Chapter 6 “Opposition”

You might as well face it—if you want to move a mountain in your life you are going to encounter opposition. But, the problem is not the “source or intensity of the opposition”; the problem is how we respond to it. Let's be honest; when opposition stands in the way of our miracle, our mountain moving, we all respond in the same way—we resist it or push against it. When we do, we are doing the complete opposite of what will move our mountain. What is worse is that the resistance will wear us out, so that we will all too soon give up, because this is exactly what the opposition is meant to do.

In speaking about the enemy, this verse alludes to the fact that this is one of the enemy’s schemes: when it says in the book of Daniel 7:25 “He will…wear down the saints of the Highest One.” In other versions of the Bible, it says that “he will wear out, he will be cruel, he will make it hard, and he will oppress.” Oppression was always something I had trouble dealing with. Oppression is defined as: “to subject a person or a people to a harsh or cruel form of domination, to be a source of worry, of stress, or of trouble to somebody, and to hold something in check or put an end to it; to coerce, tyrannize, dominate, repress, subjugate”—the antonym, however, is liberate!

Let me counteract all your oppression and liberate you from being worn out, worn down, or troubled, so that you will no longer feel the opposition, by telling you it is as simple as this: never resist opposition, never.

Jesus told us this very thing, do you remember? “But I [Jesus] say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matthew 5:38–40). In other words, we are not only told not to resist when someone opposes us; our response, He says, is to go along happily and go beyond what is asked for or demanded of us.

Yet, instead, when meeting the mountain that stands in our way, we foolishly decide that the way to move it is to push against it. This is ridiculous when you really think about it rationally. The picture on the cover of this book shows us doing this very thing—trying to do something ridiculous. All of us know that there is no way, no amount of time, and no human strength capable of moving any mountain, big or tiny, by pushing against it. Nevertheless, we women often foolishly think that to push against something or someone (like resisting the men or the children in our lives) will get us what we want. We keep doing it, because—at times—we may get what we want. However, as a result, those same men or our children turn a bitter heart against us, and relationships we cherished are ultimately broken.

However, the woman who really “has it all,” the one who “gets her cake and eats it too,” is a woman who knows not to resist, but is terribly agreeable, so that men, and all the people around her, want to bless her and not oppose her. It is not because they really “want to” do so. It is simply the way God has set up the universe.

Trying to stop power is like trying to put our finger in an electric light socket so that the energy doesn’t come out and hurt us. That energy is enough to kill us, and in fact, this is what will happen emotionally each time you try to resist the force of opposition.

Jesus said NOT TO resist evil for good reason: He knew that it was not only foolish, but that it was contrary to the laws of the universe. Instead, He and His life teach us the power of no resistance.

Water is the power that proves that the ultimate energy source is that of nonresistance. Water adapts to all situations, and yet, this power of nonresistance is able to create energy to light a huge city and to create wonders like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls. It also can change your world magnificently, once you learn to tap into its truth, which is simply—don’t resist opposition.

In the midst of writing this book, the Lord has been faithful to put some horrendous mountains in my life in order for me to learn, and therefore to teach you, what it takes to move a mountain. Since you are reading this book, it means, dear one, that He has chosen you to begin moving the mountains in your life, in order to get the attention of everyone around you. Who doesn’t have mountains that need moving? Then in the process of you moving your mountain, if you follow His plan, soon many will ask you to tell them more, as they watch your mountain begin moving, done so in utter peace and without effort. This, thereby, will give you the opportunity to introduce them to Who has given you the power they are witnessing in your life. This is true evangelism. This is how to "witness" to the unbeliever.

As I said in chapter one, the Lord has you start with the little mountains; then, He will ask you to move a greater one with the same principle. This is what happened to me in the course of a few days. I believe that sharing this story/testimony with you will give you a picture, which is worth a thousand words, so that you will remember how and why.

To keep our family and ministry running, we have no less than four telephone services that I pay for each month. One, in particular, has caused me much frustration for years, which I spoke about briefly in the last chapter. Now, looking back, I see their mistakes (and attitude) were all part of teaching me this very important principle, of nonresistance, to moving mountains.

