God Is in Control of All Things at All Times

By Tina Tanner

This book is the story of one person's life; however, in the broader sense, it touches the lives of a multitude of people everywhere It is a story about faith, love, and hope. It's a story first of my faith in God, although a shallow faith at times, stemming from a lack of knowledge and understanding of His word and being raised in an environment that lacked the promotion of God's word as a way of life. Next, the love of God that is never ending, unfailing, consistent, loyal, faithful, and an unconditional love. Finally, hope-a four-letter word that has the supernatural power to transform that which was once dead into life, a beautiful life with a good future. In addition, hope is the push behind perseverance that helps a person achieve success in spite of challenges, great or small. Hope is the propeller that helps to lift a person out of the lowest times in their life and propels them to unimaginable heights. As you read this book, you will see how my life was catapulted into seasons of darkness, yet through that darkness, the light shown greater as it came bursting through the darkness from the power of who is on the inside. "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4, KJV). When you read this book, instead of focusing on the bad events or words of darkness by the evil one that were intended to destroy me, focus on the acts of the Heavenly Father and my beloved Savior Jesus, who lives in my heart, for all of the miraculous things they have done in my life. We may go through bad events in life, but we don't go through them alone, and Jesus won't allow them to destroy us. Scripture tells us in Revelation that we overcome (conquer, prevail, be victorious over), by the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony (what you witnessed). "And they [God's people] overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb [Jesus] and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:11, KJV). This book is a testimony that God is in total control of all things and that we are overcomers through Jesus the Christ (the Anointed One). In life, we may face situations that are unbearable, hurtful, sad, or challenging; but we can trust that God will never fail us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098003821

Book preview

cover.jpg

God Is in Control of All Things at All Times

Tina Tanner

Copyright © 2019 by Tina Tanner

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

The Shift Exposed

From Bad to Worse: Evil Revealed

Forgiving Those Who Hurt You

Evil Has No Color

A Sense of Normal

Shimmers of Light in Darkness

New Life

Picking Up the Pieces

Steps Ordered by the Lord

God’s Predestined Path

Evil Has No Boundaries between the Church and the World

Two Ships, One Captain

From Healing to Wholeness

Introduction

What does the word control mean especially when used in the context of "God is in control of all things at all times"? An established Author Jerry Bridges share’s how J. I. Packer describes the sovereignty and providence of God over His creation and every area of life.

According to J.I. Packer providence is, The unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances and free acts of angels and men, and directs, everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory. (Bridges, 2014) Packer’s use of the words unceasing activity, all events and All acts, Points out the clarity that God is in total and absolute control of everything that occurs under the sun.

In our journey through this life and navigation around all the spiritual booby traps and land mines that had been placed in our way by the evil one, we may see that we have reached a point in our life where we can’t seem to move forward. We seem to be stuck, and no matter how hard we strive to increase or move forward, it’s like we keep spinning our wheels. We would make advancements and get knocked back. We would take two steps forward and get knocked back three steps. In the beginning, we may not realize in the midst of our efforts that we keep getting knocked back, but after a few tries, it becomes very apparent.

The evil one and his demons have a goal that they focus on, and that is to kill, steal, and destroy the people of God. So they use evil devices, booby traps, and land mines to attempt to do that. They even use people by influencing them to commit evil acts against God’s people so a wound can be created. Once the wound is created, it can set the person in motion on a path of self-destruction. Some of those devices of the evil one that may have injured us and caused us harm could be any type of traumatic event, sexual abuse, physical abuse by a parent, abandonment by a loved one, or murder of a loved one are just a few.

Some devices may not cross the traumatic threshold but can still impact a person in such a way as to still cause harm. They include but are not limited to these devices alone. Devices such as physical attacks against the body, long-term illness in the body, depression, suicidal thoughts, and mental torment can cause harm to the person similar to a physical weapon. Once the attack takes place, then we would be left with a wound from the event. We would then have a need to go through the healing process just so we can get back to a near normal.

I say near normal because we are left with a wound from the attack. As long as the wound is dealt with properly, then it will completely heal and leave behind a scar. That scar is a symbol of our new normal after we survived the event. So we have the trauma that was experienced that created a wound, and then we must deal with the event for our wound to heal properly. If the wound doesn’t properly heal, then it becomes infected. The problem with the wound becoming infected is that it creates a new layer of suffering. Years can go by from when the actual traumatic event occurred to the point of complete healing of the person. That means the person had years of additional but different sufferings.

