Monday, January 3, 2022

Pastor's Ponderings, January 3, 2022

Faith In The New Year


Then he who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”  And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelations 21:5)

 

God makes all things new. We have finally arrived at this New Year during a global pandemic. We may feel hopeless at times, but God has given us a new day in a new year to bear witness to his glory. The only way we can combat this hopelessness is to have faith that God will move us beyond the most insurmountable roadblocks that we can imagine. It may not be popular to say, but even for believers, we often lack faith that God will truly take care of us. 

 

I am going to let you in on my personal testimony. This testimony includes many blessings, curses, and obstacles where God’s words proved repeatedly to be faithful and true. I grew up believing God but wasn’t a regular church goer. My grandmother, Helen V. Fair, prayed for me, ministered to me, and taught me to always have faith in God. 

 

When I decided to have my child at the age of twenty-two, I held on to what I had been taught and had faith that God had plans for me even though I didn’t know how we would be okay. Having a child as a college student with six credits left to graduate was a difficult decision.  Many times, I felt stupid and that I had let everyone down, but God gave me the strength to press forward, and I gave birth to my first-born son on a Saturday in 1992.

 

As a parent, I now understand how my own parents felt when I had my son, but God was with me anyway. I returned to my mother’s home (much to her disappointment) and pushed forward. Over the next five years, I suffered heart breaking setbacks including experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, and poverty. Some days, I cried out to God asking how I went from a student at a top tier university to an impoverished woman. Other days, I was grateful for another opportunity to live in that moment, on that day and appreciate the gift of life for myself and my son. 

 

However, most of all I KNEW as I do today that God had more for me. I did not even know Jeremiah 29:11 at the time, but I knew that God had PLANS FOR ME!!!  I was often weary and broken because I felt like a failure, but I would tell God – whatever challenge You allow in my life, I will face it head on withYou by my side. I promise. 

 

With God providing me strength, good health, and supernatural energy, I jumped at opportunities to do better. I would work extra jobs and step through doors whenever they opened even if it they appeared “small.” I trusted that God was moving me one step forward every time. I knew for sure that God would not bring me through the valleys of life without me learning and growing from it.

 

By the time my son was six, I started working at an internet company where I would eventually become a manager and be able to provide for my family beyond my greatest imagination. My childhood dream was to become an attorney, but despite everything that happened God had a different plan for me, and I was walking in my purpose. God qualifies the called and I am a witness and have fruit from it.

 

Now my story did not end there.  Nearly 30 years after leaving school to start my family, 2022 is the year that I will receive my bachelor’s degree in just a few months. God knew the desire of my heart all along and He is making it happen. I have no idea where God is going to take me, but I have faith.

 

I am standing in awe of how God has blessed me when I didn’t see how He could turn a situation around. God blessed me with a husband of over 20 years and counting, a college graduate for a son and another son currently attending college, and a granddaughter who will be a star. Most importantly, through it all I have faith in God.

 

I have asked people who have been in church all of their lives, “Where is your faith? How can you think so small when God has shown you how enormous, powerful, and mighty the Lord is?” 

 

In this New Year – believe that God will make all things new, get your devotional and write about what the Lord is telling you, and BELIEVE in the manifestation of the fruit that your life WILL bear. Take the small opportunity with growth potential. Share your gifts by volunteering. Tell yourself that you are God’s child, and don’t believe what other people say. This is a New Year, and each blessing and opportunity is God making all things new – receive it.

 

Revelation 21:5

King James Version

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

 

Jeremiah 29:11

King James Version

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

 


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