I Was Transformed by My Trials: Inspired by the Holy Spirit

By Briant E. Rogers

This story speaks of a man on a journey, thinking he is in control of his life. Not knowing what the Lord had in store for him but having a gut feeling within that something was about to happen, Briant felt that his life was going to take a turn for the worse, and it terrified him to no end. He would later come to realize that in order for transformation to take place in his life, he would have to go through some trials. He didn't want to change. He thought he was fine.

Briant had to hit rock bottom and go through some real hard times and come to realize that it was the Lord who allowed all that he was going through. He was stripped down by God and lost everything, and God then had Briant's undivided attention. For when he committed his life to the Lord after being spiritually broken with no one to turn to, he was forever changed from the inside out. His testimony will inspire you to keep on moving forward in the midst of whatever you're faced with, for the Lord truly has a plan for all our lives.

This is a true story of love, pain, suffering, loss, joy, and the awesome power of God showing up in the midst of everything that Briant faces. You will be inspired as you read, laugh, and shed some tears along the way. Briant was genuinely inspired by God Almighty to write this firsthand account happening in his life to tell what God did for him and how he brought him through it all. You are about to go on a journey. You will be deeply inspired to never give up and to keep the faith and know that the Lord is watching over his Word for your life to perform it. And know the Lord is going to do just that.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098047207

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I Was Transformed by My Trials

Inspired by the Holy Spirit

Briant E. Rogers

Copyright © 2020 by Briant E. Rogers

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

The Beginning

Off To The Unknown

Keeping My Promise

I’m Changing

My World Turned Upside Down

Beginning To Realize I’m Not In Control

Getting Tired

Baptized With Holy Ghost Fire And Mind Forever Changed

Endowed With Power To Speak Boldly

The Dawning Of A New Day

The Calm Before The Storm

Entering Into The Wilderness

Testing In The Wilderness

My Mind Is Made Up

A Shifting Is Taking Place

Heading Back Home

I’m Going To Keep On Running

I Must Endure

Not My Will, But Your Will Lord

Foreword

I always considered myself as an average reader, and I usually read a few chapters, and then I would do what some would call speed read to the end of the book. Upon reading this book, I was completely compelled to keep reading, but it felt like I was having a conversation with my friend of over thirty-four years, and I could hear him talking to me as I was reading.

This book revisited places in my mind that I thought were gone, only to be awakened with truths, tragedies, and triumph and the power of God. This is a must read for anyone to witness how God can transform our seemingly mishaps and circumstances into the Lord’s master plan. This book will make you laugh, cry, and you will be left completely awe-stricken at the awesomeness of God Almighty. You will not be able to put this book down once you start reading it, because it is going to grab you and take you on a journey. I guarantee it.

Davell Jackson

Pastor of Paige Chapel Baptist Church

Shreveport, Louisiana

My Prayer

First of all, I want to give all honor and praise to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whom is the head of my life. I thank you and praise you, Jesus, for allowing me to place this on paper for whomever you are that is reading everything that he, the Lord, has used for his glory to humble me. I praise him for who he is and for everything that he has done for me, for he is my everything.

I can’t say thank you enough Lord for allowing me the ability to write this, for without you, Lord, none of this would have been possible. I realize that all you have allowed me to go through throughout these last twenty-two years was necessary to bring me to the place I am in you today. You used my trials to shape and mold my character, and you are still making me into the man you would have me to be, because I am a continuous work in progress until the coming day of Jesus Christ.

I owe you a debt, Lord, that I can never repay, and I love you. Thank you, because my sufferings were good for me, for they taught me to pay attention to your decrees. I know that your regulations are fair; you disciplined me because I needed it. Jesus, with all my heart and soul, I wouldn’t have made it if it hadn’t been for you carrying and directing me through it all. And for whomever it is that may be reading this and whatever it is that they may be facing, I thank you, Lord, for meeting them at that very place where they are at, just as you did me.

I pray my testimony brings healing, deliverance, encouragement, and salvation to hurting souls. My heart’s desire is that you, Lord, are magnified, and I want to give you all the glory, because I want all to know that you are the light of the world, that all may know that you are real, and that you made a promise to never leave us nor forsake us.

Father, take control of my fingers and mind, and say what you want to say in these pages. Lord, have your way and move by your spirit as only you can. Not my will, Lord, but your will be done, for I belong to you. Use me, oh Lord. Be thy glorified in your servant.

This is my testimony of how you brought me through, but I first had to go through the tests. This is to honor you and to exalt the name of Jesus Christ on high that all men will be drawn unto you. You are worthy, and I thank you for the many tests in order to have this testimony. I love you, Father, and praise you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; for you all are One, I pray. Amen.

