{"id":4878,"date":"2025-06-13T23:12:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T23:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/?p=4878"},"modified":"2025-06-15T10:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T10:06:14","slug":"a-testimony-of-provision-and-perception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/a-testimony-of-provision-and-perception\/","title":{"rendered":"A Testimony of Provision and Perception"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f “Turning Blessings into Burdens: A Testimony of Provision and Perception”<\/strong><\/h2>

Story Time!<\/strong>
This one\u2019s got a bit of a political twist, which is not usually my lane. I\u2019m a private person by nature. But when God blesses me \u2014 whether in ways that are loud, quiet, or even a little uncomfortable \u2014 I share it. I tell people. Because I want to testify to the incredible things Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, has done in my life.<\/p>

This time, it started with something simple: address verification for one of my children\u2019s schools. I had to gather all my documents and print out my PSEG bill. That\u2019s when I realized \u2014 I hadn\u2019t paid my electric bill for the entire year. Not once. It wasn\u2019t on purpose. Honestly, staying on top of tasks like that is something I really struggle with (maybe I\u2019ll write another post about how my conditions show up in daily life). But at that moment, I was staring at a shutoff notice and an $820 balance.<\/p>

So I did what anyone would do \u2014 I called PSEG to work out a payment plan. The woman I spoke to gave me another number. That number gave me another number. Then I got redirected to a website, where I had to fill out a form and get a reference number. The whole time, I thought this was just part of the process to avoid disconnection.<\/p>

But when I called the first lady back and gave her the number, she told me I had actually qualified<\/em> for a \u201cFresh Start\u201d assistance program that New Jersey offers. They were contributing $800 toward my bill. That left me with just $20 to pay.<\/p>

I was stunned. What an unexpected, undeserved, perfectly timed blessing. I hadn\u2019t asked for it. I didn\u2019t even know it existed. But God knew<\/em>. And He provided. I love Jesus so much. He is so real. \ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffd<\/p>

Naturally, I shared this testimony with my best friend, who I\u2019ll call Mark<\/em>. He seemed happy for me at first\u2026 but over time, I started to sense something else beneath the surface. The enemy is sneaky like that \u2014 and no one, not even those closest to us, is immune to being influenced.<\/p>

About two weeks later, I was walking through Costco, talking to Mark on the phone, and he made a snide comment about how electricity prices in New Jersey were going up 20%. I agreed it was a steep jump and asked what he thought the reason was. That\u2019s when he said, matter-of-factly, that it was because of people like me \u2014 folks who got electric credits \u2014 and that the price hike was to cover that cost.<\/p>

I was floored<\/em>.<\/p>

So I calmly asked where he heard that. It sounded off. Usually I know about this kind of policy stuff before he does. I joked and asked if he got it from a Reddit thread. Close \u2014 it was from X (formerly Twitter). As if that\u2019s a valid news source.<\/p>

I had to gently call him out. I told him he shouldn\u2019t repeat social media posts as if they\u2019re gospel truth \u2014 and that blaming poor people for price hikes without any real evidence is dangerous and dehumanizing.<\/p>

That moment was bigger than just a misinformed comment. It revealed how deeply cognitive distortions can worm their way into our thinking \u2014 even among friends. It was the enemy\u2019s subtle attempt to reframe<\/em> my blessing as a burden. To turn God\u2019s provision into something I should feel ashamed of. And worst of all? He didn\u2019t even realize it.<\/p>

This is exactly<\/em> why I created this blog.
To expose that kind of thinking.
To lift the veil.<\/p>

To save people like Mark \u2014 good people who\u2019ve unknowingly been taught to see compassion as weakness, and blessings as injustice.<\/p>

Let\u2019s be vigilant.
Let\u2019s be bold in sharing our testimonies.
But let\u2019s also be wise in watching for the ways the enemy tries to twist them.<\/p>

Because not every smile is support.
Not every \u201ccongratulations\u201d is celebration.
And not every blessing will be seen as one by those still living in bondage.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f “Turning Blessings into Burdens: A Testimony of Provision and Perception” Story Time!This one\u2019s got a bit of a political twist, which is not usually my lane. I\u2019m a private person by nature. But when God blesses me \u2014 whether in ways that are loud, quiet, or even a little uncomfortable \u2014 I share it. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heart-and-soul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4878"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4883,"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4878\/revisions\/4883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftingtheveilwebsite.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}