What to do in the years of intense personal struggle

[rockytopva]

I m convinced during the years of intense personal struggle the thing to do is to visit anything good going on, and to take a back seat until you see better days ahead... In which Smith Wigglesworth was a great example....

An Introduction to the Bradford Plumber Smith Wigglesworth

Those who knew him in his earlier years couldn't have imagined that one day he would see thousands converted, have piles of discarded crutches and braces in his meetings, and have a foreign government take action against him. Wigglesworth was born in 1859 and converted at age 8 in a Wesleyan Methodist revival, and an Anglican bishop confirmed him 2 years later. In his late teens in Bradford, England, while preparing to become a master plumber, Wigglesworth became attracted to the Salvation Army because they seemed to have more spiritual power than any other group. And through this association, he met Polly Featherstone. Subsequent to their marriage in 1882, they shared in ministry by opening Bowland Street Mission in Bradford.

In spite of Wigglesworth's physical strength, he lacked self-confidence. He couldn't speak from the pulpit for more than 2 or 3 minutes before breaking down in tears and asking someone else to finish for him. Polly was the preacher in the family. For Smith, these were years of intense personal struggle, which unfortunately resulted in a time of spiritual coldness. Nevertheless, his family grew (he and Polly had five children), and his prospering business was flooded with calls.

 

[Pathfinder789]

during the years of intense personal struggle the thing to do is to visit anything good going on, and to take a back seat until you see better days ahead...

Good point..
----
Often, people who are involved in ministries/missions..
go through intense personal struggle.

 

[rockytopva]

So here we have an uneducated plumber working in what I can imagine unimaginable nasty circumstances who will take time to go to conferences from time to time. Such a meek spirit that even his wife doubted any ministerial calling his way...

The Home Life

An experience in the history of the Wigglesworth home was an event when Smith was in the market for a home. Having coming up $500 short, he consulted his friends and relatives without any avail. So then he consulted his lovely wife and said, “Oh, mother I am in a hard place.” “I know,” she said. “I will tell you what you have never done, my dear.”

“What?”

“You have never gone to God once about this thing.”

“All right my dear, I will go pray.”

Upon praying the Lord gave Smith the word of wisdom, “Go see Brother Webster.” Smith then went to Brother Webster who then gave him what he had need of. These type experiences were common in the Wigglesworth home “before the fire fell.”

When the Fire Fell
Two stirring spiritual experiences changed him and his ministry forever: (1) In 1893 while attending one of the famous "higher life" conferences at the resort town of Keswick, the equivalent of an American camp meeting, he testified to being sanctified or baptized in the Spirit, as taught by the Keswick preachers. (2) A greater turning point in his life occurred in 1907. He heard that people were receiving the Holy Spirit at Sunderland and decided to go and see for himself. Convinced that he had already gotten the Pentecostal Baptism, he grew discouraged while attending the services. Though "slain in the Spirit" several times, his spiritual hunger became even more intense.

Finally, after 4 days of seeking to speak in tongues, he decided to head home but first stopped by the vicarage to say good-bye. Mary Boddy, the vicar's wife, said, "Brother Wigglesworth, it is not the tongues you need but the Baptism. If you will allow God to baptize you, the other will be all right." Although protesting that he had previously been baptized, he asked her to lay hands on him and pray that he would receive. After she did so and unexpectedly left the room, "the fire fell," he recalled. "The joy was so great that when I came to utter it my tongue failed, and I began to worship God in other tongues as the Spirit gave me utterance." After arriving home, he found that Polly doubted his new experience. She claimed she was as much Spirit baptized as him without speaking in tongues. "I have been preaching for 20 years," she asserted, "and you have sat beside me on the platform. But on Sunday you will preach yourself, and I'll see what there is in it."

The next Sunday he entered the pulpit and, prompted by the Spirit, preached from Isaiah 61:1-3: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings...." The bold and fluent preaching that came forth startled his wife as she sat in the back of the mission. Speaking in a voice loud enough that everyone around her heard, Polly sputtered, "That's not my Smith, Lord; that's not my Smith!" Polly was filled with the Spirit soon after, and the Bowland Street Mission changed dramatically. They continued in ministry until Polly's death 6 years later in 1913. Unknown to Wigglesworth, that humble beginning had ignited a preaching ministry that would eventually take him around the world.