Lord, you said in the book of John 15:5–11 (NLT)

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

1

The Beginning

This is my testimony of how the Lord transformed my life via my trials and adversities. It all began when I was transferred to the navy aircraft carrier, Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), on November 26, 1998, and my life forever took a turn. I walked up on this guy on the ship one day who was a bodybuilder that I saw from a distance in the ship’s passageway, and I knew he had to be clear of drugs. The reason being, in the navy, they administered drug tests on us regularly.

His name was Quentin Randolph. I asked him how long it took him to work himself into his form, and the first thing that came out of Quentin’s mouth was, Nothing but the Lord, brother, nothing but the Lord, brother. He wouldn’t stop telling me how the Lord was his everything.

Quentin had no idea that everything that he was saying was everything that I was needing to hear and craving to learn right at that very moment. Only God knew what I needed at that very moment, and he sure did meet me at that very place of my need. It wasn’t my physical man that needed attention; on the contrary, it was my spiritual man. It is written in scripture 1 Timothy 4:8: (GNT)

Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future.

Believe me, it definitely wasn’t the physical exercise that I needed, but I didn’t realize it until Quentin started speaking as he was about the Lord from his heart with such conviction. I could feel and hear the deep, genuine, burning passion and love for Jesus Christ resonate from Quentin as he witnessed to me and others every single time. Little did Quentin know, but the Lord had used him to hook me the moment he said to me from day one that we met, Nothing but the Lord, brother, nothing but the Lord, brother.

I could tell that Quentin was real about Christ, and it wasn’t about religion for him, but he had a real relationship with Christ that was clearly apparent to me. I wanted to know Christ as Quentin did and didn’t think he would mind me hanging around. I knew in my spirit that I was hungering and thirsting for more of God’s Word and meeting Quentin, I knew, wasn’t any coincidence, but my steps had been ordered by the Lord right to him.

As days, weeks, and months went by, I began to read my Bible more and more everyday aboard that ship and at home. Every day that I was at work on the ship, I was continuously introduced to a new sister or brother in Christ by Quentin. I began to pray more like I never had before.

I and the rest of the ship’s crew knew that we would be leaving for a six-month deployment in the near future, and I knew and began to pray and ask God for something specific, making him a promise to carry through no matter what. I admitted to God that I had been pretty much a knucklehead the last time I had been to Israel, because I goofed off. Hearing about the power of God from my new Christian friends really encouraged me and made me want to pray.

Time really was flying by, and before I knew it, we were two short months out from leaving for the two thousand millennia cruise. So far, the ship schedule to where the port visits were going to be hadn’t come out yet. I then told the Lord in my prayer time that if he allowed the ship to stop in Haifa, Israel, that I would get tickets to go to the Holy Land, to the land where Jesus walked, no matter what it was that I had to go through. Little did I know that the Lord was going to test me on that very thing to see if I really meant that too.

Lo and behold, the port visit list for the Eisenhower came out about one-and-a-half months prior to the ship leaving. I saw the list, and, Haifa, Israel for April 22–26, 2000, was on it, and I started thinking and wondering if the Lord was allowing the ship to go back to Israel just for little old me. I know that might sound kind of selfish, but I was extremely excited, knowing that the Lord heard my prayer and he was giving me another opportunity again to walk in the very land where his son, Jesus, had walked.

I begin to hang more around my new Christian friends, because I definitely loved how they were so encouraging and had such a strong belief in God’s Word and his truth being how it applied to their lives. These guys and girls talked about the Lord with such a confidence, conviction, and assurance with scriptures continually coming out of their mouths, and it was like they had some sort of invisible power that I couldn’t describe nor see nor figure out. I wanted to be able to talk about the Lord like they were talking about him. I was hungering to know more, and it felt like food to me but for my soul.

Funny things started happening around me, young men and women who I knew definitely had more knowledge about the Bible than myself seemed to show up every place that I was. They would always give me scriptures to read and talk to me about the Lord. I just listened, because deep within my being, I felt a hungering to hear everything that they had to say to me. These Christians were coming at me from all angles, and I just enjoyed the conversations which we were always having about the Lord. In a way, it seemed to me like God was sending these Christians to me in such a way to teach me about him.

Each and every time they would get done talking to me about whatever scripture or story in the Bible, I would go and immediately read it for myself. No one had to tell me to go read the Word, because I could feel a burning desire deep within myself that I had to know what the Lord said for myself. It is written in the book of 2 Timothy 2:15: (KJV)

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I had told my wife prior to my leaving for the cruise that on several different occasions, I could feel an emptiness in my stomach that neither food nor anything else could fill. I felt as if something was being stirred up inside of me, and I didn’t know what, but I knew the Lord was doing something in my life. I knew that I was lacking a relationship with Christ, but I found it so peculiar for the number of Christians that ministered to me on a daily basis to continue ministering to me as they did, and they were full of joy. But I didn’t question it. On the contrary, I continued to welcome their words of encouragement and take in everything they had to say concerning Jesus Christ and thirsted for even more.

