Blessings Abound

Today is my big brother’s birthday!! 50!!!! Happy Birthday Marc!!! Many may not understand the celebration past the number.

Last year, February - February 15 to be exact - I received a call that he had a stroke. April of that same year, he endured quadruple bypass surgery. Are you understanding now?? The past year hasn’t been easy for him but he has survived!!! It hasn’t been easy for us, his family. But, we send praises to the highest that he is still among the living. He by Gods grace and mercy is still among us.

Many of us go through storms. We have heartaches and pains. We cry. We mope around in sadness or let’s be real, cuss out the mailman in frustration. These are our emotions. Our expressions of the heart for whatever may be taking place during a season. But, I hear the Lord say, Count it all joy.

2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2-4 MSG

The Word tells us what to do when these storms come. When attacks come. These aren’t meant to break us nor stop us. They are a work that we must do. A faith work. Tests and trials come to show you who you really are. Will you buckle under the weight and pressure or will you stand tall? Will you acknowledge that there may be something in you that the Potter (our Father) needs to get out of you?

“Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Isaiah‬ ‭64‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV

You can’t be a workmanship by His hand and not expect Him to remove the lumps and air bubbles that He did not design to be within you. Did He design you to fear? No, He did not. Adam and Eve weren’t afraid of the presence of the Lord until they had an exchange with the serpent. They hid from Him when they saw that they were naked (Genesis 3:10) after eating from the tree after the encounter with the serpent. A little one doesn’t know fear until it’s introduced. Love God, follow God, believe God, trust God with the purity and the innocence of a child (Matthew 18). Stop allowing fear to stop you from doing what thus says the Lord. And, stop listening to others!! If God didn’t tell you, then why are you believing them? If God didn’t tell you to give up all you have and join a Tibetan temple, why do it? (Note: I have nothing against the Tibetan temples, this is just an example.). Do what God says not man. Trust what God says, not man. Believe what God says, not man.

In this day and age, God still sits on the throne. He still is in control. Yes, even now with all the governmental changes. With all the ups and downs in the economy. With everything that is happening in this world, He still knows and sees everything. The difference is not Him, it’s us. Whose report will you believe? Will you succumb to the news reports and give up or will you trust God? This choice is yours!

Be A Blessing And Not Just Blessed

Nakya