“Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:10-13 NKJ
For eighteen months we had stood in faith, believed, trusted, and obeyed God knowing that what He promised He would perform. Some days we were strong in our faith and other days we struggled because we had to endure a lot and walked through many trials up until this point. In this passage of Scripture the word endure literally means to abide or remain and it is a military term that was used when the army held a vital position at all costs and held their ground. And this is exactly what we had been doing while we waited on the Lord to fulfill His promise.
You have no idea how many battles we had to face before the first sight of the Promised Land came into view. I think the hardest battles were the ones that came from within the body of Christ. We suffered persecution, accusation, disbelief, and coarse jesting from people who called themselves Christians. I will tell you that those are the wounds that almost destroyed our faith at times because it was so hard for us to comprehend how our own brothers and sisters in Christ could speak and act this way.
As I said in a previous devotion we had a core group of family and friends who stood in faith with us and if it wasn’t for their love and support during these times we may have given up! This is why it is vital for the body of Christ to become a unified army because too much inner fighting is killing soldiers on the battlefield. But we endured and renewed our minds to the truth of God’s Word each day and stood on His promises! I have to add that there were many times I shared with unbelievers who believed more for what God had promised than some of the believers I shared with did.
But as our hope strengthened and Jesus was faithful even in times we were not; we fought all the harder to endure until the appointed time came for the promise to manifest. We didn’t sit idly by either. We ministered, wrote, spoke, mentored, and worked each and every day whenever we could and for anyone who needed a word of love, hope, encouragement, or help. This really built us up because even though we were not on the ground of the Promised Land physically; the Word of God went forth and lives were transformed! It is always important to remember that church is not an organization. It is a living organism that brings life whenever it goes.
Then one day before Christmas of 2009 when I was in my prayer time, the Spirit impressed upon me to start the daily devotion on Face Book, Christmas Day. I struggled with this because I was in the midst of one of my down times! I was not with my kids, my mom had moved out of state, and we didn’t have enough money to enjoy the traditional Christmas festivities. But as I wrestled with the Lord, He reassured me that if I was obedient; He would be faithful. And He told me that many people I have never met before would be touched by His Spirit through the words He gave me to pen each day if I would obey. He said, “I have a gift to give my people and I have chosen you to be the gift bearer. Are you willing? I began to cry and I said, “Yes Lord, my spirit is willing even though my flesh is weak but I will trust in You to strengthen me as I answer this call.”
And on Christmas Day the first devotion was posted. Nothing spectacular happened that day as far as what the Spirit had told me. As I awoke on the morning of December 26 and posted the second devotion a spirit of heaviness came over me like nothing I had ever experienced before. I had a reunion of former school mates to attend later in the day but this heaviness was so great I didn’t think I could go! But as the day went on and one of my friends who was attending kept texting me, I decided I would. When I arrived I was still in a funk and on the verge of tears but I didn’t want to disrupt the excitement of the reunion by sharing my struggles; so I kept pretty quiet. For those of you who know me that is not me! I am the life of the party and I love relationship! I love my friends and enjoy every opportunity I have to be with them.
But I was overwhelmed and hurting and I couldn’t put on a mask because that is not who I am and so I blended into the scenery and kept to myself for most of the reunion. As I was getting ready to leave a friend who had graduated in 1981 approached me and asked if he could talk to me. He said that he read on Face Book that we were looking at moving to St. Louis and he wanted to know what we planned to do there. I am so grateful that I made the decision to share because unbeknownst to me at the time; this was the one event that opened the first door to us getting to St. Louis. The passion for God’s calling returned! And the vision for helping people in St. Louis who struggle with life transitions and who need to know the life transforming power of Jesus Christ enveloped me as I shared the vision God had given us with him.
He said he really felt that he wanted to be a part of it somehow. He owns a trucking company. At first I was elated and then the memories of past offers to help, that fell through, flooded my mind and I told him I would really love that; but to please make sure it was what he was supposed to do before agreeing to do it, because I couldn’t take another let down right now. He said the company next to him was a moving company and the owner was a good friend and maybe together they could help us get there. And then the Spirit of God came over me and I felt His presence surrounding us and I heard Him say, “This is the beginning of the fulfillment of My promise. Do you trust me?” My knees buckled for a moment as I realized what was taking place!
To be continued on day 168......
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