Meanwhile, the person still has an infected open wound that had begun to stink. The stench of that wound lingers and becomes embedded into the fibers of the person’s life. The hurtful part about having the stinking wound is the person may not understand what they need to do to heal the wounds of their past. They know they have the wound and what created it; they just don’t have the solution. So that can then leave the person searching for answers as to what the solution is to heal the wounds; they carried around with them for so long so the stench can be removed from their life.

In order to heal the wound and remove the stench, the time will come in a person’s life where they will need to revisit their past, only so that they can receive a complete healing in their present and restore hope and a good future to their life. Revisiting your past does not necessarily mean that you need to physically go back to a certain place or even confront your attackers. It can be something as simple as just writing down the events of your past that changed your life and set you on a different path. Your words come from inside your soul, and that is where the healing needs to take place.

It is important to note that the person is only revisiting their past the broken pieces of their life so that they can be made whole again. They are not taking up residence in their past to remain there or dwelling on past hurts. Instead they may have a need to search out their history in order to apply the healing balm of the blood of Jesus and close those doors forever. Healing can only take place when we can acknowledge the wound exist and who created it. Forgive all who were partakers in hurting us and applying the blood of Jesus to that hurtful time in our life to close the soul wounds that were created. Thereby closing the door forever on it so that it cannot be used by Satan or his demons as an entryway into our life to cause us pain anymore.

A wound in the natural can take up residence in our heart. It wounds our soul and can stay with us for years after the actual event occurred. Even though the event has ended, the wound it created can stay with us for a lifetime if it hasn’t been dealt with properly. The word heart means our soul, our inner man, our mind, our will, and our emotions. The definition according to Strong’s Concordance is, The heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect (S. Concordance 2019). Our mind is described as intellect and intelligence. Intellect is solely knowledge, what you know, the facts. Intelligence is the cognitive abilities to learn, form concepts, understand, reason, recognize patterns, comprehend ideas, plan, solve problems, and use language to communicate. (WikiPedia 2019, Intelligence) Emotions are described as the inward part of a person, their affections. Emotions are the seat of the feelings (S. G. Concordance, 4698. splagchnon 2019). So to heal our soul wounds, we need to change these areas of our soul through the understanding of God’s word and apply what He says about us to our life. Change your thoughts and you change your world (Peale 2019).

God doesn’t want us to live in the past or dwell on past sins whether it be the sins committed against us or our sins we committed toward God or others. The reason is because once we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and we repent of all our sins, apply the blood of Jesus to those areas, and we forgive all those that hurt us, past, present, or future; then it is all under the blood of Jesus. We no longer have the poison of the sin of unforgiveness attacking us. God no longer sees the sin but the blood.

God is a righteous God that hates sin and attacks it, so when we put our sins under the blood of Jesus, then God doesn’t see the sin, and He passes over because all He sees is the blood. This is why God doesn’t want us to dwell in the past (tombs/that which is dead, gone) or harbor unforgiveness. The word dwell in Greek means to inhabit. (S. G. Concordance, 3611. oikeó dwell 2019) Paul speaking to the Philippians said, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before (Phil. 3:13).

However, God does want us to remember and to continually call to remembrance all that He has done since the beginning of creation, since the beginning of our life, and, most importantly, since the beginning of Jesus. It is okay to call to remembrance where God brought you from and where He has taken you to and what He has brought you through. That is your testimony of how great God is.

And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, [and] to prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. (Deut. 8:2)

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. (Isa. 46:9)

He wants us to remember His covenant; His word; and, most importantly, all His wonderous, marvelous, glorious works He has done in our life. He wants for us to put the soul wounds [battle scars] under the blood of the Lamb and leave them there; don’t pick them back up.

Aside from our own soul wounds that can keep us out of the blessings God has for us, there can also be a sin committed from someone in our bloodline that causes an offense with God. Like the example given in scripture of the covenant Joshua made with the Gibeonites to live in peace, but Saul broke the covenant. Then seventy years later, David was praying for rain for three years until he received the answer from God as to why it wasn’t raining.

God told David about the broken covenant, and as soon as David restored everything back to its rightful order, the rain came. So the devil may try to trap you so that your children or children’s children may not receive the blessings God has for them. According to Robert Henderson, If we are to see breakthrough, many times we must deal with the history of sin or iniquity in our bloodlines.

