Hi there Carol,

I often have troubles with this whole "success" thing.  I have not 
worked in just under 20 years.  I am poor, need lots of help to get 
things done.  Sometimes, I feel as if my life has been futile.  Then, 
one of my Christian friends reminds me of where I really am, and what 
I am doing in HIS MATCHLESS NAME, and I feel reassured.

Thank you all for keeping me on the right track, but, more than that, 
I thank JESUS THE CHRIST, for putting it back into perspective for me.


IN HIS MATCHLESS NAME,

purple Mari



At 05:55 AM 5/7/2007, you wrote:
>I am glad the Lord has reminded you of this, Phil.  I know you have 
>known it before . . . but we forget so quickly, don't we!
>
>God doesn't measure success the way we do, that's for 
>sure.  Remember, at the end He will be saying "Well done, good and 
>faithful servant", not "successful servant".
>
>Yes, there can sometimes be a measure of both, thank God, but we 
>don't have to spell out success as the world knows it!
>
>In His love - thanking Him for all that He is saying to you at this time.
>
>--
>Carol - Reading, UK
>
>To you, o Lord, I lift up my soul;
>In You I trust, o my God.  . . .."  PS25:1-2 NIV.
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 12:14 AM
>Subject: Good News
>
>
>>Last night, after midnight, as I said earlier, I was still up praying and
>>listening to tapes and trying to find the answer I needed to continue in the
>>ministry.  Nothing was working.  Not even my prayers of threatening and
>>complaints to God.  He's not afraid of me or you so He understands
>>regardless of how you pray even out of total frustration.  Anyhow, I flip
>>the radio on for the 100th time, it seemed like, tuned all the Christian
>>stations, and found nothing.  This time, however, I flipped the radio on and
>>the first sentence I heard was a man saying, God has not called us to
>>successfulness, just to faithfulness.  He wasn't even preaching.  He was
>>just responding to something his guest had just said which I hadn't heard.
>>My mind sprang back nearly 5 years ago when I was sitting in a man's office
>>for my first prayer session.  The anxiety and panic attacks had commandeered
>>my days and the demonic voices in my thoughts kept me awake, at first, for 4
>>nights and five days trying to get me to kill myself, renounce God, and a
>>whole lot of other things.  When I did drift off to sleep, they awakened me
>>by shouting so loudly in my head, I would literally almost jump out of bed.
>>The nightmares were worse.  As I sat there in this office, I knew God
>>wouldn't do anything.  The man asked me what I was feeling at that very
>>moment.  I said, "I feel like a failure."  He prayed.  I heard the Lord's
>>voice clearly say, "I never asked you to be successful."  I was stunned.
>>What?  I thought even being in the ministry was all about successfulness.
>>Right?  I've never tried from that day until now to be successful so that
>>one phrase in the middle of the night, confirmed Jesus was still around and
>>hadn't forgotten who I was.
>>
>>Phil.