the BEST SURPRISE yet from the Lord...!!

Yes, LIFE can surprise us and does… many times! But, when GOD surprises us, it will blow us away!! And, God did just that to Dan and I on Sunday, May 3, 2015. We were blessed by an awesome, inspiring and God-affirming message that Sunday morning at Church of the Open Door in Glendora. Afterwards, we stood chatting outside with some very dear friends of ours. They asked what our plans were for the rest of the day and Dan mentioned that he was planning to visit his Mom in Rialto which is almost an hour’s drive from San Dimas. Dan jokingly said, as he has on many other occasions with other people, that he has to drive slow on the freeway because he’s not sure if our car, a 1992 Toyota 4-Runner which needs a new transmission, will suddenly stop on him while he’s on the freeway…! Our friends then said, “We have a car we can give you.” What?!! They were serious!! What a wonderful, out-of-the-blue and oh-so-generous gift to us!! This was totally God’s grace in action, an example of His unmerited favor to us!

To make this even more incredible, we really had NO idea that we would be needing a nicer and safer car to drive around these Southern California highways. We were happy to have any car to get us around... BUT GOD knew of our need and He was just waiting for the right time to provide one for us!!! He truly is AWESOME!!!

The Infinity Q45T is a dream car for us! Our children say that it is the perfect car for us...!! At this stage in our lives and living off of our pensions and SSS, we would never have been able to afford to buy a car like this, so God decided He would just GIVE us one through the generosity of our dear friends, Greg and Sue!! Every time we get in the Infinity, we are blown away again by Greg and Sue's generosity and give thanks to God for His marvelous provision!

Dan and I are just simple, ordinary people, but we are loved and cared for by an EXTRA-ordinary and AWESOME LOVING GOD!! and God showed us again in a grand gesture how much He really loves us and that He anticipates our needs before we even knew what we needed!!

Is it any wonder then that Dan and I are willing to go anywhere for the Lord? He has always been beside us, behind us and before us! We can do NO LESS than to obey Him and go where He leads, until He sees fit to take us home to Himself!!

TOO IMPORTANT NOT TO SHARE...

5 Indicators of an Evil and Wicked Heart

• Association of Biblical CounselorsAssociation of Biblical Counselors
• 201522 Jan
• COMMENTS266

by Leslie Vernick

As Christian counselors, pastors and people helpers we often have a hard time discerning between an evil heart and an ordinary sinner who messes up, who isn’t perfect, and full of weakness and sin.

I think one of the reasons we don’t “see” evil is because we find it so difficult to
believe that evil individuals actually exist. We can’t imagine someone deceiving us
with no conscience, hurting others with no remorse, spinning outrageous fabrica-
tions to ruin someone’s reputation, or pretending he or she is spiritually committed
yet has no fear of God before his or her eyes.

The Bible clearly tells us that among God’s people there are wolves that wear
sheep’s clothing (Jeremiah 23:14; Titus 1:10; Revelations 2:2). It’s true that
every human heart is inclined toward sin (Romans 3:23), and that includes evil
(Genesis 8:21; James 1:4). We all miss God’ mark of moral perfection. However,
most ordinary sinners do not happily indulge evil urges, nor do we feel good about
having them. We feel ashamed and guilty, rightly so (Romans 7:19–21). These
things are not true of the evil heart.

Below are five indicators that you may be dealing with an evil heart rather than an ordinary sinful heart.  If so, it requires a radically different treatment approach.

