AM:  It seems like the world is getting darker and darker and… 

Betty: See, what the Lord keeps saying to me is you have to stay in the present moment. Because part of your pain right now is because you’re getting out of the present moment, where you have grace, and you’re trying to handle the unknown, the future,. And then Satan can get in there and say, “Oh boy she’s vulnerable. I can really wallop her around. Well, I want you to learn whenever you start doing that, pray for the grace to become aware that you have left the present moment. And this is why you’re being walloped and hurting so badly so that you give that up. It’s different if God permits Satan to harass us from when we are disobedient and open the door for Satan to come in. And by leaving the present moment, I had to gradually become aware that I was being disobedient and getting in Satan’s territory. So, if you could learn that, you could save yourself a lot of suffering that’s needless, that’s pointless. Suffering that comes from things that God is permitting to happen has merit. Suffering that comes from our disobedience is meritless. So, keep those doors close, Stay in the present moment. Why don’t you pray for the grace to have an obedient heart that will actually get strong enough that you’ll get a sense of “no” when you start to leave the present moment. Like, “No, I’m not gonna do that. I’m not going to go out there just so you can wallop me. I’m not that stupid, Satan.” 

AM: “Lord, I do pray for the grace to stay in the present moment. I don’t want to suffer needlessly and have it be meritless, if it’s not something from you.  

Betty: If it has no eternal meriting, why do it? 

AM: So, if somebody says to you. Well, I’m not happy in the present, either… 

Betty: Well, let’s say, in the present if you aren’t happy, unite that with Jesus’ suffering on the cross. At least it has merit. Because you’re helping to fill up for what is wanting in the sufferings of Christ, for the church, and for people within the church. It has merit. It’s not a loss. But suffering that we bring on ourselves from our disobedience, I feel is a loss.  I guess a lot of people don’t realize how they increase their suffering in their disobedience, but they do. And Satan is like a roaring, wild dog, waiting for us to be stupid enough to take his temptation, disobey God and come out where he can bite us. One spiritual writer was trying to help us understand this. And he said, “If a dog is on the chain, and you go up to where he is, and the dog bites you, haven’t you brought it on yourself? It is like walking up to a chained, wild dog standing there, and the dog’s biting you, and you keep yelling and screaming about it. And I’m thinking, “Move away would you please.”

AM: Yeah, that’s probably where I get myself dissatisfied. I have resistance to the suffering, and God is allowing more of it, so that’s hard. There’s so much suffering in the world. 

Betty: Yeah, even though we know that we brought it on ourselves, it still hurts.