God's Grace and Mercy When Satan Desires to Sift You

By Rose M. Redix

Have you ever felt that you were walking alone?

While it may sometimes feel that way, you are not!

Rose M. Redix explores how the grace of God and His blessings are always with you, whether you are worthy or not. His mercy is always available to you. By seeking and finding Him with your whole heart, you’ll be able to:

• find bright places even during the darkest of times;
• resist succumbing to the temptations of Satan;
• overcome challenges as you serve the Lord.

The author also shares her personal testimony of how she lost her hearing and learned how to live a life without music, which includes not only a lack of musical sounds but also a lack of life rhythm, loneliness, isolation, and a variety of challenges.

Join the author on an incredible journey of seeking and finding Him with your whole heart, so that you can rewrite your story and share the wonders of Jesus with family and friends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385014521

Rose M. Redix

Rose M. Redix is a licensed professional counselor who lost her hearing due to a devastating illness seventeen years ago. A wife, mother, and working mental health therapist, she graduated from Texas A&M University-Texarkana, Texas, where she majored in counseling psychology. She has also received a postgraduate certification as a transition specialist from Texas Tech, Lubbock, Texas, and various certifications from Virginia Common Wealth University in rehabilitation employment for people with disabilities.

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Copyright © 2024 Rose M. Redix.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1453-8 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1454-5 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1452-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023923907

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/20/2023

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1   Early Siftings, Unrecognized

Chapter 2   The Call to Build a Church

Chapter 3   Miracle Amid Siftings

Chapter 4   A Life Without the Music

Chapter 5   Regaining the Rhythm with a Disability

Chapter 6   Life Away from Work

Chapter 7   Reflections and Time Alone with God

Chapter 8   What’s Ahead for My life without the Music

Afterword from One Who Has Walked This Journey with Me

Appendix

FOREWORD

VERNON W. WILLIS JR.

I have been told that the road of life does not move in a straight line and that there would be many twists and turns. I think the book you are about to read exemplifies this truth in so many ways. It tells the story of a person who has lived a life filled with faith and, when faced with a most difficult medical issue, whose faith was severely tested.

We all think we know what we would do when faced with the loss of one of our five senses. For most of us that has not happened, but the author of this book, who happens to be my sister, came face to face with that loss and has lived with it for the last seventeen years.

She lost her hearing when she was fifty-two years old. For over half a century, she had listened to the thunder, heard raindrops falling on the roof, and most of all enjoyed the music that she loved so much. On that day when she lost all of that, her world as she knew it came tumbling down all around her. She began a long, scary, painful, and challenging journey when the music stopped.

This book outlines that journey to date, with all its difficulties and twists and turns in a very revealing way. Once you have read it you will not see the world the same way. It is about faith being challenged and faith being lost, but most of all it is about faith being regained and becoming stronger than ever.

I am so proud of her and this masterpiece that has taken seventeen years to pull together. Trust me—it is well worth the wait.

INTRODUCTION

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren. — Luke 22:31–32

Throughout my life, which has been one long sifting, it has taken God, His grace and mercy, my faith in Him, my family, my church, and my friends to make me an overcomer. I do not believe that God singled me out but, the way, at times, seemed impossible and unbearable. The good news is that I made it, and so can you. Have you ever been sifted like wheat by Satan? You may ask, What is a sifting? Well, it’s nothing new. In simple terms, it is a trial of your faith to break and separate you from God. Imagine being thrown against a wall repeatedly without end. This is done through struggles, disappointment, pain, suffering, illness, grief from loss, and even temptation. Sometimes, it can be all of these at the same time. Jesus used the sifting of wheat to explain something to the people of His time. They knew and understood the process of sifting wheat. To sift wheat, the wheat is beaten, and the chaff and other impurities fall to the ground while the desired product—the good wheat—remains in the sieve or on the threshing floor. The wind blows the chaff away. I have been there and done that way all my life. I just did not recognize it for what it was. With each sifting, I grew spiritually and my faith in God increased as He was refining me to be fruitful. I have learned to abide in Him as He abides in me to bring forth much fruit.

If you have had similar experiences, this book is a message of hope for you. I am not going to deny my suffering or pain along the way or claim that I had the strength to get through the siftings on my own. But I know that God is stronger than Satan, and He has given me the victory and enabled me to use my journey to help someone else. Whatever lies ahead, God will never leave me nor forsake me. I hope you believe or come to believe that this is true.

Authoring this book has been an eye-opening experience for me. I really think I could author another book on the adventure of writing this one. It has taken me places I would not have ventured on my own, elicited emotions I did not want to feel and thoughts I did not want to think and allowed me to discover realities I did not want to face. But overall, I am better for the journey, and I hope you will be too after reading it.

The task of writing about God has been even more awesome and challenging. He is my Jehovah-Jireh, my provider, and I want this book to be perfect. I have written, rewritten, and decided to publish and not to publish. I questioned my motives repeatedly—actually, for the last seventeen years. But we all know about perfection. It will never be perfect. When this book was just a thought, I did not think I was worthy enough. I did not have the slightest idea where to start or what to write about, and I had no idea where it would end. I stepped out on faith in God, and because I trust God, this book has become a reality. This is my testimony of God’s amazing grace and mercy, and it is here for you and anybody who chooses to believe God.

His grace and mercy are unmerited favors to all of us, and the power of His grace and mercy enables us to accomplish His will for our lives. We do this through faith in God. This is the testimony of a lifesaving miracle that increased my faith without seeing. Many have given credit for my being alive to medical science, but those who were there to witness it know that it was a manifestation of the power of God through one of His creations. So now you know that I believe in miracles and am one myself! I just want to share my story and encourage someone else who may be at a similar life-changing crossroad. I had to adjust to experience God, and I want you to know it is worth every change.

In the aftermath of my life-saving miracle in May 2006, my brother Vernon came home and said, Charlie, it is in my spirit to tell you to author a book. Now I have told you, and I am done with it. He even had a couple of titles, and the one I chose was Life without the Music. That was seventeen