Covenant means When the Bible speaks of covenant, it’s usually more than just an alliance, and certainly more than a transaction of goods and services: it’s a bond that God Himself holds people to (Kranz 2013).

God instructed Israel not to make a covenant with the people of the land when they enter into Canaan. (Deut. 7:2)

The story of the covenant. (Josh. 9:1–15)

Judges 2:1–5 speaks about the covenant Israel made with the people of the land (Gibeonites) and God informing the people He would not drive out the people from the land but leave them there as a thorn in the side of Israel, and the peoples gods would be snares to Israel (Henderson 2018).

Saul broke the covenant Joshua made with the Gibeonites, and seventy years goes by before judgment was brought for it (2 Sam. 21:1, 14). This broken covenant had granted the devil the legal right to shut up the heavens and stop the rain (Henderson, 2018). Once David sets the covenant right again, then the rains are released upon the land again (Henderson 2018).

God heeded the prayer for the land (Henderson, 2018). "The difference was the legal right in the history of Israel to resist rain was revoked through broken covenants! God could now answer the prayer of His people because the legal right in the spirit realm granting the devil power through a broken and dishonored covenant was now removed. If we are to see breakthrough, many times we must deal with the history of sin or iniquity in our bloodlines. The devil uses them as a legal right to reduce us to less than what God desires. To discern iniquity in the bloodline, we should understand the nature of iniquity.

The word iniquity in the Hebrew is the word avon, and it means something perverted. It means to be twisted. So iniquity in the bloodline twists the desires and purposes of God. It twists the moral compass of a person’s life. It twists desires from that which is good to that which is evil. Iniquity isn’t just about a single sin. Iniquity is about the twisting of nature.

This is why when we are born again, we receive a new nature. Second Peter 1:4 tells us we have received the divine nature, or the nature of God Himself.

Through the divine nature, we escape the corruption that is in the world. Yet that which we receive at salvation has to dominate and empower us. Even though we have the nature of God in us, the issues in our bloodline will try to work against us.

Titus 1:10–13 shows us a perversion in a bloodline that has affected a culture. Paul realized that even though these people were saved and born again, issues in their bloodline were still affecting them. They had to deal with their bloodline issues, so it didn’t continue to twist them and pervert who they were meant to be. In dealing with bloodline issues, we should be aware of anything that twists the real intent of God for our family." (Henderson 2018)

This book is the story of one person’s life; however, in the broader sense, it touches the lives of a multitude of people everywhere. It is a real-life account of all the good and bad times in my life but, most importantly, my life directed by God. The most important aspect about my story isn’t the happy times. It’s not even the sad, hurtful, or struggling times that I had experienced; it’s really a story about faith, love, and hope.

It’s a story first of my faith in God, although a shallow faith at times, stemming from a lack of knowledge and understanding of His word and being raised in an environment that lacked the promotion of God’s word as a way of life. Next, the love of God that is never ending, unfailing, consistent, loyal, faithful, and an unconditional love. Finally, hope, a four-letter word that has the supernatural power to transform that which was once dead into life, a beautiful life with a good future. In addition, hope is the push behind perseverance that helps a person achieve success in spite of challenges, great or small. Hope is the propeller that helps to lift a person out of the lowest times in their life and propels them to unimaginable heights.

As you read this book, you will see how my life was catapulted into seasons of darkness, yet through that darkness, the light shone greater as it came bursting through the darkness from the power of who is on the inside. Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4, KJV). So instead of focusing on the bad events or words of darkness that were intended to destroy me, focus on the acts of the Heavenly Father and my beloved Savior Jesus, who lives in my heart, for all of the miraculous things they have done in my life.

I may have gone through bad events in my life, but I didn’t go through them alone, and Jesus didn’t allow them to destroy me. Scripture tells us in Revelation that we overcome [conquer, prevail, be victorious over] by the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony [what you witnessed], and they [God’s people], overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, [Jesus], and by the word of their testimony (Rev. 12:11, KJV).

This book is a testimony about what Jesus has done and how Jesus will never leave us no matter what we are going through in life. You can trust Him to be there. He is an ever-present help in your time of need. Going through the hard times in life that cause hurt, pain, or loss are not easy to do; but we have had a deposit on the inside of us that gives us the strength and courage to persevere through the difficult times. That’s what makes us a victorious overcomer.

