Green Pastures, Part I

If we are not careful, it is very easy to get wrapped up in the worries and stresses of life. Anxiety and depression are at an all-time high. Our society thrives on the mindset of squeezing as many activities as possible into every single day to make life “better.” Got to have the kids in every activity and then some to keep them busy. All it ends up doing, however, is stressing them out, stressing you and your family out and prevents you from forming meaningful relationships with neighbors and friends. There is great cost to running the “rat race” day in and day out, one of which is disconnect to others in our society.

Go back 30 years or so to when I was growing up, and we were home almost every night, together. However, we worked very, very hard doing chores inside and out. At the crack of dawn on Saturdays, we were pulled out of bed to start working again. Activities outside the home were somewhat limited, but we would on occasion visit with neighbors and our extended family, most of whom lived within 15 minutes of our house. The world did not revolve around dance classes, gymnastics, sports and the like. Work, work, work was the mantra of our day.

The most important thing to remember in every area of life is moderation. Although activities can teach some important skills as can working hard to help the family out, these too need to be done in moderation. Rest was God’s idea. He even rested on the seventh day from creating the entire universe and everything in it! If He did it, then we should too!

Growing up in that kind of environment made it nearly impossible for me to learn how to rest, and have fun with my friends and family. Especially when I became a single mom, where there was always too much to do and not enough time. Rest? Lay down? Chill in the pool with the kids? Who had time for that?

In 2012, after 42 years of living ragged like this, my body could not handle it anymore. I had the left side of my body go limp and I started to get a lot of numbness and tingling in my arms and legs. When I called the doctor, her office told me it sounded like I may have had a mini stroke. Testing came out negative for that, but that was the beginning of a wakeup call. Then, the Lord told me very specifically in 2013 that it’s “okay to rest. You need to rest your body and rest in me.” Talk about a huge request from God! However, I knew that He was asking me to do this for a reason, so I asked Him to help me do this as it was nearly impossible for me to do this on my own, having grown up with “work, work, work” alone being ingrained into my very being. I learned a strong work ethic and our house looked spotless inside and out, but it also made it hard to do what even God Himself did on the seventh day, rest.

Psalm 23:1-2 speaks of rest. When our focus turns to Him daily in the midst of the busyness of life, we immediately feel rested and are at peace, no matter what is going on in our lives. Nothing else can bring the amazing peace and rest that only He brings. THE LORD “is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (vs 1) of anything! When we meditate on this, we are completely at rest, knowing that no matter what we are facing, we will not be in want, because HE is our shepherd. “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters…” (vs 2). What an ultimate picture of rest! Close your eyes and picture yourself lying in a green pasture. What do you see and feel? Green pastures are vivid with the colors of the flowers, the big, beautiful blue sky and thick green grass, soft, cool and comforting to the touch.

Notice that verse 2 does not say that “he hopes or wants that I lie down in green pastures (a picture of perfect rest).” It says that he “makes me lie down in green pastures.” Occasional rest is just what the ultimate “doctor” ordered. If we cannot do this on our own, sometimes God allows situations to come into our lives to reset our priorities and make us rest. In my case, my health took a turn for the worse and I am still battling health difficulties, but I have learned through this that it is ok to occasionally rest my body.

 Then he says that he “leads me (gently) beside quiet waters,” not “leads me hurriedly beside rushing waters.” Another perfect picture of rest with our precious Lord. When we learn to do this, it becomes our favorite, and most rewarding, part of the day! I would take one solid quiet hour with Him over a whole day doing anything else! Won’t you join me in spending at the very least one hour a day in His presence, resting in Him, talking with Him and meditating on His Word? J

Facing Your Demons

I grew up in a very abusive home, and along with that came a feeling of constant unrest in my home growing up. There was always a heavy cloud of fear, unrest and even a hint of a scary, or demonic, presence that seemed to lurk in the background. I was terrified of the dark and remember covering up my entire head at night just so I could get to sleep, only leaving my nose out to breathe. Every night, my heart pounded after I turned off the lights, as if I were expecting something to attack me after the lights went out. When I was about 12 years old, I remember having a dream that I was the victim in a satanic ritual. It was terrifying and woke me up out of a deep sleep.

