“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
    In Romans 15:13, Jehovah God is described as the God of hope. One definition of the word hope is - a person or thing that may help or save someone. This definition so aptly describes the God who is able to deliver us from impossible situations. Psalm 46:1 also describes Him as an ever-present help in trouble. 
    In Acts 27 we read the account of Paul’s journey by ship to Rome, Italy. He is on his way there to stand trial before Caesar for his belief in Christ. Along the way, a storm arises. The crewmen find themselves having to take various life-saving measures to save both the ship and the people on board. The storm becomes so fierce that they finally give up any hope of being saved (v.20). After going for a long time without food, Paul stands before them and encourages them. He shares with them that the night before, an angel of God had appeared to him and told him that he would indeed stand before Caesar and that all those in the ship with him would be saved (vv. 23-24). He then told them to take courage because he had faith in his God and believed that what God had told him would come to pass (v.25).
    Paul’s hope was in his God. He believed that God would deliver them all no matter how bad things looked. Life will at times throw us into negative situations - the kind of challenges where you can see no way out and your back is against a wall. That was how the people on Paul’s boat must have felt. They saw no way out of that storm except death, and they lost all hope of being saved. But it was at that point that God showed up and gave them hope when they felt all hope was lost. 
    God may not always show up at the beginning when things are fairly bearable. Many times, He may choose to show up when we are at the end of our rope and we have just about given up. Let’s be real. If we can solve the problem ourselves then we would not need God. It may seem as if He is always late but He knows exactly when to show up and even though we may feel like it’s over, when He steps onto the scene it’s not over at all.
    Unfortunately, the boat was shipwrecked but all 276 people on board were saved - just as God had promised (v.22). The thing with God is this: when He gives us His Word, we can be assured that He will bring it to pass. Numbers 23:19 says: “God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should repent. Has He said and will He not do or has He spoken and will He not make it good? God is a God of His Word. He always keeps His promises to us. This is what affirms Him as the God of hope, a God in whom we can trust and expect to help us when we need it.        
​   So, no matter what you are already facing at the start of this new year or what you may face as the year progresses, God is still the God of hope and He does not and will not change. He is the God we can rely on when all hope is gone and we feel like giving up. I encourage you, don’t give up on God because He will not give up on you.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God desires to deliver us, help us, save us. He will always be there and choose to be our help when we need it. He doesn’t go back on His Word and it is in this reality that we can have hope. Be encouraged!
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    What if the hope in your heart is bigger than the negativity surrounding you? Have there been times when the situation you were facing was so challenging that even family and friends encouraged you to give up? Not because they didn’t want a breakthrough for you but because they just couldn’t see your deliverance.
    Maybe it wasn’t family and friends, but the situation itself was so negative, so hopeless, so discouraging that you made the decision to give up. You know what God’s Word says and God may have even spoken a Word to you but that giant just seemed too big for you to handle. Maybe so much time had elapsed that you made the decision to give up, believing that maybe God wasn’t going to do it after all.
    Whatever your situation, the reality is that God did not create this life without including hope. Even from the very beginning when Adam and Eve sinned, God had already made provision for man’s redemption: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis  3:15) 
    There are many stories in the Bible about hope. In fact, when you think about it, the Bible is God’s gift to man, reminding us that we have hope in Him to face whatever comes our way. One of the many stories that come to mind is the story in the New Testament about the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48). She had suffered with a blood issue for twelve long years. She had used up all of her financial resources trying to get help from various doctors but at the end of it, she still could not be healed. 
    It can be a difficult thing when you use up all of your resources trying to help yourself but nothing works. It’s discouraging when no one or nothing you turn to seem to have the answers you need. I imagine this is how that woman felt  -  discouraged. Every time hope glimmered through a doctor or medication she was told could help her, it was devastating, I am sure, when nothing worked. To see her finances dry up must have been the last straw. 
    Let’s face it, when you have the money or the material resources to help yourself, you feel encouraged. But when things don’t work out and all your resources are used up, that can be devastating. It can be difficult at that point to hold on to hope, especially when your hope lay in what you had in your hand. But when your hands are empty and options are non-existent, what do you do?
    It was at this point, that Jesus entered the picture. When the woman thought she had no hope left, stories she may have heard about Jesus’ miraculous healings caught her attention. That glimmer of hope rose up in her again. But it wasn’t just a glimmer. This woman was an outcast, considered ceremonially unclean according to Jewish custom, because of her bleeding issue. But when she heard about Jesus, I imagine that that hope became way bigger than just a glimmer. Somehow she expected that her answer had finally come.
