A WORD OF CAUTION: Please don’t try to sail your ship in a storm unless you know enough to look for the lighthouse and steer clear of the treacherous coastline; even so, your ship will be battered and the storm will prevail; but you must be strong enough to withstand the storm.

If that message resonates with where you are right now, remember God’s promise – “There will be no loss among you, only your ship. You need to change course.”

No matter what happens, BELIEVE GOD. Do not be deceived or discouraged, and whatever you do, stay in the lifeboat and do not release the lifeline. Do not try to navigate or chart your own course, because you have drifted into uncharted waters. Call on the harbormaster – Jesus, the Christ – He is the master navigator, and He will give you new bearings and a new port of call.

This is the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. When I say, Get Real With God, I mean GET REAL WITH GOD! Stop playing footsie with the devil and give him no place in your life. Do not make him comfortable, do not feed him, do not accept him, do not eat from his table, do not laugh at his jokes, do not cry at the mischiefs of his hand. In short, no matter what the Devil say or do, resist him – stand firm and BELIEVE GOD. God says, “Behold, I hold you in the palm of my hand and if I hold you in the palm of my hand, no man can pluck you out.” Satan knows that. He is not devoid of the knowledge of God. In fact, he was the most decorated angel in heaven, so, believe, me he knows that whatsoever God promises, He is fully able to accomplish.

Over the years, I have taken inventory of my life – documented in Troubles. Trials.  Tribulations and Triumph – and asked myself a few questions: If God is not real, if Jesus is not the Savior of the world and if I am not marked for the righteousness of God, then what is this all about? ‘What is the battle for? ‘Why am I always being tormented 6y the enemy? ‘Why the enemy set so many traps and snares in my path, and how come I have escaped them all? ‘Why is he trying to destroy me? ‘Who is trying to preserve me? ‘Why am I being tortured? ‘Why do I feel compelled’ to persevere despite the hopelessness that I feel? ‘Why can’t I go forward until I go 6ackward? ‘Why do I have to keep cleaning up other people‘s messes? ‘Why do I a{ways have to 6e on the .frontlines, even when I’m not enlisted for battle? ‘Who am I, and why am I here? ‘What is my purpose for 6eing?” ‘Why do l have a father who abandoned me? ‘Why did I have the mother I had’ who decided to flee, rather than fight? ‘Why did I give 6irth to twins on my first time out? “Why did I 6ecome a teen mom?” Why was I a teenage bride? ‘Why did I marry the man I did?” ‘Why do I love with the passion that I do?” ‘Why I can’t turn away from wrongdoing – even when I think and know it is none of my 6usiness?” ‘Why did I have another child just five years after the first two, when I would have much rather finish school and go out to work?” “Why did I have an abortion, against my better judgment?” ‘Why did I have to stay home and’ raise 6a6ies 6ecause I couldn’t find a daycare in the neighborhood that would take children the age of mine?” That last one was truly preposterous, 6ecause the day care only took children. to age five, get real. “Why can’t I join the ranks of working mothers and‘ 6ring home my own paycheck?‘ “Why can‘t I even finish school after how many years of going 6ack one semester at a time?” – And the list goes on – ‘Why ‘Why? ‘Why? ‘Why?

I was asking myself the questions, but I guess God thought that I was talking to him,
because he gave me answers to all those questions – in scripture, in words, in songs, through revelation knowledge, through my own experience, through other people’s experiences and of course in one to one counseling with him.

Here is the 411: When the mountain is higher than your feet can climb, God will give you “Wings as eagles,” so that you can mount up. When time is far spent, he will increase his grace to you so that you can “run and not be weary.” When the journey tarries for too long, he will have mercy upon you so that you can “walk and not faint.” When the fire is too hot, he will stand in the midst of it with you and shield you from the effects of the flames so that when you come out “not even the smell of smoke will be upon you.” When you need to cross the ocean, he will “separate the waters” so that you can” cross on dry land in the midst of the sea.” When the enemy is after your camp, he will surround you with “a ring of fire” that will give you protection by day and light by night. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Yes, God is able, so again, let me proclaim from the masthead of this battered ship GOD IS GOOD, GOD IS GREAT, GOD IS AWESOME – AND HE IS WORTHY TO BE PRAISED, NO MATTER WHAT – BELIEVE GOD.

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