Wigglesworth Described
“The preaching was mainly on divine healing; and while it was evident that the preacher was an illiterate man, yet an indescribable power filled him. And his preaching was not in the wisdom of man, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. A heavily built man, he walked on the platform with the stately tread like a patriarch of old; one who knew God and feared not man. He held his audiences spellbound as he poured out his heart, reciting stories of great victories; and these divinely inspired utterances he capped with some appropriate scripture. In every case he gave glory to his Lord and as one Christian said; “The way he said Jesus and exalted that name thrilled me through and through.” –HV Roberts

 

[Pavel Mosko]

I m convinced during the years of intense personal struggle the thing to do is to visit anything good going on, and to take a back seat until you see better days ahead... In which Smith Wigglesworth was a great example....

An Introduction to the Bradford Plumber Smith Wigglesworth

Those who knew him in his earlier years couldn't have imagined that one day he would see thousands converted, have piles of discarded crutches and braces in his meetings, and have a foreign government take action against him. Wigglesworth was born in 1859 and converted at age 8 in a Wesleyan Methodist revival, and an Anglican bishop confirmed him 2 years later. In his late teens in Bradford, England, while preparing to become a master plumber, Wigglesworth became attracted to the Salvation Army because they seemed to have more spiritual power than any other group. And through this association, he met Polly Featherstone. Subsequent to their marriage in 1882, they shared in ministry by opening Bowland Street Mission in Bradford.

In spite of Wigglesworth's physical strength, he lacked self-confidence. He couldn't speak from the pulpit for more than 2 or 3 minutes before breaking down in tears and asking someone else to finish for him. Polly was the preacher in the family. For Smith, these were years of intense personal struggle, which unfortunately resulted in a time of spiritual coldness. Nevertheless, his family grew (he and Polly had five children), and his prospering business was flooded with calls.

I have had a lot of lifelong troubles with schooling, unemployment, lack of career opportunities etc. This video has given me the best help for my personal problems along with an excellent speech/article on Failure by Christian Apologist William Lane Craig.


Video: Finding The Strength To Go On Speaker: Fr. Anthony Messeh Context: Sermon given at the Light & Life meeting, St. Marks Coptic Orthodox Church of Washington DC (Fairfax, VA area), June 28, 2009. Uploaded 2011. ~57–58 minutes. Channel: OrthodoxSermons. Handout/PDF notes exist on orthodoxsermons.org.
This is the matching video: a Coptic priest based in the Northern Virginia / DC metro area (St. Marks Fairfax, later associated with outreach in Arlington) delivering a practical, pastoral talk on enduring crushing hardship. “Alexandria, Virginia” is a reasonable regional shorthand for that cluster of churches.

Detailed Synopsis / Treatment (Cliff Notes + Film-Style Outline)​

Opening frame / Hook (personal anecdote that sets the emotional register) Fr. Anthony returns from a two-and-a-half-week trip to England (wedding + mission work). In Brighton he encounters three young people (late teens to mid-20s) whose parents both died by suicide; the children themselves discovered the bodies. The situation is so unnatural and raw that he feels completely unequipped. Normal consolations (“car accident,” “illness”) do not apply. This becomes the entry point: what do you do when life delivers a punch so severe that ordinary strength evaporates and you have no idea how to keep going?
He immediately universalizes it. Everyone will eventually face a “punch in the gut”—death of a spouse or parent (statistically high probability), financial collapse, injury, broken engagement, chronic illness, or sudden tragedy. Those currently “north of the equator” (life is stable) still need to listen carefully; the day is coming.
Biblical spine: Jeremiah in Lamentations The primary text is Jeremiah’s experience of national and personal devastation (Jerusalem destroyed, people slaughtered or carried into captivity, the prophet himself broken). Key verses that open the emotional landscape:

• Lamentations 3:47-48 and 2:11 — rivers of tears, heart troubled, bile poured out because of the destruction of his people. Jeremiah is not theoretical; he is a man who has already lost almost everything and is still required to continue.