Overcharges surfaced that the Lord had me put off for weeks and wait to take care of. Honestly, I didn’t understand why, but since I was so extremely busy, letting it go was not that hard to do. Then, something else happened that forced me, at that exact moment in time, to “have to” take care of it. When I contacted them, the Lord reminded me that I must keep a very positive, kind attitude—no matter what. So, I made sure my voice was cheery when I attempted to explain the situation. Everything went surprisingly well, until I asked about the additional charges (just about double what they should have been) for the previous four months, when the representative suddenly turned ugly. Pay attention, because this is the opposition and evil we are not to resist, even though we naturally feel that way. We must be like clean, fresh, adapting water allowing ourselves to flow effortlessly, by being so agreeable that it turns the spiritual tide and forces that are trying to come against us.

As the Lord had lovingly taught me throughout my divorce, I enthusiastically agreed that the additional money was “no big deal,” and I even “thanked” her. Then, immediately, the tide turned when she said, “Can you hang on while I get a supervisor? Maybe he can refund the extra charges,” and that is exactly what happened! No effort, no push, it was, it is, the path of no resistance.

Though this was a small mountain moved, the technique and result was significant. It was the way the Lord trained me for the huge feat on the very next day that I also spoke of in the previous chapter, and I will do so again. Even though I am feeling a bit uncomfortable about writing a second chapter about the very same testimony, I will happily not resist my own flesh that does not want to appear foolish.

Wow, that’s it, isn't it? We’re our own worst enemy! From large steps, like writing the identical testimony in two chapters of a book that will be published, to steps as small and insignificant as the hair color I just chose to put on my hair, we are afraid of appearing foolish if we do something wrong, aren’t we?!

When I felt the Lord prompting me to use the same testimony (that I actually wrote last week, then wrote again, not realizing I was writing it again, until it was almost finished), just a moment later, I got up and went in to see on the counter the hair color that the Lord prompted me to buy, then use. But the impulse to resist welled up in me, which now I know, has its source in pride. Wow, I should have known.

Who of us wants to appear the fool? Not me, that’s for sure, and not you either. Am I right or am I right? And now that the Lord has uncovered the source of why we resist His promptings, which is simply our pride, it is safe to say that the difficulty of using this testimony was due to my pride—appearing foolish because I wrote about the testimony of getting this miracle honeymoon that my son and his fiancé later rejected. Amazingly revealing, isn’t it?

So, what’s the solution? Well, for starters, I went ahead and colored my hair with a tone of red that might be too intense, like the last one I felt led to try. Nevertheless, I would rather look foolish than to miss the lesson that is sure to do more for my life than what hair color I have on my head! So, to keep moving that mountain I must take the next baby step, yes, to write about the very same testimony—two chapters in a row, because, guess what? When I made the decision in my mind that I would do it no matter how stupid I might appear, the Lord reminded me of how the Bible tells the same story, testimony, or parable over, and over again, doesn’t it? And though you might remind me that it is because the stories were written by different people, to show that God was just confirming what Jesus said, my pride was way ahead of you. That reason for resisting already tried, but lost, so here goes.

About three weeks ago, I got a shocking telephone call from my son, of whom I spoke in a testimony in my book Poverty Mentality. The Lord had allowed me to bless my son and his fiancé with a honeymoon that (had I paid for it) would have cost more than their wedding. It was one of the most amazing and thrilling experiences of my life!

But an emotional tragedy struck, when, just a few weeks before the wedding, my son called one evening simply saying that they had decided not to go, that it wasn’t the right time, and he went on to say that things were financially tight. It wasn’t just that they weren’t going; it was also the fact that they knew that everything would be lost: both the resort and the flights were non-transferable, no refunds, and absolutely no changes. And it wasn’t that they didn’t know the finality of these reservations—they were right there when I was booking everything, and I was careful, each step of the way, to ask them, when the booking agents asked me, “Are you sure, since nothing can be changed after this point?”

During each portion of booking, the agents asked at least three times and then printed it boldly on the confirmation sheet, so that they had to know all would be lost if they backed out.

Since their lack of finances was said to be one of the reasons, I immediately told him that I was more than happy to give them enough money to cover everything, in order to save the already invested points and flying miles that I would lose if they bailed out. But it was clear that this was not the real reason, and none was really ever revealed. Honestly, it hit me hard, harder than I would have imaged, so I went to my prayer closet for comfort and understanding. I was honestly devastated.

After many tears, the Lord simply said, “Michele, can you trust me?” and of course, I could.