Many nights I spent praying for God to protect me and help me not feel this intense fear that seemed to take over when the sun went down every night. I remember my mom would look in at me through the crack in the door after she had thought I fell asleep and stare at me for what seemed like a very long time. I always feared what she was thinking about. Was she angry at me about something? Was she waiting for just the right moment to come in and harm me? She never did anything, but I always kept one eye open and watched her back, so I could be ready if something did happen.

My faith was strong as a child and I loved going to church; I also had amazing Godly relatives who were a source of light and strength for me. I have no doubt that God had his protective hand on me throughout my childhood. Not only was there the physical, emotional and verbal abuse I had to endure day after day for 18 years, but also the feeling that something resembling the demonic was living in that home as well. However, the good news in situations like this is that we have a promise in the Word of God that says in I John 4:4, “You…are from God and have overcome…because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (NIV)

Rest in God, trusting Him and knowing that He will protect you in danger and help you overcome anything that happens to you. Not only that, He will use what others meant for bad and turn it into good. Of course, it took a long time to get through the effects of the abuse and it required that I forgive my parents so that I could move on and open myself up to let God restore me and rise about my abuse. I am an overcomer…how about you?

 

“Be Still And Know”

With all of the chaos going on in the world around us now, combined with the stress of being a single parent and responsibilities too numerous to count, it is far too easy to focus on the stress of life and get very discouraged and anxious. I learned early on as a single parent that one of the most important things I can do for myself and my family is to have a little quiet time to myself each day to relax and soak up God’s presence (in addition to my regular quiet time with Him). The same can be said for anybody.

When the stress, struggles and chaos seem to be squeezing the very breath out of me, I have to constantly remind myself to re-focus on the Lord and rest in Him. Even the worst stress, chaos and struggles in life all wrapped up into one are NO match for the peace, hope and joy that God brings! Rest is God’s idea, and a gift from Him, and should be utilized regularly to recharge our batteries. When we are still before the Lord, He brings us rest.

One time in particular, something had happened with one of my sons and it was something I had prayed very specifically that would never happen to either of my kids. I was at a loss for words and all I could do is drop to my knees and cry out to heaven. Why did this happen when I poured so much prayer into this, and it seems to have happened anyway? At that moment, I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) Immediately, I knew that despite how the circumstance looked at the moment, the Lord was telling me to be still and trust Him to take care of this, which He did, and everything was not as it seemed in the beginning.

People spend billions of dollars a year on things to take away stress, and though many of these things are wonderful and enjoyable, they are only temporary. Vacations end, Jacuzzi tubs fizzle out and get cold, massages are short-lived and a day at the spa can leave you with an empty pocketbook. However, the peace that comes from quietly resting in God’s presence takes away even the worst stress and lasts longer than anything else. Be still, and know that HE is God in all the mess! The best thing is, it’s free and available to all! J

Unemployed and Hopeless!

I had been at the company for only two years when the first round of layoffs hit. My job survived until the very end of this first round, when they finally had to lay me off too. The company was quickly losing business as the economy took a big turn for the worse, and a halt was put on the house building industry, which affected us directly.

After one week of being gone, I got a phone call from the ops manager asking me to come back in a different position that needed filling as someone had just quit, and they really wanted me to have first dibs at the job before they searched outside the company. It was a higher position than the one I left with, but the pay would be a lateral move from my old position. At that point, I did not care that the pay would be the same; this single mom just wanted and needed a job!

About six months later, more layoffs. Each department was cut in half and we were running on a skeleton crew. I survived the first three or four rounds of layoffs until my head was inevitably “placed on the chopping block” and I too was laid off (again). Soon afterwards, the company closed its doors.

Right after the first layoff, I started a training program to get certified in medical transcription. Now, I at least had this new skill that I could use to find a new job. I was not expecting it to take very long until I found another job, especially with all the different types of experience I had in different fields and now I had medical transcription certification on top of that. However, it took a LONG eight months before I would find another job after this final layoff.