Four practical movements for finding strength (the core structure)

1. Focus your attention on God (sit alone and keep silent) Lamentations 3:28-29: “Let him sit alone and keep silent… put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope.” When the crisis hits, the instinct is to talk to people, scroll, distract, or demand immediate answers. The first move is the opposite: deliberate solitude and quiet before God. Fr. Anthony stresses a concrete daily “quiet time” (even 10–15 minutes of Scripture and silence, no noise). He challenges the audience to five intentional days of elevated quiet time. The point is not technique but relationship; crises expose whether that relationship already exists.
2. Ask God to remove (or deliver you from) your fearsFear is presented as the most paralyzing emotion—worse than grief or anger because it freezes movement. Supporting texts: Lamentations 3:55-57 (“Do not fear!”), Psalm 34:4. How God delivers: three linked antidotes
   • Truth (John 8:32) — many fears rest on misperceptions (e.g., “God is angry when I fail”).
   • Love (1 John 4:18) — perfect love casts out fear; knowing God’s character as love dismantles the terror.
   • Faith (Joshua 1:9) — “Be strong and of good courage… the Lord your God is with you.” Faith is not the absence of fear; it is moving forward despite fear. Personal illustration: Fr. Anthony preaching in a hostile open-air market in England, quoting Joshua 1:9 to himself and taking the next step anyway.
3. Believe God will restore (100 % certainty that He is the restorer) Lamentations 5:21: “Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored; renew our days as of old.” Also the confidence of Psalm 27:13 (or similar): “I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” God specializes in making broken things new (examples of healing the blind, the demon-possessed, etc.). Despair says “Why go on?” The counter-move is stubborn trust that restoration is God’s character and specialty. Clinging to the pain (“hugging a porcupine”) only prolongs the wound.
4. Remember what never changesAnchor points drawn from Lamentations:
   • God remains in control (His throne is from generation to generation).
   • God’s mercies are new every morning; His faithfulness is great (Lamentations 3:19-23).
   • “The Lord is my portion… therefore I hope in Him” (Lamentations 3:24). When everything external is gone, God Himself is still enough. Accept what cannot be changed (death, irreversible loss) and practice thankfulness for what remains; thankfulness is presented as a practical destroyer of depression (Jonah 2:7 motif). Wait quietly for the Lord’s salvation (Lamentations 3:25-26).

Closing movement Strength does not come from a formula, a better prayer technique, or human resources. It comes from an ongoing relationship with the God who is Maker of the mountains and the storms. The sermon ends in prayer that lifts eyes to that God—trusting His control, His unchanging love, and His mercy. Life will keep going; the only reliable source of power to keep walking is Him.
Tone and style notes for your use Pastoral, conversational, story-driven rather than purely academic. Heavy use of concrete examples and direct address (“your day is coming”). Combines emotional honesty about real trauma with practical, almost “do-this-tomorrow” steps. Classic Fr. Anthony Messeh voice: accessible, challenging, and centered on relationship with Christ rather than abstract theology.
You can post the link, add your personal remarks (how it landed for you, connection to caregiving, family loss, or ongoing spiritual struggle), and drop this synopsis underneath or as a separate document. It functions well as a “treatment” that lets someone decide whether to invest the full 57 minutes.

 

[Hepzibah]

I m convinced during the years of intense personal struggle the thing to do is to visit anything good going on, and to take a back seat until you see better days ahead... In which Smith Wigglesworth was a great example....

An Introduction to the Bradford Plumber Smith Wigglesworth

Those who knew him in his earlier years couldn't have imagined that one day he would see thousands converted, have piles of discarded crutches and braces in his meetings, and have a foreign government take action against him. Wigglesworth was born in 1859 and converted at age 8 in a Wesleyan Methodist revival, and an Anglican bishop confirmed him 2 years later. In his late teens in Bradford, England, while preparing to become a master plumber, Wigglesworth became attracted to the Salvation Army because they seemed to have more spiritual power than any other group. And through this association, he met Polly Featherstone. Subsequent to their marriage in 1882, they shared in ministry by opening Bowland Street Mission in Bradford.

In spite of Wigglesworth's physical strength, he lacked self-confidence. He couldn't speak from the pulpit for more than 2 or 3 minutes before breaking down in tears and asking someone else to finish for him. Polly was the preacher in the family. For Smith, these were years of intense personal struggle, which unfortunately resulted in a time of spiritual coldness. Nevertheless, his family grew (he and Polly had five children), and his prospering business was flooded with calls.