Never in my life before had I felt such a hunger to be so close to Christ. I didn’t know what was happening to me or within me, but I didn’t want it to end. I read scripture on my free time and prayed like never before in my life. I was beginning to feel so alive within myself as if I was being transformed from within. Even though there was so much that was going on around me as I was trying to draw closer to the Lord, everything that bothered me didn’t seem as bad. These Christians I was meeting…I mean, they really believed in everything that Christ stood for. I was brought up in church, but I never heard anyone talk about the Lord with such confidence, and it was as if they had some sort of power within themselves that gave them this strength.

This was all new to me, because I had never been exposed to people like this with this kind of faith, and whether they knew it or not, what was inside of them was drawing me to Christ like a magnet. I couldn’t identify that it was the power of God drawing me then as I can now, but as they praised and worshipped the Lord, I was all in and wanted to be right there in the midst of this strength and presence of God every time I had an opportunity. I could feel something tugging at my heart, but I didn’t know that it was the Lord calling me unto himself.

It is written in the book of John 12:32 (KJV), And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. And believe me, that is exactly what I could feel the Lord was doing to me—drawing me.

I do believe my steps had been truly ordered to come to this ship. For it is written in Psalm 37:23, The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. I felt as if I was becoming new, and the Lord was preparing me for something that I could not handle later on down the road, and he was getting me ready. I also felt so very deep down on the inside of myself that my life was going to change at some point but for the better, and the Lord was about to do some serious interior decorating within me.

2

Off To The Unknown

February 18, 2000, the day in which I was deploying aboard the Dwight D. Eisenhower for my very last six-month cruise, in which I so very much had been dreading. I walked down Pier 12 that cold early morning with a heavy heart, weeping, trying to hold back my tears after kissing my beautiful wife and children for the last time until I returned again on August 18, 2000. I didn’t let my wife see me crying but in my heart, I was so very sad. I truly didn’t understand why.

I walked onboard the ship and was off on my last journey as I would have hoped. But my heart was very saddened, knowing that I was going to be taken away on this journey 3,000 miles or more away from home, and I had no idea what was ahead for me. There was nothing at all that I could do but go but deep in my heart, I was afraid. I was so deeply troubled within. I really hated being out to sea, away from my family and my loved ones, but I kept my Bible close by and read it constantly. It seemed that I had such a peace whenever I read the word of God. It was my place of refuge and safety, even in the midst of my uncertainties and fears. For it is written in Psalm 91:1–2: (NLT)

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

Days at the very beginning of the cruise began going slowly by, because all I could think about was watching the pier that my wife and children were standing on, waving to me goodbye, and disappearing out of my sight as the ship was moved further and further away. I was also looking at the calendar already, having just left, starting to count the days until our return.

As the ship started to pull away on its own power and speed increased, this big ninety-seven-thousand-ton aircraft carrier vessel with a crew of five thousand people onboard represented families from all over the country that we were leaving behind for six long difficult months. Everything became so real to me at this very moment, and it wasn’t my imagination anymore about having to go on another six-month deployment. It was happening. This is what I had signed up for on December 3, 1985, at the age of seventeen. To serve my country, defending the colors of the United States of America flag against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

For the first time in my career, which at this point was fourteen years that I had been in the navy on active duty, I wanted to miss the ship’s movement. I had thoughts of not going out to sea when it was departure time, risking my families livelihood and throwing away everything that I had worked so hard for up to this point. I was tearing up on the inside about leaving like never before. The emotions on the inside of me about leaving my family felt as if there was something that was about to take place and it was going to forever change my life, and that scared me.

I was leaving on a 180-day cruise that was going to take me to the other side of the world, roughly three thousand miles or more away from everything I had grown accustomed to. I was not happy about this, but once again, I was reminded that this is what I had signed up for when I joined the navy. Many men and women had made the ultimate sacrifice before I and my peers were born, fighting wars in distant lands far from the homes that they had known as children. Some returned to their loved ones, and others paid the ultimate sacrifice, losing their lives in those distant lands and never returning to their loved ones but brought back home to their final resting place in an American flag-draped casket with military honors rendered unto them for the ultimate sacrifice of dying in the line of duty. They left behind grieving families to deal with the loss of life of their loved one that never had the chance to say goodbye, I love you, or to hold their newborn child just once, and they will never have the opportunity to see them take their first steps. Gone too soon for sure but not forgotten.

I was so very aware of what I was embarking on. Oh, but I was praying to this God in the name of Jesus like never before to please keep my family safe and to bring us all home back alive to our