Devotionals for the Heart: When you're tired of being tested by God

How Much Testing is Needed?
A devotional by Terry Overton

“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.”

—Deuteronomy 8:2 (ESV)

I laughed at a meme on social media and shared it on my page. The meme made me reflect on how we often look back at old photos and are surprised by how young, how thin, or different we looked, unaware of it at the time.

After my initial laughter, I considered it more deeply. I have certainly changed, mostly through facing difficult experiences and challenges. While time now shows on my face or in the color of my hair, the change that matters most has happened within. Changes that happened during overwhelming tests of loss, family crises, and health issues. At times in the years that passed, I wondered, “How much testing is needed? How much more, Lord?”

But then I went back to Scripture, and I was reminded that I am far from the first person to ask that question. I think of Moses who born to a Hebrew woman but raised by Pharoah’s daughter in the royal palace of Egypt. It was a world that did not welcome him as a Hebrew boy, yet he was raised in riches. Later, Moses would return to a humble heritage and be tested beyond anything I can comprehend.

Although Moses had been raised within the royal court of Pharaoh and called by God to lead the Israelites to freedom from slavery in Egypt, he would later spend 40 years in the wilderness and never enter his destination (the Promised Land). That season likely felt like a detour that was far removed from purpose. Yet it was in the desert, in obscurity and humility, that God shaped Moses into a leader who learned to depend fully on Him. God did not waste a single day of it. Moses at last led the people of God to the edge of their promised land. But this had to happen after years of being shaped by God in ways he never would have chosen for himself.

Similarly, the Bible story about Joseph offers another perspective. He was disowned by his brothers, sold into slavery in Egypt, and while there, he was unjustly put in prison for a crime he did not commit. Joseph’s father gave up hope of ever seeing Joseph again after his other sons told him a wild animal had killed Joseph. His father didn’t know the true story about Joseph’s brothers selling Joseph into slavery. After a while, Joseph’s father gave up hope of ever seeing his favorite son again. Yet, after unbelievable hardship, testing, and dedicated work while Joseph was in Egypt, God enabled Joseph to save the family that disowned him. His journey reminds us that testing serves a greater purpose.

These Bible stories are only a few examples about how God tests us before He blesses us. Testing often feels like an interruption, a delay, or even a defeat. Yet throughout Scripture, we see a different truth—testing is God’s tool for preparation, revealing what we cannot see or know in comfort. Testing is part of God’s plan for us. It prepares us for where He wants us to be and for our purpose.

The greatest test with a purpose was what God planned for His own Son (Jesus Christ). Jesus lived His life in human form on Earth. He suffered. He rejoiced. He mourned like we do. Jesus traveled without provisions. He endured ridicule. Humiliation. Ultimately, he died on a wooden cross. None of that was outside the plan of salvation that Christ and His Father (God) put in place to save humankind well before we knew we needed to be saved by Him. The story of Jesus shows us something important: Testing is not always about escape. It is about obedience.

Each of these people I mentioned in the Bible stories were tested before they were used by God. Each of them had no idea while they were being tested and in the throes of despair, that God was still writing their story that would end in victory. Their stories reveal that what seems uncertain now can have significance later.

What looks like the end of your story may be the very place God is writing the most important chapter. Trust Him in the wilderness. Trust Him in the waiting. Trust Him in the suffering. He has never wasted a season. Not one.

Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, I won’t pretend the testing doesn’t hurt. But I know You are not absent in it. Help me hold on long enough to see what You are building. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection #1: “God is in this Story” by Katy Nichole & Big Daddy Weave. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “It is Well with My Soul” by Audrey Assad. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Terry Overton is a retired university professor of educational and school psychology. She has an Ed.D. in Special Education and a Ph.D. in Psychology. 

Her professional experience includes teaching public school, teaching at the university level, and being a college dean.

She has two children, seven grandchildren, and one great granddaughter.

Her previous writing and publication experiences include textbook and journal articles in the fields of special education and school psychology. She now seeks to answer God’s call to share the good news and grow the church by writing Christian books and devotionals.

Over the years, Terry’s books have won the Mom’s Choice Award, Christian Indie Award, Firebird Book Awards, American Writing Winner Awards, Bookfest Winner Awards, Pencraft Award, Reader Views Silver Reviewers Award, and International Book Award Finalist. Her writing examines real world events with a Christian worldview. She enjoys writing for young children, middle grade readers, YA fiction, and adult level novels.

Terry’s background in teaching adults and children shine through her stories that often include a character with educational or learning challenges. Her Christmas series, The Oddball Ornaments, features a box of misfit ornaments who first learn the meaning of Christmas and then discover the meaning of forgiveness. In The Underground Book Readers series, one of the main characters is on the autism spectrum yet is one of the leaders of the group of teens. Book one of a new series, The Messiah Brigade, features an awkward middle school nerd who helps his school turn around a bully gang of kids. Adoption and family issues are the focus of her new book, Charlotte McMaster and the Messenger Angel.

Terry lives in Texas and enjoys reading, taking pictures for devotional posts on social media, visiting with her family, playing golf, and writing.

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Connect with Terry:
Website: https://www.authorterryoverton.com
Blog: https://terryovertonbooks.com
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/overtont

True Love Stories: My Endless Love

I believe the classic song from 1981, "Endless Love" as performed by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, could easily be the perfect soundtrack to encapsulate today's featured love story.

It's the story of how God brought together a man after His own heart named Paul and a beautiful broadcast journalist named Debra. The introduction happened at church, the courtship began in high school and after being apart for years, a "spontaneous kiss that made time stand still" ignited a romance that led to marriage. 

