{"id":8,"date":"2007-11-12T09:26:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-12T15:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/12\/it-is-hard-to-keep-on-going\/"},"modified":"2007-11-12T09:26:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-12T15:26:00","slug":"it-is-hard-to-keep-on-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/12\/it-is-hard-to-keep-on-going\/","title":{"rendered":"It is hard to keep on going"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_FfyN1hJQqRU\/RzjMMm9VVII\/AAAAAAAAABE\/aqrlU2pZjtY\/s1600-h\/struggles.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_FfyN1hJQqRU\/RzjMMm9VVII\/AAAAAAAAABE\/aqrlU2pZjtY\/s320\/struggles.jpg?w=700\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132076292376974466\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>This has been a very stressful last seven days.  I sit on a Church council that is really having not only a troubled time with finances, but just with relationships.  Any little thing sets people off.  We have only one secretary, who has been working 40-45 hrs a week, but getting paid for 30!  Money, money, money.  How do we get it, how do we use it?<\/p>\n<p>Well, we had decided not to authorize to move the secretary from a 30 hour payment to 40 hrs, with benefits.  When I went home, I really struggled on this decision.  I feel that we acted out of anxiety and not with the Holy Spirit.  I felt called by the Holy Spirit to have the council re-visit the decision that had been made.  Upon sending an email asking for this, boy, lots of anxiety was stirred.  At the next meeting the President resigned, one of the other members blamed the Presidents resignation on me, told me I made a stupid and intentional move.  How dare I do something like this.  I just found out yesterday that the treasure has also resigned.  We are missing several council members, anxiety is running around and the devil is taking advantage of it.  It took me a little while to get over being beat up. I know that God called me to get corrected, what had been done.  I knew all the heat I was going to take when I started to stand up for what was correct.  It is still difficult, but Jesus has stood by my side, taking some of the heat off of me.<\/p>\n<p>This started three months ago, and continues today. As a Pastor friend of mine has a saying that he had posted on the wall.  &#8220;Faith does not always mean you win.&#8221;  How true is that!  However, faith is something you have to live by.  Winning and loosing is something earthly.  It all goes away eventually to be replaced by everlasting life, love and happinesses.<\/p>\n<p>There are always good things happening, even in the midst of bad.  Some due to the result of the bad, but others, just happen anyway.  My wife and I were recently approached by a couple of seekers.  We were a little surprised, but were equipped by the Spirit to taken on the challenge.  This is still a work in progress, but had my wife not had just gone to a Diakonia class, she may not have been prepared.  Not only did this prepare her to talk to the seeker, but the talk, re-affirmed my wife&#8217;s thoughts and cemented her beliefs on what she had heard in the class.     That Had to be a GOD thing!!<\/p>\n<p>Well, time is short, but I wanted to post my thoughts and get on to the next challenge.<\/p>\n<p><><\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This has been a very stressful last seven days. I sit on a Church council that is really having not only a troubled time with finances, but just with relationships. Any little thing sets people off. We have only one secretary, who has been working 40-45 hrs a week, but getting paid for 30! Money, &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/12\/it-is-hard-to-keep-on-going\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-8","6":"format-standard","7":"category-uncategorized"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-8","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3274,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2024\/07\/03\/baptism-and-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":0},"title":"Baptism and Holy Spirit","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"July 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"June 16, 2024 Acts 8:4\u201340 (NRSV)2 Corinthians 5:17 (NRSV)","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Baptism&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Baptism","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/baptism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2536,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2021\/02\/16\/generosity-talents\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":1},"title":"Generosity &#8211; 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