    At that point, her hope in Jesus was bigger than her sickness, than her depleted finances, than her rejection, than the consequences of breaking Jewish custom. And she was not disappointed! Before, her hands were filled with what she could do to help herself but these had failed her. Now, when she touched the very edge of His garment, her hands - and entire body - became filled with all she needed from the One who could do the impossible!
    When our hope in our God is bigger than what we are going through, bigger than the opinions of others, bigger than the reality of our situation, like that woman, it gives us the motivation to push past everything to reach the One who has the answer we need. In Christ, you are never without hope, no matter how big your giant may be. 
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God is the God of hope and when we put our trust in Him, He will not fail us!

    One common thing that many of us do at the start of the year, is to make resolutions. For many, the new year is the opportunity for a do-over, to do better than we did the year before, to create and accomplish goals so that we can live a happy and healthy life. I don’t need to remind us of what actually happens to many of our well-intentioned goals as the year progresses. We may start off enthusiastic and focused but as the days turn into weeks and the weeks into months, we are not as focused and as determined as when the year began. 
    At the end of the day, what drives us at the beginning of the year is hope - the hope that we can do those things that would make our lives better and help us feel more accomplished. The Bible is filled with stories of hope. In fact, the whole story of salvation and redemption is one of hope. In Romans 15:13 we read, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” First and foremost, the verse begins by reminding us that God is the God of hope. It is in Him that we find our hope.
    I remember a few years ago after becoming ill, when I felt hopeless and wanted to give up. God reminded me that when I have no hope, He is my hope. I did not need to look for hope within myself. God is my hope and would give me the courage and strength I needed to go on. That popular verse, Jeremiah 29:11 says: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God is the God of hope. When everything around us - or in us - seems to be falling apart, God is the only One to give us the hope we need to keep going, to keep fighting, to keep living. 
    Have you ever reached the point where you are discouraged, you may even want to give up, but you can’t help but acknowledge that God and God alone would get you through this? There are times when we can run to friends, family or some other form of support. But there may also be times when you know that you know that not even these can help. It’s going to have to be God and God alone to do it. 
    There are a number of stories in the Bible of people who were in impossible situations but trusted God to bring them through. Abraham was given a promise by God that he would be the father of many nations. Yet, his wife was barren and they were both well-advanced in age. Yet, in Romans 4:18 it states: “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" Abraham did not look at the reality of his circumstances but at the ability of his God to fulfil His own promise to him. His hope was in his God not in himself or his wife.
    In Romans 15:13 the hope is that, this same God of hope might “fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” When you put your hope, your trust in God, you can actually experience joy and peace in the midst of negative situations because you know that God’s got you and His grace will sustain you. Have you ever experienced that kind of joy and peace in the midst of a challenge? It’s simply because your hope is in God, the One that you know can do the impossible. Your confidence is rooted in the reality that your God will take care of you and He will see you through. Hope is not based on what you can see or feel but on who God is and His consistently successful track record for sustaining and seeing His people through difficult situations.
    So, I encourage us today to put our trust in the God of hope, the God who will hold us up when we can’t even hold ourselves up. Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” That’s God’s promise to us, to sustain and keep us as we navigate life’s challenges. He knows we can’t do it on our own so He has given us the assurance of His presence and His help. This is where our hope lies, in the God who has promised to be there for us when we need it.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God knows that this life can be challenging. He desires to be that hope that anchors us and helps us to make it through whatever comes our way. Just trust Him!
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    For this last month of the year 2025, I chose to write about being thankful. After all, it’s the month during which we commemorate and celebrate the birth of our King, Jesus Christ, who came to give us the gift of salvation and eternal life. But it’s also the last month of the year and after all that we have been through during the year, I believe it’s fitting to choose to end the year and start the new one on a note of thanksgiving. 
    We have all had our challenges to face. For some there may have been times when you wondered whether or not you would make it to the end of the year. But we can all agree that God has been and is faithful. He continues to be good no matter what has come our way. I chose to maintain as much as possible writing in my thanksgiving journal. It’s just my way of dealing with the temptation to be negative. It can be so easy to see and focus on the negative things that come our way but sometimes shifting to an attitude of thanksgiving can change our entire perspective and we can feel lighter and more encouraged.
    I can choose to share a testimony as I have done many times over several months but I am choosing to end the year with another story from the bible. This one is the story of the ten lepers. In Luke 17:11-19 we read the story of Jesus healing ten lepers. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and as he entered a village, ten men with leprosy met Him. From a distance they called out to Him asking Him to have pity on them. When He saw them He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. Along the way they became cleansed. One of the ten, when he realised that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus asked why only the foreigner had returned to give praise to God. He then told the Samaritan to get up, his faith had made him well.