God provided every need while I was unemployed (through unemployment, which was not much, and child support). We never went without a meal and all of my basic living expenses were paid out of the very meager checks I lived on during that time. I busted my chops five days a week trying to find another job to no avail. I went to job fairs, applied for every job I heard about by word of mouth, jobs listed in the paper and online and even dropped of resumes to clinics and hospitals to no avail. After six months, I got really burned out and felt completely hopeless as I tried so hard to do everything I could, but I still did not get any offers. So, even though God was providing our basic necessities, and I saw Him come through many times, I was still very discouraged.

At that six-month point, I realized that I was beginning to tie my value as a person to having a job. Society did a great job feeding into that feeling of hopelessness. I noticed for the first time that everyone asks what you do for a living (where you work) when they first meet you, and it really irritated and embarrassed me, especially when I was trying so hard to get a job to no avail.

One morning in particular during this time, I woke up crying and could not stop all morning. I had hit a low point. I was on my knees crying out to God to help us financially, to get me a job and to give me HOPE. I cried out, “God, if you could just show me HOPE that there’s a job out there for me, I could handle this better. All I’m asking for is HOPE right now…Something…ANYTHING!!!!” About 30 minutes after I prayed this, my doorbell rang. A single mom friend of mine whom I had not seen in months was on my doorstep. She hurriedly said, “I am on my lunch break and am almost late getting back to work so I have to go, but God kept telling me to drop this off to you…NOW.” She handed me a CD. I thanked her and put it in as soon as she left.

Would you believe that EVERY song on there with the exception of one or two of them, was about HOPE? Hope in God, hope in our circumstances and the hope we have for a good future because of God’s faithfulness. That was far too coincidental to be anything but a direct answer to my prayer for the hope I needed to find a new job! That CD gave me a new level of hope, energy and determination to go back out and hit the pavement even harder until I got my new job! Praise God that He gives us the hope we need as we need it! His grace is sufficient for me!

Anxiety-Buster!

A few years ago, I had a very scary experience that I had never had before this point nor have I had since then. I woke up in the middle of the night out of a deep sleep and a feeling of panic overtook me! There was really nothing going on at that particular time to explain or warrant it, and I had no major decisions I was afraid to make at that point either. I had not just had a bad dream either. It is still a mystery as to why this happened.

I sat up in bed all of the sudden and my heart was racing and I felt like the inside of my entire body was literally on fire, from head to toe. I threw the covers off, turned on the fan, and turned down the air conditioning to cool off the room but nothing worked! I did not feel hot to the touch, like I had a fever but it felt like I was on fire on the inside, like I was about to spontaneously combust or something. I don’t really believe in that phenomenon, but if it was real this must be what it felt like.

After a few minutes, I began to pray out loud for God to calm me down and take this “anxiety” or whatever it was away. After about ten minutes of intense prayer, nothing was changing. It was then that I grabbed my Bible on the night stand and began to read scripture out loud. I read every highlighted scripture I could find relating to fear, God’s protection, anxious thoughts, etc. Then I came to the 23^rd Psalm and began to read it. “…Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me…” The second time through, the feeling completely went away and my body cooled completely down back to normal.

Maybe I was just supposed to be reassured that He is there with me, no matter what unexpected, scary situation comes my way. Only God knows. All I need to do is simply trust Him.

 

Shattered Mosaic

A series of broken dreams, unfulfilled hopes, illnesses, hard work and empty pockets, abuse and rejection over the years left little more than a pile of shattered glass around me on the floor. Jagged edges, different colors, different sizes appear to be nothing more than something needing to be picked up and thrown into the trash heap. Is this all that 40 years has come to?

Because I have chosen to put God first in my life, the answer is no! My story did not end with nothing but broken glass, useless to anyone. God’s word says that He makes beauty from ashes. He also says that He will never leave us or forsake us. It may take many years for us to see God’s plan for our lives, and how He will make something good out of all the bad, as it did me…44 years, in fact! This really seems like a long time when it’s our life we are talking about, but to God 40 years is like a vapor.

Five years ago, I looked back over my life and was overwhelmed by God’s grace, provision, protection and strength over the years and how He brought me through so much up to that point. What I went through could have so easily destroyed me, yet it didn’t. As I thought about these things, a big smile erupted on my face and joy welled up inside of me. I was the most grateful person on earth at that point and decided right then that I had too many wonderful things to share. I had a new passion from that point on to share all of the amazing ways God intervened in my life and made me what I was today.

