A fish starts its day just like any ordinary day swimming about in the water which provides its sustenance. But this day is a little different and within moments it finds himself in a net. The fish struggles to get out, but the more it exerts itself and thrashes about, the sooner it begins to feel the life draining from it. The fish is snatched out of the water only to see the fire that awaits him. He begins to thirst for the waters it swam in so freely just moments ago.
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At some point in your life you are captured by this net. You don’t quite remember the exact moment it happened. You are walking around, oblivious in your familiar surroundings when one day you wake up to find yourself in the net. You labor just like the fish to get out. As you struggle, you feel it deplete you of your strength. You call out to God, but it seems like God’s not listening. You are retrieved from the water to the fire steps in front of you. You begin to thirst for the living waters that supplied your nourishment, but feel hopeless, helpless and in complete despair.
After a while you start to think, “this net’s not so bad,” and you begin to quickly adapt, until God allows someone to come by and deliver a message to you. The person says, “Did you realize that you’re in a net? Do you know why you are in a net?” But you don’t quite understand how you came to be in the net or why, instead you respond, “Well you see, I was trying to figure it out, but then gave up and decided to make the best of it.”
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Psalm 66:10-12 states, For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. God has placed you in the net for a reason. He tries us in order to produce a greater product in the end.
God has an appointed a time for you to come out of the net. Your “net testimony” will be a blessing to others so when you see someone else in the net, you can help them understand what they are experiencing. Lamentations 3:20-26 says, My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. Just as that fish provided nourishment to someone, you also will be able to sustain someone else because of your encounter with the net.
Mother Vivian Valdez Pruitte