my moment of weakness- praising and praying your way thru

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

James 5:16

I come today to share a little testimony. My usual m.o. is to keep it to myself and not put my business out there but like the song writer said....

I said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody
But I Just Cant Keep It To Myself
How The Lords Been Good To me

Last week the enemy attacked from every direction
my marriage was all but over most due to our finances and me not carrying my share of the load. I have a very special woman but even very special women break after awhile. My wife is quickly getting to this point now
We wasn't sure if we were goin to get kicked out of out home
for being behind in my rent and our landlord wasn't returning calls
and my graphics person moved and didn't have internet connection for more than a month which was makin me nervous because I was way behind my schedule
while i could call someone else she was someone God put in my life to bless me with her help to see this vision thru so I chose the wait, I was still nervous and scared but I chose to wait
among a few several other things which I may speak of at a later date

I immediately was ready to throw in the towel, gave into a moment of weakness I emailed my Pastor asking to be replaced as head of our Media Outreach Ministry (sound ministry) and was goin to step down from the Publicity Ministry
wasn't sure what I was goin to do and where I was goin to be, but if my wife and I broke up I even considered leaving my church so she wouldn't have to
basically because I saw what we were goin thru as all my fault, the strain on our relationship that was because of finances had to do a lot to do with my not bringin in a regular salary and my money not being consistant

I went on to our Thursday night publicity ministry, continued doin my duties for the media outreach ministry, conducted our meeting Sunday after getting a sign that God wasn't finished with me yet and had more work to do in both ministries thru me.
Instead of callin my close family members and telling them the marriage was all but over, and crying on the shoulders of all who would listen
I did something my pastors always instructs we should do
instead of talking to everyone else
I got on my knees several times each day and talked to the Lord every chance I could.

I have to admit I still had a few moments of weakness
but tried to stay focus on doin all the small things i could do with my site
continued to pray and
and with some many other people I love and respect and associate with goin thru things a few of those time, my prayers weren't even about me, which is a new thing for me. Even in praying for the success of my new online magazine, it was more about financial stability for my family and helping those that believe in me even thought they are all goin thru it, feed their families and pay their bills from Heavy Rotation Mag (dot) com.

I had a I'm still standing moment with the enemy
no matter what you throw at me I'm still standing
I got a call from my graphic person she has a few more things to handle but she now has her internet connection and access and is back on the case
Sunday service came and the Lord spoke to my wife and I thru our pastor
and I held our media outreach ministry and continued my daily duties

I got a call today for several odd jobs, staining decks, power washing a house and some inside painting
which wont by itself solve my finanical problem
but will put several hundred dollars in the amount we need to come up with
and is a good start of the long journey
and my wife and I have agreed to put god first as far as our marriage is concerned and not make any decisions on our own which is a blessing in itself. She has been carry the bulk of the load a lot of the time and it was seriously weighting her down
and my landlord agreed to a payment arrangement even though I personally didnt live up to teh last one that I made, which may have been the problem I did it with goin to God and my wife first, so what I was counting on didnt come thru.
More importantly my wife has agreed to see the Pastor with me, which is huge from where we were just a few days ago. I may not have said it in awhile but I love you very much and I love you more as time goes by.

Spending time with my daughter while she was here in GA thanx to my wife aint hurt either. I got my swagger back and instead of having the usual 'Lord why me' moment, 'what am I doin wrong' moment, the questioning God moment and totally losing it, stressing my self out and raising my blood pressure (which is close to normal by the way- Praise God, those that know me know it was very high not too long ago, I see the doctor thursday and will share my good news on that then)
I chose to praise God and stayed prayed up
and keep my eye on the prize so to speak. Now don't get me wrong I (we) are no where near out of the fire as far as my marriage and our finances are concerned. The Mag has along way to go before it comes out, but I am here to say praying and praising your way thru works. And praying together as a couple as suppose to just praying indivually is powerful and working together instead of working independently and working against each other is much better.

God knows how much you can take and is always there to help you get thru as long as you put him first. I know now I am at the part of the story or the testimony where the person almost loses everything before they are successful and this testimony will help many Christian copies and brothers goin thru it in the future.

Instead of keepin it to myself I am realizing more and more my trial and tribulation are sometimes meant to be my testimony so it can be a blessing to someone else
so i pray this is a blessing to some who read this. Those who know me know even though I have a long way to go I have come along way. I got used to telling my testimony after the fact, but got a feeling this afternoon that this time sharing as Im goin thru will help someone, so here it is.
Thank you for letting me share that with you
peace and God bless

- AJ Woodson