At that moment I thought, “I have so many amazing testimonies that I want everyone to know about!” The question was, how could I possibly achieve this? The Lord whispered to my spirit the words, “You could write them all down,” and at moment my book “Struck Down, But Not Destroyed” was born. I then began to speak to small church groups, ladies conferences, Celebrate Recovery groups and Teen Challenge. I knew that because of all I had been through, it was only by the grace of God that I had not ended up with an addiction problem and spiral downward to the point of no return. Since then, I have had a passion to speak to various groups as God has led me to inspire them to rise above their circumstances and trust God to help them through their fears, hurts and disappointments.

I am forever thankful that God has taken all of these broken pieces of glass called my life and created a beautiful piece of art, a mosaic, out of them! To God be the glory!

Rejoicing in Trouble

Do you find it hard to rejoice and be thankful when you are going through major troubles? I sure do! That is still something I am learning gradually. It takes time to develop this “attitude of gratitude” in the middle of a crisis. How I long to be like Job, who, even though he lost his children, house, health and means of survival (livestock), he was STILL able to say, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Wow.

All I know is that when I have been thankful and able to praise the Lord even when going through a hard time, something powerful happens. An overwhelming peace sweeps over you and you almost feel as if you are lifted up over your troubles, or at least your perspective changes and you have a deep feeling that everything is going work out in the end. God has blessed me with amazing peace in the middle of some very difficult, chaotic times when I have been determined to push past all of the hurt, fear and feeling of little hope (in that situation) and praise him anyway. This is something very difficult to do on our own, however.

While things are going well, we need to continuously pray that when those times come that God will give us the determination and ability to push past all of the mess and praise him anyway (and remain thankful for all we do have). Once you try that, I guarantee the results will make it easier to do with the next difficulty or crisis you face until it gradually becomes something you do without even having to think about it.

It doesn’t have to be a long, fancy, drawn out prayer to be effective. All it takes is genuinely being able to say (or sing) from the bottom of your heart, “I love you Lord, and I am going to praise you through this! Thank you for everything you are going to do in this situation. Blessed be your name; you are worthy to be praised!” It will probably take everything within you to muster up the courage to do this, but the results are well worth the effort!

There are many promises to us in the Bible…promises that God will never leave us or forsake us, He will take care of our needs, He cares for us, He will give us strength, He will heal us and on and on and on. I challenge you to write out a few of these encouraging promises and post them up when going through a particularly difficult time that you can meditate on and claim during those times. Use scriptures that describe where you want to be and who you want to be through those times and determine that you are going to take the steps necessary to live that scripture out in spite of the mess you are facing.

One of the particular passages I used when I was going through the most difficult year of my life was Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV), “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the Olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Obviously you would apply this to your current situation).

As I said, this is something I am still learning. I have been through far more than my fair share of very, very difficult times. Sometimes, life is very tiring from going through all of these things all the time. However, I live day by day and week by week, trusting God to give me the strength I need to face the next difficulty, and He always does! Usually in my case, it’s more like “hold on for dear life and ask God to give me the strength to survive through the trial intact and help me learn what God is teaching me in the process.” However, I am asking for God to refine this in me so that I can say with full confidence and certainty every single time, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Forgive who???!!!!

It is only a matter of time before a friend, family member or even a spouse lets us down. Most things are easy to forgive and move past; an unkind word, a forgotten date on the calendar or a wrong look. However, other things are much harder to forgive, especially when it cuts deep or it was abusive in nature. Sometimes, those things can take months, if not years, to forgive. However, we are told in Scripture to forgive. Why?

There is more than one answer to that question. For one thing, we are all sinners and need forgiveness from God. Matthew 6:14-15 states, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (NIV) Ouch! I know that I am not perfect and need God’s forgiveness; how about you?                   

 

Another reason to forgive is that forgiving others sets us free! We are no longer in bondage to the anger, hurt and bitterness that the thought or sight of that person brings along with it. One way you can tell if you have truly forgiven someone is that the thought or sight of them no longer causes your skin to crawl or your anger to rise up. You have peace about the situation. You may never forget what happened, but the intense emotions no longer pull you down anymore. Believe me, I have been there, and it takes a lot more energy to be upset or hurt with someone than it does to feel at peace about the situation and person.