    I love the reality that Jesus chose to heal all ten lepers. Samaritans and Jews were not particularly close. In fact, the Samaritans were like outcasts to the Jews and rejected by them. The story does not tell us whether all the lepers were Samaritans. It only highlights the fact that this one leper who returned was not a Jew. That being the case, I love the fact that Jesus never once separated the lepers and decided to heal only the Jews. He healed all ten in spite of their varying nationalities. Jesus chose to show love and kindness to all. This is something we should be thankful for because God is not partial, He is not prejudiced. He chose to send His Son to this earth to save all, in spite of our differences. 
    It’s also interesting that He chose to not only publicly highlight the fact that one person returned to give thanks but that this person was a foreigner. Jesus chose to lead by example. He needed to break the prejudices of the day and show the importance of loving everyone - no matter how different they might be. We too can be thankful that Jesus consistently chooses to hear and respond to our cries for help no matter who we are, our ethnic background or our social status in life. I believe God created our differences because He is a God of variety and He knows how to bring beauty out of our differences. 
     I also love the fact that initially, the Samaritan along with the other nine lepers remained at a distance as they cried out to Jesus for help. But, when he realised he was healed there were no more boundaries. He literally threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. I think it’s pertinent that it was the Samaritan who responded in this way. He had two barriers to break through - his nationality and his sickness. In one instance he was considered a social outcast but in the other, he was considered ceremonially unclean. He had two strikes against him! And maybe he was doubly thankful because the King of kings had given him the power to break through both!
    At times we too may feel hopeless, we may feel as if there is too much for Jesus to break through yet, God is still able to break through any barrier and any number of barriers to bring us the healing and restoration we need. We can never have too many negatives in our lives, we can never be faced with too many barriers. God is able to break through them all!     
    I don’t know what or how many challenges you have had to face for the past year and I don’t know what lies ahead in the coming year, but I do know this - the God of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, is still the God of the impossible. He can accomplish all things and anything that is too difficult for us. If God could bring us through this year, He can certainly take us through the years to come. Nothing is too hard for Him. So, be thankful!
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. There is so much that we can be thankful to God for and we should take every opportunity to give Him thanks. He has not failed us before and He never will. 
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    For the past few weeks I have felt led to write posts on being thankful. It can be so easy to be distracted and discouraged by all the negative things happening around us. Yet, it’s important to take the time as often as possible to just be thankful to God for all that He has done and is doing. And believe me, when you begin to thank Him, you will realise how much there is to be thankful for. 
    During one of my devotions this week, I became overwhelmed as I pondered on God’s goodness and His love for me. I thought of the reality that He chooses to love us first even though we may not reciprocate those feelings. Each day He chooses to give me life whether or not I ask Him to do so. It’s not about my goodness, because I certainly have my faults, but it’s His choice because He loves me and He has a plan and purpose for me. I thought of the fact that He gave His best - His Son. He sacrificed His best for me even though I did not deserve it. In fact, I wasn’t even born, I wasn’t even on this earth but He made a choice to give His Son so that I could have the gift of eternal life … long before I even made it to this earth!
    There is a song that comes to mind, “I’m Forever Grateful.” The lyrics speak of gratitude to God for what He has done for us. The verse says:
    You did not wait for me to draw near to You
    But You clothed Yourself in frail humanity
    You did not wait for me to cry out to You
    But You let me hear Your voice calling me
I am reminded here of the story of Jesus’ birth and the reason why He came to this earth as He did. God did not wait for us to cry out to Him or to ask for His help. He knew we needed Him and He made provision for our salvation. He did not sacrifice just any thing, but He chose to let His Son, His best, be the sacrifice. In that way, once we accept Him, we would not have to face the consequences of our sin which is death and hell. 
    It is nice to serve a God who answers before we even call, who reaches out to help us when we need it. It is also nice to serve a God who would give us His best even though He knew that everyone would not receive His gift of salvation. How many of us would sacrifice something for nothing? Many of us would not. We generally would make a sacrifice hoping to get something in return. Not God. He sacrificed freely knowing that some would accept His gift and that some would not. And yet to Him, it’s not a waste because He chose to love us first - before we ever reached out to Him, before we ever enquired about Him, before we even made a choice to receive what He has freely given.
