, preach and raise her family.
I see what she has accomplished, and I wouldn’t hear anyone else preach to me about God other than her. Would you rather have rainbows or circumcisions? 🙂
I saw this sermon these last couple of days and I had to share it. Why? Because it hit home. I spent so many years without any self-esteem. I was a kicked dog. I got teased and bullied so much growing up. I did not even know who I was until I was about to turn 30. I knew who I wasn’t by way of bad relationships. I also know many of my friends suffer from self-esteem issues. We travel in packs, Haha.
And I know it begins at home. We need to have a wonderful and loving relationship with ourselves FIRST before we can with others. But we need to love ourselves. And realize we are divine creatures and there is nothing wrong with us. And worrying about what others think, IS the biggest waste of energy EVER.