 When I was in a bad marriage, I had a really hard time dealing with the fact that as soon as I forgave my husband for something he did, he turned right around and did something else just as hurtful or painful! It was like a vicious cycle and at one point, I even wanted him to hurt as badly as I did because of his unfaithfulness, abuse and addiction issues. When God told me specifically that I needed to forgive my husband I thought that surely God had not seen everything my husband had put me through and He was mistaken! I was afraid that if I forgave my husband that he would be getting away with all the bad things he did and said to me.

It was a big step for me, but I was finally able to forgive my husband for everything and to this day, although we are no longer married, we maintain a decent relationship. The minute I did that, trusting that God would deal with the situation appropriately, I felt a huge burden lift off my shoulders. I was finally free from a burden I was not meant to carry!

The problem with not forgiving someone is that it will eventually destroy you, as they go on merrily with their lives without a second thought. I have seen people who are still bitter 20 years after somebody “did them wrong” and they are still very unpleasant people to be around to this day.

One thing that really helped me forgive my husband in particular, besides asking for God’s help, was that God had revealed to me that forgiveness is like an onion; it has layers you need to peel off. In my particular situation, I had to go through and verbalize all the little things I was still holding onto, forgiving my husband for each one, until I got to the core of the “onion.” As I began to “peel these layers” off, I found it getting a little easier with each layer to forgive my husband and move past these things that were hurting me. The best part was, with each layer gone, I felt a little freer and lighter!

Regardless of whether or not someone deserves our forgiveness, it is the best thing we can do for ourselves. In order to gain courage enough to do so, you may even have to think to yourself, “I will forgive you…because it will set ME free.” Watch amazing things happen when you choose to forgive! Trust me, it works! J

Ideas taken from Chapter 5, Lessons in Forgiveness
"Struck Down, But Not Destroyed"  www.storenvy.com/products/8041482-struck-down-but-not-destroyed-book

 

By His Stripes...I am healed.

Because of what Christ did for me on the cross, I am healed! Not only from my sin and from death (which now has no power over me as a Child of God) but in every other way as well.

I received a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (after having several neurological problems that progressed over a two-year period) the week of my birthday a little over a year ago and that is where the biggest battle of my life started (late 2012-late 2013). I was also found to have several moderate to severe spinal problems that caused significant pain and other problems (weakness, etc.) and my asthma, which had been controlled by medication previously, had gotten worse to the point where I was put on an inhaler full-time (twice every day) because the medication no longer controlled it.

There was a two or three-month period of time where I was progressively losing strength in my legs. I had to pull myself up out of a chair by holding onto something, such as a car door or desk. If there was nothing to pull myself up out of a chair, I had to push myself up using my arm strength alone to push myself up off the chair. My legs were getting very weak to where I could no longer stand up from a seated position on my own like I normally did. I also had a harder time walking any kind of distance because it felt like my legs could give out at any time. I was afraid I was going to wake up one morning and fall to the floor, unable to get up (because of leg weakness). One time I did fall outside of the post office and I could not get up because of my leg weakness. I was thankful for the two guys outside the post office who ran to me and helped me up, because I certainly could not get up myself.

Because this was very concerning to me, I asked my pastor to anoint me with oil and pray over me for MS. He did that, and the very next day, the progressing weakness in both of my legs was completely gone!!! PRAISE GOD...for by HIS stripes I was healed! (Although I continue to be followed by my PCP for MS, which is not yet completely healed).

In October 2012, we had a special healing service at church and I was declaring that date ahead of time that God would heal the severe stiffness and pain in my entire spine that had started during that summer and progressed quickly, making getting comfortable or sleeping almost impossible. The pain was excruciating much of the time and it felt as if my spine had fused together, like the spaces in between my vertebrae were gone and my spine grew as one solid stick. Flexing and bending was getting almost impossible at that point. However, I had faith that God would heal this problem and that very same night as I slept...He did! I woke up in the middle of the night and the stiffness was 100% GONE and the pain was drastically reduced! PRAISE GOD...for by HIS stripes I was healed!

