A Deeper Faith...

When I began blogging about three years ago, the primary purpose was to share my faith. That goal is still intact. Deeper faith comes through trials, and those of us closest to our daughter Mandy and son-in-law Ken have witnessed an amazing amount of grace and trust in the Lord being etched into their lives and into ours. Our walk becomes bittersweet when we see loved ones going through difficult times, yet seeing spiritual growth rise from the debris left behind by the enemy. Our God is bigger. I hope you'll be inspired and blessed with the wisdom of a young wife and mother whose heart is absolutely staid on the Lord:  NKS

"I have waited awhile to speak to this chapter in our lives because I didn't want to respond out of raw emotion. The fact that I have been largely silent does not mean I have not had anything to say; to the contrary, I have had plenty to say. I am not wired for conflict or confrontation, so I do a lot of post-processing. Tons. And the more I want to say, the more I wait, so that I'm not just responding out of the flesh and saying what I truly want to say. I really try to filter and sort everything out with God first. I typed several thoughts out the other day, to get them out of my head and take a good look at them. I have let them sit for a few days, and have edited them down to this...

It is incredibly sad to see a man so bound by hatred for so long that you are continuing to try to bring destruction to our family with your lies and deceit after all of these years. You may feel that you have succeeded, but I assure you, you have not. You will never kill the joy in our hearts nor the burning desire in our souls to be used by God however He sees fit. We will continue to make ourselves available for His service anywhere, in any way He chooses.

It is disheartening, at best, to see those who are unconcerned with knowing and understanding the whole truth and history of your situation because it serves them better for others to see you in a negative light.

Satan is at his best, or at his worst, when he pits believer against believer.

Satan will use whatever he can to distract us from the real reason we are here- to know Jesus and to make Him known. I will not give him that victory in my life, at least not for long. I shake the dust off of my feet and move on. 

If you have lost faith in people, you're on the right track. That's not where our faith is supposed to be anyway. We are imperfect people living in an imperfect world, and we are going to fail each other. God is the One who is unfailing, unchanging, unshakable, always faithful and true. Put your faith in Him. He did not create us for life here in this painful world; He created us for eternity with Him. Let's get through this life as best we can and tell as many people as we can while we're here how they can spend eternity with Him in heaven too.

I am all the more thankful every day to be married to a man who is unpretentious, who is who he is who he is no matter who he's around. Who gives freely of himself to everyone. Who shows love and compassion to everyone who crosses his path. Never do I feel threatened by this, as he has always demonstrated the same love and compassion to me, our sons, our families, friends, co-workers, people we don't even know that well, or even at all.

I'm so thankful for a God who shows us He loves us and is personally interested in our lives. Who has given us encouragement whenever we have asked for it. Who has provided for us at every turn. He has done this through many friends and family. To those who have ministered to us in some way, prayed for us, reached out to us- thank you, and many blessings to you :).

Philippians 3:13-14
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. "

Mandy Kniskern
wwwK2ProStudio.com