1. Evil hearts are experts at creating confusion and contention.

They twist the facts, mislead, lie, avoid taking responsibility, deny reality, make up stories, and withhold information. (Psalms 5:8; 10:7; 58:3; 109:2–5; 140:2;
Proverbs 6:13,14; 6:18,19; 12:13; 16:20; 16:27, 28; 30:14; Job 15:35; Jeremiah 18:18;Nehemiah 6:8; Micah 2:1; Matthew 12:34,35; Acts 6:11–13; 2 Peter 3:16)

2. Evil hearts are experts at fooling others with their smooth speech and
flattering words.

But if you look at the fruit of their lives or the follow through of their words, you will
find no real evidence of godly growth or change. It’s all smoke and mirrors. (Psalms 50:19; 52:2,3; 57:4; 59:7; 101:7; Proverbs 12:5; 26:23–26; 26:28; Job 20:12;
Jeremiah 12:6; Matthew 26:59; Acts 6:11–13; Romans 16:17,18; 2 Corinthians 11:13,14; 2 Timothy 3:2–5; 3:13; Titus 1:10,16).

3. Evil hearts crave and demand control, and their highest authority is their
own self-reference.

They reject feedback, real accountability, and make up their own rules to live by.
They use Scripture to their own advantage but ignore and reject passages that
might require self-correction and repentance. (Romans 2:8; Psalms 10; 36:1–4;
50:16–22;54:5,6; 73:6–9; Proverbs 21:24; Jude 1:8–16).

4. Evil hearts play on the sympathies of good-willed people, often trumping
the grace card.

They demand mercy but give none themselves. They demand warmth, forgive-
ness, and intimacy from those they have harmed with no empathy for the pain they
have caused and no real intention of making amends or working hard to rebuild
broken
trust. (Proverbs 21:10; 1 Peter 2:16; Jude 1:4).

5. Evil hearts have no conscience, no remorse.

They do not struggle against sin or evil—they delight in it—all the while masquerad-
ing as someone of noble character. (Proverbs 2:14–15; 10:23; 12:10;21:27,29;
Isaiah 32:6; Romans 1:30; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15)

If you are working with someone who exhibits these characteristics, it’s important
that you confront them head on. You must name evil for what it is. The longer you
try to reason with them or show mercy towards them, the more you, as the Christian
counselor, will become a pawn in his or her game.

They want you to believe that:

1. Their horrible actions should have no serious or painful consequences.

When they say “I’m sorry,” they look to you as the pastor or Christian counselor
to be their advocate for amnesty with the person he or she has harmed. They be-
lieve grace means they are immediately granted immunity from the relational fallout
of their serious sin. They believe forgiveness entitles them to full reconciliation and
will pressure you and their victim to comply.

The Bible warns us saying, “But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not
learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do
not regard the majesty of the Lord (Isaiah 26:10). 

The Bible tells us that talking doesn’t wake up evil people, but painful consequen-
ces might. Jesus didn’t wake up the Pharisee’s with his talk nor did God’s counsel
impact Cain (Genesis 4). In addition, the Bible shows us that when someone is
truly sorry for the pain they have caused, he or she is eager to make amends to
those they have harmed by their sin (see Zacchaeus’ response when he repented
of his greed in Luke 19). 

Tim Keller writes, “If you have been the victim of a heinous crime. If you have
suffered violence, and the perpetrator (or even the judge) says, ‘Sorry, can’t we
just let it go?’ You would say, ‘No, that would be an injustice.’ Your refusal would
rightly have nothing to do with bitterness or vengeance. If you have been badly
wronged, you know that saying sorry is never enough. Something else is required—
some kind of costly payment must be made to put things right.”1

As Biblical counselors let’s not collude with the evil one by turning our attention to
the victim, requiring her to forgive, to forget, to trust again when there has been no evidence of inner change. Proverbs says, “Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips” (Proverbs. 25:19). It’s foolishness.

The evil person will also try to get you to believe

2. That if I talk like a gospel-believing Christian I am one, even if my actions
don’t line up with my talk.

Remember, Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13–15).
He knows more true doctrine than you or I will ever know, but his heart is wicked.
Why? Because although he knows the truth, he does not believe it or live it.

The Bible has some strong words for those whose actions do not match their
talk (1 John 3:17,18; Jeremiah 7:8,10; James 1:22, 26). John the Baptist said
it best when he admonished the religious leaders, “Prove by the way you live that
you have repented of your sins and turned to God” (Luke 3:8).