In early 2014, we had another special prayer time at church for healing. I was again anointed before praying with my Sunday school teacher and his wife, who had also had asthma for about 20 years. It brought me comfort to know that she understood at least the asthma part because she had been there! Again, I had faith that God was going to heal something that night, whether it be the asthma, the MS or the remaining spinal problems I continue with. I did not know whether God was going to heal one, two or all three of the major physical issues I have but I knew that God was going to blow my socks off again! That night, I did not use my inhaler and went to bed. Before this time, had I even missed a single dose, my wheezing got significantly worse and my cough started up again (a three-year chronic cough). I woke up the next morning and my wheezing was completely gone! It felt as if my lungs had opened up like they have never been before (I always had exercise-induced asthma before it turned chronic three years previous to this healing)!! I have not used my inhaler a single time since that day and it has been almost four months!! PRAISE GOD...for by HIS stripes I was healed!

I am walking in faith that God will continue the physical healings in my life! I believe that God finishes what He starts and boy, has He started the healing! Some days are still hard physically and I cannot do some of the things I used to do, but I am extremely thankful for all that God has already healed in my body!

I never know what to expect physically the next day or week due to the MS and remaining spinal problems, and I take one day at a time, trusting God to give me strength and grace to make it through the hard days. On the good days, I praise Him all the more and enjoy those days to the fullest! ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD....GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME.

May that encourage you to do the same! Thank God every single day that you are healthy and whole and do not take anything, even being able to walk unassisted, for granted. Since my leg strength was healed, I regularly thank God that I can walk without any help because I know that had He not intervened, I may not be at this point, and I am beyond grateful! I cannot say it enough: TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!!


To order my new book, "Struck Down, But Not Destroyed" please click on the following link:  www.storenvy.com/products/8041482-struck-down-but-not-destroyed-book

In The Deepest Valley, Do Not Fear

           Have you ever felt like you have gone ten rounds in a boxing match, like Rocky Balboa? Not literally, but figuratively. By that, I mean going through a battle (valley) so intense that it drained everything from within you and all you felt was bloody, bruised, broken and hardly able to stand up anymore. I was at that point throughout all of 2013.

I faced things that I had never faced before in my entire life and to be honest, there were times I was very scared! Although God was gracious and kind enough to prepare me for an entire year beforehand, it was still the most difficult year of my life. I literally would never have made it through the entire year of 2013 without His preparation. I wrote everything down that the Lord had spoken to me during 2012 in preparation for the upcoming battle, so that I would remember everything and be able to refer to my notes when the time came. Although I already knew these things, God reminded me beforehand that my hope is in Him (alone), to praise Him in the midst of the storms, not to fear the unknown, that He still heals today, that it is okay to rest and that He will never let go, even when I find it hard to hang on.

When I faced a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis as well as several moderate to severe spinal problems in 2013 (which cause a lot of pain some days), along with a short period of depression and some big financial challenges among many other things, I had my weapons ready, so to speak. God never promises us that we will have it easy, but He does promise to be with us and He will prepare us for the battles in our lives. Not only that, He will fight with us and for us! For these reasons, we have hope that everything will turn out right when all is said and done.

Our job through these storms and valleys is to trust God, praise Him and believe and claim that He is there for us and with us! He will take care of the details and He will make something good out of everything bad that happens in our lives when we love and trust Him.

There were two times when I was at the brink of giving up in 2013. Along with physical, emotional and financial battles, I was facing the fiercest spiritual battles of my life. We all know that when we are already down that Satan takes every opportunity to finish the job by trying to get us to believe that things are too hard and that things will never get better. It is easy to forget in the midst of our lowest times that we have the victory because the Lord is on our side! I recalled this verse several times during 2013: “You …are from God and have overcome…because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (I John 4:4)

PRAISE GOD that He is with us, even “through the valley of the shadow of death.” I am very thankful that God is stronger than any battle, illness or loss that I face! And, because we (His children) have the victory and He is in control of everything that happens in our lives (and turns what was meant to harm us into something good), we do not have to fear anything that comes against us! As the matter of fact, the Bible says the words, “Fear not” or “Do not fear” 365 times, one for every day of the year!

            Take heart and be encouraged that God is for you, He is your strength in weakness and with God’s help, there is nothing you cannot overcome!

Excerpts taken from Chapters 12 & 13, “Struck Down, But Not Destroyed.” 



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