Paul and Debra's story is not one free of tests and trials but because of their consistent faith in God and devotion to Him, theirs is a story of triumph and true, endless love.

Read on to have your faith in true, lasting love renewed...

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My Endless Love

Chaplain Paul Anderson’s true love story

We met at church one Summer, Sabbath morning because I was standing at the rear entrance of the Ethnan Temple church with Chris, greeting people and she was late. Her mother sped through the light in her green Ford LTD, then screeched to a stop in front of the door. Out of the car crawled two cute young ladies, twins. Chris introduced me to Denise and Debra.

I was smitten but could not tell them apart, nor remember who was whom. After several months, I could finally distinguish them and felt my heart beat differently when Debra came around. I was 15 she was 14.

Our affinity for each other jelled at a church social. Somehow, we wound up on the same team playing Pit, a game that mimics the stock market.  We won! She looked at me with an admiration that I crave to this day. On November 19, 1972, I asked Debra to be my girlfriend. She said yes. I let her wear my Letterman jacket that I earned in Junior High school as a member of the Track team. With prescient arrogance, I told her that if she stuck with me, I would show her the world.

Our early teen romance was a bumpy path through most of high school. After my first semester in college, my father was transferred to San Antonio, TX. The move abruptly ended our courtship. Subsequently, I joined the Navy and spent the better part of four years overseas. I saw Debra occasionally when I came to Pittsburgh to visit my brother David.

In April 1981, I came home from a tour of duty in Japan. I visited Pittsburgh and went to church where I saw Debra. She did not speak to me. I came back to visit several times. Debra did not speak to me on either of those occasions. I was compelled to go back again, specifically to see and speak to her. My mission failed until Sunday afternoon. I had decided that if she did not speak to me, I would never return with an intent to see her. As I was pulling out of David’s driveway on Sunday afternoon, he came running out the door with the phone. Debra was on the phone. We spoke. She said that she was leaving work and asked me to wait for her to come by. 

She drove up in a red sports car. She climbed out of the car wearing white painter’s pants and a white tee shirt. We greeted each other with a spontaneous kiss that made time stand still. That kiss reignited all of the repressed passion of our unresolved, teen romance. Our courtship was a long distance whirlwind. We married in September 1981. Our commitment to love and cherish each other in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better or worse was almost immediately tested.

Our first child, Jared, was born in July 1982. I got out of the Navy and returned to school in September 1982. In March of 1983 I had a near fatal auto accident. Debra worked full time and nurtured me back to health. I was installed as the pastor of my first congregation in January 1985.  In February, D’Andria was born. In March, I had a near fatal illness. Debra worked and nurtured me back to health.

In September, we moved to the Seminary in Michigan. Debra left her lucrative job as a news reporter and moved to Michigan. That phase is where the poorer part of our vows was tested. For three years we lived on my student stipend and the GI bill. We survived the pressures of financial and emotional poverty. We have a testimony!

My dream of pastoral ministry budded when I graduated from the seminary. Debra proudly stood beside me as I was installed as a professional pastor and subsequently was ordained in ministry. Our path has had ups and downs, but the trend has always been upward and onward, never backward.

When the Navy called Debra did not hesitate or flinch. She celebrated the fulfillment of my life’s dream. We packed up and moved to Japan. Her enthusiasm calibrated the children’s response. Once again, she left a lucrative broadcasting career.

The adventures that I promised her began to unfold. Okinawa, Tokyo, Seoul, Guam, Hawaii. She became a fearless traveler and a world class shopper.   

Through the years we have supported each other’s dreams. God has rewarded our faithfulness with favor. My career as a Navy Chaplain has been a dream come true. God has fulfilled her career dreams in media, broadcasting and working on Capitol Hill. 

Thirty-tree years, two kids and three grandchildren later, we are still very much in love. God has been good to us and time has taught us many things, among them, the five pillars of marital success: God, Commitment, Respect, Intimacy and Forgiveness.

We have also learned that covenanting as partners in a holy purpose to enhance the world is the catalyst for miraculous impact. 

The purpose of marriage is to prepare for heaven by working together to make a positive difference in the here and now.When we work together to facilitate each other’s dreams, a synergy is created that makes the sum of our efforts greater than the parts thereof. That is the magic of triune oneness.When God is invited into and included in the marriage, He makes of the two, one force for good that can make the world a better place. He has done it with us. He can do it for others. 

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Author bio: Chaplain Paul Anderson was born in Washington, D.C. He is an alumni of Pine Forge Academy, Columbia Union College (B.S.), Andrews University (M.Div), University of Maryland (M.Ed.), Boston University (STM) and Wesley Theological Seminary (D.Min.). He is a pastor, professor, chaplain, naval officer and a gentleman.

Paul's early career in ministry was in the Allegheny East Conference. He served in Pottstown, planted the church in Reading and completed renovation of the Southwest Philadelphia church. He also served in the Potomac Conference at the Sligo and Seabrook Seventh-day Adventist churches. His life dream was to be a Navy Chaplain. He is and has served a total of 25 years on active duty in the U.S. Navy. That career will end on February 21, 2015 when he retires. 

His fourth career will be as the Director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.

He has been married for 33 years to his childhood sweetheart Debra. They have two children Jared and D’Andria. Jared is married to Anika. They have two daughters Noa and Quinn. D’Andria is married to Jermaine. They have a son Brayden and another under construction.

Chaplain Anderson’s favorite Bible verses are Psalm 37:4, Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 John 1:9 and Romans 8:28.