Being discreet was my main concern at this point. I knew that if my other children heard about this, they would struggle with unkind feelings toward the couple, and I didn’t want that. But God had other ideas, because just hours later the other children heard it from their own mouths, when their brother and his fiancé came over to try to make everyone understand. From that day on, this atrocity had been spread around to just about everyone we knew, despite my efforts to keep it silent—but I had to know that this, too, was all a part of God’s plan. How would He turn it for good? The awesomeness of it all is that we never need to know HOW; we simply just have to KNOW that HE will.

It began to turn on the day the news reached my older son, who told his fiancé, and they set out to “try to do something,” maybe take the “vacation” themselves with another couple—anything, they said, to ease the blow to me. Isn’t that just too sweet?! However, none of their efforts proved to do anything, except to prove that this mountain was immovable. And then…

Signs that this mountain just may move began to surface. First, my other son’s fiancé told him that if the tickets and reservations could be changed, she would marry him immediately and use it as their honeymoon (something she would never consider when he hinted about this kind of a wedding; when she couldn’t find a place to have their wedding, or find the dress, or where to hold their reception). Next, she told her mother about the situation, who said, “Darling, if the arrangements work out—go for it! This is God, no doubt!!” This statement was from a mother who had told her daughter, since she was a little girl, that if she ever ran off to marry without her being there, she would disown her!

Next, they, too, spoke of not having any money, when all of a sudden, my son’s fiancé remembered that her mother had given her the money for their wedding ahead of time. Signs that the mountain just might move were emerging everywhere! That’s when I saw the mountain begin to quiver, just a bit, and I began to get excited at the thought of what I believed was about to happen.

The next significant move was when my son’s fiancé called me one morning, telling me that she so wanted to pursue this dream, but that my son had said that they shouldn’t. She told me that she didn’t want to go against his authority, since he was her spiritual leader, so what should she do? Oh, my, did I feel blessed. Wow. That's when I was given the opportunity (as an older woman who was sought for guidance) to share with her that as a woman, especially as a wife, when situations come up like this, when we feel something strongly, that we shouldn’t talk about it to anyone, but instead, as Mary did, “ponder it in your heart.” If it were God’s plan, her fiancé would have a change of heart.

Just about an hour later, my son called and told me that he could tell this was something his fiancé really wanted, so, what could he do to make it happen? Thank You, Lord!! God turned his heart when he saw her quietly submit, and when I was wise enough to also keep silent and watch the miracle unfold. Because as a mother it is tempting to speak to our children who are grown, nevertheless, who better to speak to than our own HH who so wonderful waits and even longs to take care of things for us, and to do it so beautifully without a ripple or consequence. So, now, since my son came out and asked me what he could do, I told him that the two of us needed to look at what we COULD do rather than trying to do what we couldn’t.

This was the lesson the Lord had showed me two months in a row, when He prompted me to do my own taxes, which, here I go again, I spoke about in a previous chapter. Again, I saw that this was another reason why He led me to do my taxes; He needed to build my faith in impossibilities and to teach me this principle: When you know that God wants you to move a mountain, look at what you CAN do, rather than what you can’t.

Again, I asked my son, “What can you do?” and what came to mind was to ask him “If this works, where are you getting married?” He told me “There! In Hawaii—I believe we should have a destination wedding!” Then I asked him if he knew if there was a waiting period in that state, and he wasn’t sure. So, he set out to research the details. *To understand how much of an “impossibility” this miracle was, this conversation occurred on Monday afternoon, and the flight for Hawaii was scheduled for early Saturday morning.

Then I sought the Lord for what I could do. Immediately, He brought the honeymoon folder to mind, the one that I had never given my other son, which stood as another sign to me. Since I still had it, this was the Lord’s plan all along. There were signs popping up everywhere that were clear: why this couple could never find a place to have their wedding, could never find the right dress, didn’t hear from the church that wanted to hire my son–it all made sense now. God had another plan for this couple, which led to increase my faith that this was going to happen!

The Lord led me to look in the folder and to see that there were three parts to this mountain, and the next step was to move the second most impossible part—the resort. Again, it was non-transferable, but I just knew that nothing was impossible with God, and if this were indeed His plan, it would happen. It took all of five minutes on the phone—done! Again, amazing and impossible. This, too, served to strengthen our faith (my son’s, his fiancé, and mine) to believe God for it all.

Honestly, the rental car never really posed a concern to me, since to forfeit it would not be a huge financial loss; however, even this was accomplished supernaturally when the Lord led me to cancel it (which by the way I had tried unsuccessfully with this same site on one of my own trips). Yet, this time I cancelled without penalty, then, when I asked out loud, “What should I do now Lord?” I saw in big, bold, red letters “Do you want to reserve another car?” I just laughed, and said “Yes,” and clicked!

