Paula White - Move On, Move Up: Turn Yesterdays Trials Into Todays Triumphs

Copyright 2008 by Paula White Enterprises, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scriptures noted The Message are taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scriptures noted NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scriptures noted NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

FaithWords

Hachette Book Group

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New York, NY 10017

Visit our Web site at www.faithwords.com.

First eBook Edition: October 2008

ISBN: 978-0-446-54484-9

To Kristen: The emblem and epitome of beauty and strength.

Shaken, but Still Standing

S everal years ago a word was spoken to me by a godly mana statement I knew was from God. He declared very specifically things the Lord had shown me when I was a young believer.

He then said, Paula, everything around you that can be shaken is going to be shaken. Things you have counted on as being sure will crumble. But you, Paula, will remain standing and you will emerge with strength.

His bold, direct words with the love of God branded my soul. I had absolutely no doubt that he was speaking truth to me. His message, on the one hand, was not at all what I wanted to hear. On the other hand, his message was not without hope.

In the next few years, his words came to pass. Everything around me that could be shaken was shaken. Things I had counted on as being sure crumbled. But I am still standing, and deep within, I know I am stronger than I have ever been in my faith, my purpose, and my position.

I have known the depths of heartache.

I have also known the even greater depths of Gods love and sustaining power.

And I have come to understand the processes of God in a way I have never understood them before.

This is not at all to say that I wanted things around me to be shaken. Far from it!

It is not to say that I have not cried hundreds of buckets of tears. I have. I often say, I didnt write the script, but I am learning to walk it out with dignity and honor by the grace of God.

As things around me were shaken, and some things around me crumbled in what seemed more like a crash, I spent long hours alone with Godpraying, writing in my personal journals, reading the Word of God, and struggling to gain a perspective on what Gods purposes might be for the pain I was experiencing.

Some things remain a mystery to me. As long as we are on this earthly side of eternity, we will never have a full answer to all why questions.

Other things have become crystal clear. One of the things I have come to see clearly and with certainty is that God creates out of chaos. We often think that creativity happens when all things are in perfect order; however, the opposite is true. The entire cosmos was produced out of a watery, smothering, dark, chaotic nothingness. An empty wasteland.

God creates out of chaos.

No matter how chaotic your life may be, you are precisely in the right position for God to do a creative work!

God speaks His Word to you.

He sheds His light on your situation.

He gives you freedom to breathe in His inspiration and He sets your feet on the solid footing of His truth. He secures you during instability.

He establishes order and rhythm in your life.

He gives you opportunity to become fruitful and to fully embrace and become involved with all things that are for your benefit and fulfillment.

What a Creator!

And what joy that He calls us to participate fully in His creative processes.

All of Gods plans and purposes for your life are good. They were good at the moment of your creation. They are good today. They will always be good and cannot be anything other than good because they are the work of a totally good and holy God.

The bad things you have experienced may have dented or tarnished or sullied the outer person that you are. Your flesh may have been hit and scars may remain. God hasnt changed His mind about you. He still longs to be in a relationship with you. He still has a good plan and purpose for you. The key to not only moving on but moving up is this: God has a process for your perfection.

The key to not only moving on but moving up is this: God has a process for your perfection.

Gods process is directed toward your having, doing, and being everything God says you can have, do, and be.

Gods process is presented to us in Gods Word, and it is a process available to every person who will seek to discover it, embrace it, and persevere in it.

For most people, the recognition of Gods process begins at a point of pain or difficulty. In anguish and devastation a person wants to move on, but she doesnt know how. And she wants to move upshe senses there is more, but she doesnt know where to find it. She wants out of the current circumstancesand especially out of the current painbut she is unsure which direction to move or where to turn. She knows that she did not intend her life story to contain certain chapters that life has been writing. She does not know how to place the chapter or life event that she struggles to acceptmuch less understand the whys ofin context with the overall story. I understand; I have been there.

Thats what this book is all about.

Its about aligning your life with Gods processes so you can experience Gods perfection, and in experiencing the fullness of Gods plan, experience all that will give you meaning and purpose. I am not saying, I have arrived; it is a continual journey. However, I do know something about being processed and learning to stay in position for the purpose of God.

I invite you to the process... and to the fulfillment of your life. As you find this fulfillment, you may be shakenbut you will always stand in victory. You will move on, and you will move up!

Moving On!

P atricia stood in silence on the small plot of ground where her home had once been located. She stared with vacant eyes at the gnarled trees across the dirt road, trying to remember the details of what had once been there. The storm that had passed through the area nearly four years earlier had destroyed most of her community. In a matter of minutes all that had been familiar and comfortable was reduced to rubble. Hearts were devastated as family members had separated in their search for survival and neighbors had said good-bye to neighbors, perhaps for the last time in their lives.

Builders were coming in the morning to lay new foundations for Patricia and two of her former neighbors. Her family members were excited. Patricia had not fully sorted out her emotions. She was still angry at the unseen forces that had ripped her life apart. She was still in grief at her loss. She was still perplexed, wondering if there was any purpose in all that had happened, other than a renewed awareness of a fickle and uncontrollable cosmos. She mostly felt numb.