If week after week you hear the talk but there is no change in the walk, you have
every reason to question someone’s relationship with God.

Part of our maturity as spiritual leaders is that we have been trained to discern
between good and evil. Why is that so important? It’s important because evil
usually pretends to be good, and without discernment we can be easily fooled
(Hebrews 5:14).

When you confront evil, chances are good that the evil heart will stop counseling
with you because the darkness hates the light (John 3:20) and the foolish and
evil heart reject correction (Proverbs 9:7,8). But that outcome is far better than
allowing the evil heart to believe you are on his or her side, or that “he’s not that
bad” or “that he’s really sorry” or “that he’s changing” when, in fact, he is not.

Daniel says, “[T]he wicked will continue to be wicked” (Daniel 12:10), which begs
the question, do you think an evil person can really change?

http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/5-indicators-of-an-evil-and-wicked-heart.html

this really resonated with me...

I’ve always considered myself an independent person.

For the most part, I keep my worries and troubles to myself, and I do whatever it takes to help myself succeed.

I was never supposed to be the person who couldn’t handle a situation. I was never supposed to have to lean on others for support.

I was supposed to be strong.

This was my mentality for a long period of my life. As my second year of college comes to a close, I now realize being independent doesn’t mean suppressing the things that taunt you in order to prove yourself.

The past 6 months or so of my life haven’t been all daisies and sunshine.

I felt alone, I was scared and the only way to overcome any of it was to turn to those I’m closest to for help.

Depression took over my life for a long time, but it did not become my identity.

There were many days when simple things like getting out of bed were the most daunting tasks imaginable.

My eyes turned into leaky faucets, my emotions were so overwhelming they went numb, the motivation to go forward was nonexistent and any strength I had disappeared — or so I thought.

The thing about depression is despite how it feels at the time, it makes you a stronger person.

For months, my mind was focused on all the aspects of my life I felt were weighing me down.

Along with the help of my closest friends, what helped me get through that was realizing those particular aspects of my life I felt so negatively toward were not, in fact, failures; they were, and are, the things that make me me.

Everyone has issues because, well, nobody is perfect. We are raised to confine personality traits within what society deems as “successful.”

The truth is, who the hell has the authority to tell you that one aspect of your life is the definition of who you are?

You failed that quiz you studied really hard for? You did your best, and that’s what matters. You’re not a failure.

That person you have such strong feelings for is dating someone else? That sucks, but you’re not unlovable. You’ll find the right one.

You don’t like the way you look? You’re beautiful because you’re unique; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, not even yourself.

You are not your grades; you are not a failed relationship; you are not a conventional standard of society; and I am not my depression.

We are individuals getting through life the best way we know how, one day at a time.

We all have obstacles to overcome, but the way to get through them is to realize attitude is everything.

There will be numerous times when life gets you down and seems to just kick the sh*t out of you, but that’s okay.

The further you fall, the higher you fly. The key to success is doing what’s best for you and sticking to what will ultimately make you happy and help you grow.

As messed up as it sounds, depression is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

I never really understood why other people in my life let it consume them for years at a time, but now I can empathize.

When depression hits, it hurts, and it hurts badly — mentally, physically and emotionally.

Overcoming the depression is, by far, my greatest accomplishment.

The fight is not over, but now I know what true strength is. I know despite how independent I may think I am, it does not compromise the fact I am a human being and sometimes, I need help.

Loved ones are in your life to help you become better, not to bring you down.

Life has this really f*cked up way of knocking us down and then bringing us back up, just to repeat the cycle. But, here’s the thing: That’s what makes it beautiful.

Everyone needs the yin to his or her yang and the darkness to the light in order to appreciate the good things life has to offer.

The only true failure is giving up on yourself.

from http://elitedaily.com/life/depression-helped-improve-life/1017211/