Two down, now just one to go! Of course, the last part was the hardest. At least it was what we deemed the hardest—all feats are equally the same for God. As I told my son and his fiancé, “All our difficulties and His miracles are the same to Him; He is not sitting up there thinking, ‘Oh, my, now let Me think how I am going to do this one.’” We just knew that we could all see, and now believed, that it was His will, and that, of course, nothing was impossible for God—the mountain was about to move!

The next step to moving this mountain was when I got a call that my son was in line at the airport to speak to them directly about making the transfer. His fiancé called to tell me to “pray.” She said that her spiritual mother whom she had told earlier that day (who began to cry and to have Goosebumps when she heard the details) had told her own husband, who flies a lot, to tell my son to go to the airport, that when they saw him, they would make the changes. That’s when the Lord reminded me of something I had seen, a vision, of my son in line at the airport a few days earlier, so just before I hung up, I shared this with my son's fiancé to encourage her that “this was it!”

Excitedly, I went into the living room to speak to the Lord (as she had asked) with my youngest three children (all who have faith like a child), and we began to rejoice that it was about to happen. I just knew, that I knew, that I knew that it was going to happen in an instant; therefore, I began to act as if it had already happened!

About an hour later, I got a call from my son—he was on his way home, and he told me that the airline had tried and tried, but the fields on the computer screen that needed to be opened to make the right changes would not come up. The ticketing agent at the airport said that the only person who could make these kinds of changes was the booking agent where I redeemed my flying miles. Though my feelings wanted to plummet, and so did his, I told him that this was simply “the next step.”  I hung up and made the call, only to find out that they had closed. We had missed them by only ten minutes.

Still, I told my son that it was all part of His plan, that God needed to show me something, and that’s when He led me to the fine print on a document, online, that said in bold letters, that the tickets were non-transferable, no changes, etc. etc. But then… it went on to say, deep within the paragraph in tiny, tiny small print, that if the airline did approve a change, we were to contact them first! There it was, "it was written," now all I had to do was wait until morning to contact them first!!

Again, this delay only proved that the Lord needed to show me something else, or maybe just that I needed to speak to someone who would be working the following morning, or like discussed in the last chapter, the wait served to renew my spiritual strength that I'd need for the last baby step. For whatever reason, it was all part of His plan! That night I fell asleep quickly, but I woke abruptly at 4 A.M. Not only were those four hours (while I waited for the office to open) not wasted, but they also proved to build my excitement and expectation, as the Lord led me to finish rewriting earlier chapters of this book. As I read and rewrote, it proved to build my faith in His ability and desire to move this mountain as I spoke!

Watching the last three minutes click by, I was trembling with excitement. (Mind you, the excitement wanted to appear as fear, which we will discuss in more detail in chapter 9). When I finally placed the call, the Lord reminded me of the way of no resistance and cheerfulness that had worked so miraculously the day before with the telephone company when they had opposed me.

Sure enough, the first person I spoke to assured me with determined opposition that what I wanted to do was impossible—then, would you believe, she proceeded to sell me something? This is when our emotions want to jump out of our skin (and out our mouths)—that’s the challenge, isn’t it? It is challenging to continue to stay peaceful, most of all, agreeable, and not let haste or hurry, which leads to panic, take over. And so, I quietly listened to her sales speech, even excitedly, but then was able to kindly tell her I had just purchased what she wanted to sell me, but I thanked her profusely, which led her to say, “Hey, now, wait a minute, let me see if they might be able to help you in this department,” and she transferred me.

Without going through each of the next seven people I talked to, the final step was when I spoke to a woman in charge of redeeming flying miles, who assured me that the airline did have the power to change the details of the flight, even though they said they didn’t, and she gave me the airline telephone number to try.

Throughout this whole ordeal I was told the same thing: that the points would have to be refunded, then new tickets would have to be booked and re-ticketed from scratch, which by this late date, would surely be an entirely new mission impossible.

Yet, “nothing is impossible with God”—that’s what I read years ago, when I read Erin's testimony. When I read it, I told the Lord that if He did the impossible by restoring my marriage after adultery and divorce, just like He did for Erin, since I, too, had a husband who said he would never come back to me because he didn’t love me and never did—then I would join Erin to tell the world that nothing was impossible for Him. God did restore the impossible, and has since seen fit to keep more impossibilities coming into my life to continue to prove this is principle is TRUE and to join forces with Erin.