Did Smith Wigglesworth punch people?

"Yes, early 20th-century British evangelist Smith Wigglesworth frequently hit, slapped, or punched people during his healing ministry. [1, 2]
He famously struck the afflicted parts of individuals' bodies to drive out illnesses, which he viewed as satanic. For instance, he would sometimes punch people with severe stomach complaints or tumors in the gut with such force that it propelled them across the room. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
When criticized for these aggressive actions, Wigglesworth explained that he was not assaulting the person, but rather engaging in spiritual warfare and physically attacking the demonic forces binding them. His rationale was famously summarized as, "I don't hit them, I hit the devil." [1, 2, 3]" WIKI

Perhaps he should have stopped.

 

[ProDeo]

Did Smith Wigglesworth punch people?

"Yes, early 20th-century British evangelist Smith Wigglesworth frequently hit, slapped, or punched people during his healing ministry. [1, 2]
He famously struck the afflicted parts of individuals' bodies to drive out illnesses, which he viewed as satanic. For instance, he would sometimes punch people with severe stomach complaints or tumors in the gut with such force that it propelled them across the room. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
When criticized for these aggressive actions, Wigglesworth explained that he was not assaulting the person, but rather engaging in spiritual warfare and physically attacking the demonic forces binding them. His rationale was famously summarized as, "I don't hit them, I hit the devil." [1, 2, 3]" WIKI

Perhaps he should have stopped.

Wow, there goes a statue down.

 

[ProDeo]

Did Smith Wigglesworth punch people?

"Yes, early 20th-century British evangelist Smith Wigglesworth frequently hit, slapped, or punched people during his healing ministry. [1, 2]
He famously struck the afflicted parts of individuals' bodies to drive out illnesses, which he viewed as satanic. For instance, he would sometimes punch people with severe stomach complaints or tumors in the gut with such force that it propelled them across the room. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
When criticized for these aggressive actions, Wigglesworth explained that he was not assaulting the person, but rather engaging in spiritual warfare and physically attacking the demonic forces binding them. His rationale was famously summarized as, "I don't hit them, I hit the devil." [1, 2, 3]" WIKI

Perhaps he should have stopped.

Kenneth Copeland retells Smith Wigglesworth raising a man from the dead​

Hard to watch.

 

[Hepzibah]

Kenneth Copeland retells Smith Wigglesworth raising a man from the dead​

Hard to watch.

I've been hearing these tales for a very long time, maybe 40 years, but have yet to see any proof, like a confirmation from their GP or even photos. And why aren't these so called healers to be found on paedriatric wards, working their magic on severely sick children.

Why no proof put in the newspapers?

 

[ProDeo]

I've been hearing these tales for a very long time, maybe 40 years, but have yet to see any proof, like a confirmation from their GP or even photos. And why aren't these so called healers to be found on paedriatric wards, working their magic on severely sick children.

Why no proof put in the newspapers?

Here is one, a news paper in the 1920's reporting about a Wigglesworth Meeting, among others things, not curing a boy, then blaming the boy for his lack of faith.

So sad.

 

[stevesonthebay]

I m convinced during the years of intense personal struggle the thing to do is to visit anything good going on, and to take a back seat until you see better days ahead... In which Smith Wigglesworth was a great example....

An Introduction to the Bradford Plumber Smith Wigglesworth

Those who knew him in his earlier years couldn't have imagined that one day he would see thousands converted, have piles of discarded crutches and braces in his meetings, and have a foreign government take action against him. Wigglesworth was born in 1859 and converted at age 8 in a Wesleyan Methodist revival, and an Anglican bishop confirmed him 2 years later. In his late teens in Bradford, England, while preparing to become a master plumber, Wigglesworth became attracted to the Salvation Army because they seemed to have more spiritual power than any other group. And through this association, he met Polly Featherstone. Subsequent to their marriage in 1882, they shared in ministry by opening Bowland Street Mission in Bradford.

In spite of Wigglesworth's physical strength, he lacked self-confidence. He couldn't speak from the pulpit for more than 2 or 3 minutes before breaking down in tears and asking someone else to finish for him. Polly was the preacher in the family. For Smith, these were years of intense personal struggle, which unfortunately resulted in a time of spiritual coldness. Nevertheless, his family grew (he and Polly had five children), and his prospering business was flooded with calls.