It is our testimony of what Jesus has done for us that propels us deeper and deeper into our faith in Him and defeats the devil at each level. A trial can equal a testimony that is used as the platform to raise you higher. There most generally are pains in trials but enduring through it to reach the reward is greater so that the sweet smell of victory can overshadow. The deeper our relationship becomes with Jesus, the more our trust and hope in Him develops as well because with each trial we overcome, we increase the level of our knowledge and understanding of what He will do for us and how there is no limit to His love for us.

To address all people who played a role in the story of my life, this book is not to point fingers at you but rather to tell my life’s story of the evil that the devil came against me with to create soul wounds in an attempt to destroy me and the love of God that mightily overshadowed all of the evil in that time and healed my wounds at the appointed time to bring restoration into my life so that my soul was not left in torment. Thank you, everyone, who played a part in my story; it is because of you that God was able to show Himself to be the Living God that He is in my life.

If it so happened that the part you played was that of evil and you allowed the evil one to work through you, then it is my hope that as you read this story, you are convicted in your heart, your inner man, to repent to God for your actions and words that were not pleasing to Him and that you seek forgiveness for the evil you allowed to flow through the mouth and body that God gave you. We all have sinned; no one is perfect in their walk through this life. We only strive to be excellent in Jesus as we walk through each new day remembering all things God and forgiving ourselves and others.

Forgiveness is only found through the acceptance of Jesus into your heart. I have already forgiven you for everything and laid it all at the foot of the cross of Jesus. I was directed by the Holy Spirit of God to write down my life’s story so that Jesus could do the complete healing in my soul [the soul wounds] that He desires for me to have. The writing of this book provides healing for me, the writer, and it is my hope a healing for you, the reader.

1

The Beginning

God’s word tells me that He knew me before I was born, He said, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (Jer. 5:1, KJV) .

I believe that the devil tries to destroy people by keeping them from the word of God so they don’t increase in knowledge of God and thereby an abundant life through Jesus. I also believe the devil uses the bad choices of people to cause wounds in the souls of people. Those soul wounds were then used as doorways into our world that the workers of the devil, his demons, can use to cause trouble in our life and attack us.

I believe the devil also attacks godly people so he can kill, twist, or distort their bloodline—the seed of the righteous. My ancestors on my dad’s side of the family, the Saliba family, have a long, rich Christian history. It was reported that some of my ancestors were baptized by John, an apostle of Saint Paul the apostle (Saleeby-Saliba Association of Families-History 2003–2019).

According to a google search I did, it appeared that Saliba (also spelled Saleeby, Saleeba or Salibi) is a predominantly Christian family name used in Levant. The family name is derived from the Syriac ܨܠܝܒܐ ṣalībā, which cognates with saleeb an Arabic word for cross, a reference to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Wikipedia 2019). it is reported that my ancestors were church builders (Families 2019). The Saliba family has adopted a family crest. The following explains the significance and symbolism of the crest.

Significance and Symbolism of the Family Crest

The dominate figure of the Crucifix on the Crest is the emblem which defines the family name. The word Cross in Arabic is Saleeb. The word Saleeby means Of the Cross, From the Cross, or My Cross. This name was given the clan in the early days of Christianity because Saleeby’s and Saliba’s built many churches.

The Bishop’s Crown of the Orthodox Church is symbolic of the religious and political power which was held by the Saleeby Family in Lebanon and Syria for many centuries.

The olive branch is symbolic of peace and is also the fruit which provided our ancestors much of their daily sustenance.

The Crossed Arabian Swords are symbolic of the courage exhibited by our forefathers as they fought to protect their homes, their families, and their treasured Christian Religion. (Saleeby-Saliba Association of Families-Home 2019)

So I believe the devil tried to come against my parents so that their children would not know God. He tried to kill my dad so that would kill his seed (my brother and me), and that would kill the bloodline.

My dad enlisted in the Navy (ID# 5725192) on September 29, 1954, and he was honorably discharged on November 18, 1957. I don’t know what all he did for the Navy, but he told me he built torpedoes. He was stationed out of US Naval Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut. He was on a submarine at sea during one occasion where one of the other crew men left the hatch open to a deck below during the night. My dad fell into the hole and injured his back. It didn’t kill him but wounded him for life.

On another occasion, my dad and other crewmen were at sea. They were standing on the ship’s deck one day when a young Navy man pulled a pin to a grenade accidentally. Everyone around him froze with fear but my dad. He rushed over to him, took it out of his hand, and threw it into the ocean as hard as he could.