    We should then choose to overflow with gratitude to our God because He has gone above and beyond just for us. Everyday He chooses to love us, be there for us, help us when we need Him. Yes, He would love everyone to accept His free gift of salvation but His love for His creation does not just dry up just because some reject Him. Our attitude and actions, wrong as they may be many times, does not and cannot change who God is. He loves when it makes no sense and even though we don’t deserve it. He chooses to wake us up each day and to give us life - not because of our goodness or perfection, but because of His love for us and His plan and purpose for our life.
    God is good all the time and all the time God is good. We love to say those words but I wonder if we really understand the depth of them. God is good whether or not things in our life are going the way we would like. God is good whether or not we are good in return. God is love and He doesn’t stop loving just because we don’t love Him in return. God is God and that is not dependent on who we are or what we do but on who God is.
    So, this Christmas season, take the time to tell God thank you. You know what He has done and is doing for you. You know that you would not be alive if it were not for Him. You know that in spite of what you may be facing, you are where you are and you are making it because of Him. So, be thankful!
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God is good and continues to be good no matter what. When you take the time to count your blessings instead of focusing on the negatives, your heart will overflow with gratitude as you realise that God’s got you and that you are safe in Him.
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    In 1 Samuel chapter 1, we are introduced to Hannah. She was one of two wives of her husband, Elkanah. The other wife, Peninnah, had children but Hannah had none. Each year they would go to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord. While there, Peninnah would torment her because she was barren. She was so grieved that she would cry and refuse to eat. On one occasion, she prayed to God in her heart. She promised God that if He gave her a son, she would give him back to the Lord all the days of his life and she would never cut his hair. Eli, the priest was nearby and saw her lips moving but no sound was coming out. He, therefore surmised that she was drunk and rebuked her. But when she explained herself to him, he prayed that God would grant her petition.
    In the course of time, Hannah became pregnant and called her son Samuel. After she had weaned him, she fulfilled her promise to God. She took him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh, along with a sacrifice and left him there. Hannah offered thanksgiving to God for what He had done for her. In the process of time, the Lord blessed Hannah with five more children - three sons and two daughters (Chapter 2).
    What is interesting to me is Hannah’s willingness to give back to God what He had given to her. Yes, she was desperate for a child and you would think that she would want to keep what God had given her. Yet, she was willing to give him up. She chose to honour her vow to the Lord even if it meant releasing the very thing she had asked for. 
    This act in itself was one of thanksgiving. She appreciated the faithfulness of the Giver to honour her request. Yet, the Giver was more important to her than what He had actually given. I guess it was more important for her to show thanks and appreciation to her God. And the best way to show her gratitude was to give the very thing she had asked for. In this way, she was telling God that He was more important than the thing she desired. 
    Hannah gave a sacrifice and it was meant to show her gratitude to the God who had done the impossible for her. He did not just give her a child, but He took away the shame she felt because of her barrenness. She had received a lot more from God than her mere request and she understood this. Hence her willingness and choice to honour the vow she had made to Him. 
    It helps when we understand that when God answers our prayers, that God is doing so much more than just answering a prayer request. Besides giving us what we ask for, He may be adding peace, joy, breaking bondages that need to be broken off of our lives. He may even be bringing us to a place of restoration and wholeness. God had done so much more for Hannah than just give her a son. He had taken away her shame and brought an end to the torment from her husband’s other wife. He had rescued her in more ways than one. And because of the sacrifice she made, she was blessed with not one but five more children. God blessed her above and beyond what she had asked for. She was willing to be content and grateful for one child. But when she gave that child back to God and with a heart of gratitude, God gave her even more than what she had given.
    Choose to be thankful for what God has done for you. When God answers, He may be doing even more than what you asked for. And there is nothing that you can give to God that will ever be more than what He will actually give to you. God is not afraid to give us His best. Don’t be afraid to give your best to Him.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. We are not serving a selfish God who will barely give us what we need. God desires to bless us abundantly, far beyond what we can imagine or hope. So, be thankful because God will never fail you.

    In the book of John 6:1-14, we read the story of Jesus feeding a large multitude. A large crowd had followed Him because of the signs they witnessed Him doing for those who were sick. He realised that they were hungry but instead of turning them away to find their own food, He prompted His disciples to find food for them. A young boy offered his lunch - five loaves and two small fish. That was way less than what they needed. They needed so much more than that to be able to adequately feed this large crowd. 
    Yet, Jesus instructed the disciples to seat the people in groups. He then took the food, gave thanks for it and gave it to the disciples to distribute to the people. By the time the people ate and were satisfied, the leftovers they collected, amounted to twelve baskets.