I have a place for the Salvos in my heart. They saved me when I was a young prodigal son. I say that because I was a Catholic when in primary school and then into the public system.

I like how Wigglesworth was a plumber as well. Very down to earth.

I agree when life is not so good its good to have positive people around. Or to have contact with. The Salvos happen to be the right people to help me. But that was only the beginning. Because you learn life is hard and to live you have to surrender. Surrender to yourself. Thats the hardest one.

But the Salvos introduced me to Jesus. Though I knew of Him in Catholic church. There was a big scary cross right in the center with Christ on it. You could not miss it. But I never really met Him. Thats where people like the salvos come in and thank God for the Salvos and others.

I think its a continual handing over and overcoming life. Its not so straight forward. especially today where the world is going mad. But thats when God works the best through Christ.

 

[Sassy Brat]

So here we have an uneducated plumber working in what I can imagine unimaginable nasty circumstances who will take time to go to conferences from time to time. Such a meek spirit that even his wife doubted any ministerial calling his way...

The Home Life

An experience in the history of the Wigglesworth home was an event when Smith was in the market for a home. Having coming up $500 short, he consulted his friends and relatives without any avail. So then he consulted his lovely wife and said, “Oh, mother I am in a hard place.” “I know,” she said. “I will tell you what you have never done, my dear.”

“What?”

“You have never gone to God once about this thing.”

“All right my dear, I will go pray.”

Upon praying the Lord gave Smith the word of wisdom, “Go see Brother Webster.” Smith then went to Brother Webster who then gave him what he had need of. These type experiences were common in the Wigglesworth home “before the fire fell.”

When the Fire Fell
Two stirring spiritual experiences changed him and his ministry forever: (1) In 1893 while attending one of the famous "higher life" conferences at the resort town of Keswick, the equivalent of an American camp meeting, he testified to being sanctified or baptized in the Spirit, as taught by the Keswick preachers. (2) A greater turning point in his life occurred in 1907. He heard that people were receiving the Holy Spirit at Sunderland and decided to go and see for himself. Convinced that he had already gotten the Pentecostal Baptism, he grew discouraged while attending the services. Though "slain in the Spirit" several times, his spiritual hunger became even more intense.

Finally, after 4 days of seeking to speak in tongues, he decided to head home but first stopped by the vicarage to say good-bye. Mary Boddy, the vicar's wife, said, "Brother Wigglesworth, it is not the tongues you need but the Baptism. If you will allow God to baptize you, the other will be all right." Although protesting that he had previously been baptized, he asked her to lay hands on him and pray that he would receive. After she did so and unexpectedly left the room, "the fire fell," he recalled. "The joy was so great that when I came to utter it my tongue failed, and I began to worship God in other tongues as the Spirit gave me utterance." After arriving home, he found that Polly doubted his new experience. She claimed she was as much Spirit baptized as him without speaking in tongues. "I have been preaching for 20 years," she asserted, "and you have sat beside me on the platform. But on Sunday you will preach yourself, and I'll see what there is in it."

The next Sunday he entered the pulpit and, prompted by the Spirit, preached from Isaiah 61:1-3: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings...." The bold and fluent preaching that came forth startled his wife as she sat in the back of the mission. Speaking in a voice loud enough that everyone around her heard, Polly sputtered, "That's not my Smith, Lord; that's not my Smith!" Polly was filled with the Spirit soon after, and the Bowland Street Mission changed dramatically. They continued in ministry until Polly's death 6 years later in 1913. Unknown to Wigglesworth, that humble beginning had ignited a preaching ministry that would eventually take him around the world.

Wigglesworth Described
“The preaching was mainly on divine healing; and while it was evident that the preacher was an illiterate man, yet an indescribable power filled him. And his preaching was not in the wisdom of man, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. A heavily built man, he walked on the platform with the stately tread like a patriarch of old; one who knew God and feared not man. He held his audiences spellbound as he poured out his heart, reciting stories of great victories; and these divinely inspired utterances he capped with some appropriate scripture. In every case he gave glory to his Lord and as one Christian said; “The way he said Jesus and exalted that name thrilled me through and through.” –HV Roberts

What book of Wigglesworth would talk about this in detail as his walk progressed pls???