In an instant, I heard the lady on the phone, whose name was Deborah (remember in the Bible that Deborah was a prophetess who was a judge in Israel who led the army for Barak?). Well, it was Deborah who told me to “hold” while she CHANGED THE NAMES! What? We had been told since 9/11 that it was illegal to change names on airline tickets. With rapt anticipation, I sat on “hold” for more than 20 minutes for our miracle to become reality. But, ever so kindly, every few minutes she came on to thank me for my patience, because this is just something that they NEVER did, so they really didn’t know how to do it! It was after the second time she reassured me that tears welled up in my eyes because I was really watching my mountain, the one that had caused me so much pain, fall into the sea! The emotions were more than I could hold back now, and I began to weep in abandoned joy.

Then, right after she came back the third time, when she told me that they were “almost done,” I leaped up out of my chair to praise the Lord and pulled my back out, completely. Ouch. All I could do was laugh—and to sit back down in pain, but my heart was soaring.

When she thanked me and we hung up I was stunned, crying, and shaking, as I tried to contact my son. While screaming I told him, which woke my children up, so as I spoke to my son, my children were right there dancing around—their brother was getting married in Hawaii!! Oh, how romantic—and even more, God had moved a mountain of impossible proportion!  The End, again.

*Well, then, there you have it. Now, can I ask you something; be honest: Were you one of the ones who read the testimony through, again, or did you skip down to the bottom of the page? Just asking, because I completely understand those of you who were a bit bored with hearing this testimony a second time.

While reading this through, after I refused to continue to resist writing this same, exact testimony in my book, so many things tried to oppose me. The first I was just reminded of when I wrote “exact” testimony. While going over it again (as I usually do when I write), I kept wondering if what I wrote was “exact” and it made me want to go back to the previous chapter to check.

You understand; what if I wrote something a bit differently? I would lose credibility with my readers, wouldn’t I? Once again, this stronghold of pride is quite determined to hold on, isn’t it? However, as I continued to do what the Lord was leading me to do, and doing my best not to resist His leading (all while doing my best to oppose my own pride), I was reminded of a couple of reasons why He might have led me to do this small, but very revealing task.

Two of the most life-changing testimonies I had to hear at least twice for it to take hold of me. And both times, would you believe it, I thought to myself, “Why is he telling this same story?” and my opinion of these two men dropped, just a bit.

Years before, when a visiting evangelist began to tell the same story, I wondered just how he could go around to different churches and tell the same story over and over again: Didn’t he take notes so he didn’t repeat himself, or was it because his life was so shallow that this was all he had to offer? What a stinker I am! Funny thing is, there are more than a few of you who thought the same thing about me—now be honest! Yet, I know that had I not heard the same exact story of the little girl who was dying, who said simply, “Don’t worry about me, I have all I want and all I need, I have Jesus” I would never have experienced the abundant life I am now living. And speaking of living…

Had I not heard the story my pastor told about the man who cried out to God “out loud” when he was held at gunpoint, not caring who heard his cry, I would not have done the very same thing when my husband (at the time) and I were the first to see two boys in a ditch after, what should have been, a fatal car accident. With that story fresh in my mind (since he told it over and over again—at least three times), I, too, cried out to God, very loudly in front of the crowd that stood around me. I cried out in a loud voice in order to save that boy who laid there, and did it again moments later when I could see he was about to die (as blood filled his lungs and he was fighting to breath). Both times God moved, the second instantly brought a man who did a tracheotomy right there in the ditch with my son’s knife and a dusting cloth that I had just used to wipe down our car's dashboard!

That boy’s life might have been spared due in part to my pastor who chose to share the same story over and over again, which was too many times, in my opinion. Now my opinion has changed. Could it be that both these men shared the same story, the same testimony for my benefit, and not because they stupidly forgot it was a repeat, or because they had nothing better to share? Could it just be that they resisted their pride in order to change my life and to save a young man’s life?

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).

“I can do nothing on My own initiative As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30).

“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way” (Romans 14:13).

“But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31).

*Years later I heard the young man lived and his family had tried to find and thank me for openly crying out the Lord. They were Christians and God has used this young man, who lived but was instantly paralyzed, in many ways as he became a motivational speaker.