Again, the devil tried to kill my dad, but he didn’t succeed. In this case, it would have also possibly killed others onboard that Navy ship, as well. According to my dad, he was never recognized for his act of bravery in throwing the grenade into the ocean. These stories were told to me by my dad when he was alive, and they happened before I was ever born. From the beginning of my life, the enemy had tried to wipe me off the face of the earth so he could kill the bloodline.

According to the Probate Court, Muskingum County, Ohio, marriage license application number 258A, my dad and my mom got married on December 8, 1960, by Holland M Gary, probate judge. My dad was twenty-three years old, and my mom was twenty years old.

My brother Robert M. Tanner was born fourteen months later on February 12, 1962. Two years and four months later in June of 1964, I was born. I only weighed four pounds, so the medical professionals had to put me into an incubator until I gained enough weight to go home with my parents. My dad told me that I was so small that he could hold me in the palm of one of his hands, like a tiny baby doll. He said I was so small, I could fit into one of his pockets. I was not told how long I had to stay in the hospital, but I was eventually able to come home.

Two years passed, and my family and I were at my paternal grandparent’s home visiting, which was the custom. While there on that particular day, someone left the door open to the basement. Of course, I had to be a curious toddler, so like a lot of toddlers, I wandered over to the door opening, and down I went tumbling step by step. My dad, whom I believe was empowered by God to save me, jumped down all twenty steps and caught me before I hit the concrete basement floor. That was God! I was taken to the hospital, and I ended up with a hematoma on my brain that they had to drain, but otherwise, I was fine. I survived it, with minor bumps and bruises.

During the first few years of my life, there were happy times and sad times. We lived at 1002 Military Road at this time. We lived at this address for four years. I went to Westview School in kindergarten, first grade, then I repeated first grade, and then second grade. I was not exactly sure why my grades suffered so much in first grade. I had to be held back a year to repeat first grade. I believe the arguments my parents had at that time and my dad beating on my mother in front of us children caused my grades to suffer. Then I felt my grades suffered from the sexual abuse once that began.

There was a restaurant beside our house on Military and the man who owned it was called Whitey. I would always love to go over and visit with him from time to time. He was always a really nice man. I remember my brother Robert and I had to walk to the babysitter’s house down the road early in the morning around five. I was six years old, and he was eight years old. I was too scared to walk on the sidewalk beside my brother because there were trees and a lot of dark areas, so I walked down the middle of the road, but Robbie walked down the sidewalk so bravely. These were some happy memories.

I also remember one day my parents were arguing like normal and Robbie was angry and crying because they were arguing. He started hitting the wall with his fist asking them to please stop fighting. They did stop at that moment, but their fights didn’t stop forever. My parents fighting in front of us children had a negative impact on our lives even into adulthood. That was a sad memory. The house we lived in on Military had a big field beside it. This one time I remember my mom was trying to correct me for doing something so I ran out the door, and she came after me. I ran over into the big field. She was so funny; she tried to catch me, but she couldn’t. She didn’t continue to follow me or chase me; she just kept saying, You wait until I get you. I am going to switch your butt all the way in the door. You have to come in sooner or later.

I ended up lying down in the field looking up at the clouds in the sky and the tall pine trees around. Then I started looking for four-leaf clovers, and I found two of them and a grasshopper. After some time had passed, I finally went back into the house. My mom didn’t switch me or even whip me, but she told me not to run from her like I did ever again. I remember the neighbors who lived on the street just behind our house.

One was our temporary babysitter; they lived directly behind us. I don’t remember their names, but they had a kitty cat I liked. I believe they were having marital problems because they argued a lot too. Then there was the couple a little farther down, Terry and Gloria. I always loved going to their house to hang out.

They were both so very nice, and they never argued or fought like my parents did a lot. They didn’t have any children at that time, and I think they were recently married. When I found out later in life that they had divorced, I was sad about that because they seemed to make a great couple. My family and I would also go over to my dad’s sister’s house Janet, for dinner a lot of times. I always loved going to her house. I always thought she was nice, too, at that time.

I remember we had a big above-ground swimming pool, and one day Doug crawled up into the swimming pool and almost drowned. My dad was so angry because Doug almost died. He went outside and ripped that swimming pool apart with his hands. We never got another big swimming pool after that. The act of him ripping the pool apart showed me that he loved