    What of course stands out for me, is the tiny amount of food available in comparison to the large crowd that needed to be fed. When the disciples were initially presented with the problem, they suggested sending the people away to the town to buy food to eat (Matthew 14:15). In John’s account, when Jesus suggested that they feed the people, Phillip pointed out that they did not have enough money to do so (John 6:7). 
    When they finally took note of what they did have, it still was not enough, yet, Jesus’ immediate response was to ensure the people were comfortably seated and He took the food and gave thanks for it. This is the part I want to focus on - He gave thanks for it (John 6:11a). Jesus knew exactly what was in His hand. He knew that it was not enough yet, He chose to give thanks for it. 
    By Jesus’ own example, we see the importance of being thankful not only when things are the way we want them to be but even when they are not. I recall the story of Elijah the prophet announcing to king Ahab that rain was coming after some years of drought (1 Kings 18:41-45). His exact words were: “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain” (v. 41). He was encouraging king Ahab to rejoice because the drought was about to end! When his servant finally saw signs of rain, it was a tiny, insignificant cloud the size of a man’s hand. Elijah did not wait for the weather to become stormy but instead encouraged king Ahab to leave before the rains came. 
    I am thinking here of Elijah’s confidence in his God and his expectation that God would indeed send the rain that would end the drought. His actions and attitude were ones of expectation. We too should have an attitude of expectation and thanksgiving even when God doesn’t seem to quite answer the way we would like. Sometimes we are waiting for things to be perfect, to look exactly the way we pictured it in our mind. But God may not always choose to answer the way we desire. 
    Jesus Himself shows us that we need to be thankful for what little we have, expecting that God has the power to use it to give us the answer we need. I am learning more and more that our logic and God’s logic are usually two different things. Sometimes God just wants us to be thankful. Period. Not complaining and negative because the solution doesn’t look like the solution we hoped for. Instead, it’s about trusting His sovereignty, His ability to get the job done … His way.
    So, when we choose to be thankful even when things don’t quite look the way we want them to, what we are saying is: “God I trust You. I don’t trust what’s in my hand or how things look, but I trust that You are able to take even this and provide the solution I need; provide the healing I need; provide the deliverance I need; provide the restoration I need. God I am thankful because I choose to focus on Y.O.U.”
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. With God in your life, there will always be something to be thankful for, no matter how bad things may look at times. God is All-Powerful, Almighty, well able to solve any problem that comes your way. It’s still all about Him!
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    On June 24th 1982, at 37,000 feet, British Airways flight 9, carrying 263 passengers, lost all four engines. The Boeing 747 plane was flying peacefully through the night, above the Indian Ocean, when first engine four, then engines two, one and three failed. With all four engines dead, the plane quickly began losing altitude. Amidst all the chaos and fear, the captain’s calm voice came over the intercom. He told them that they had a small problem, that the engines had stopped and that they were doing their best to get them started again. He ended with the words: “I trust you are not in too much distress.” 
    Even as he tried to calm the passengers, inside the cockpit, chaos reigned. The Senior First Officer’s oxygen mask had broken and he was gasping for breath in the thin air. The Captain chose to descend to allow him the air he needed to breathe. The Flight Engineer frantically tried restarting the engines while the First Officer communicated with Jakarta. They made fifteen attempts to restart the engines as the plane descended rapidly to 13,000 feet. Suddenly engine four restarted, then engines three, one and two. All four engines had been dead for 13 minutes and, at 13,000 feet, miraculously restarted.
    Unfortunately they were still not safe. Whatever had caused the engines to fail had also damaged the windscreen making it opaque. They could barely see through it and had to attempt to land the aircraft blind. With the help of their side windows, instruments and radio guidance from Jarkarta, the plane landed safely at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport. All 263 passengers and crew made it through this ordeal alive.
    Investigators later discovered that Mount Galunggung in Java had erupted, sending a massive ash cloud eight miles high. This cloud had spread across flight paths and was invisible to radar and difficult to see at night. Flight 9 had unknowingly flown right through it in the darkness and the particles had choked the engines. They only restarted thanks to the plane’s descent below the ash cloud where the cooler air had caused the particles to solidify and break off. After this experience, systems were put in place to ensure that planes never again faced this type of danger.
    This story really caught my attention. Although it gives no credit or glory to God for His miraculous deliverance of the passengers and crew, I certainly do. It reminds me of a few things. One, as we go through this life, challenges will come when we least expect it. But, even when we feel as if we are losing control, God is still in control. God knew exactly what that flight would go through that night and He had that plane covered. Similarly, God knows what we are going to face before we face it and He has us covered. Just as the flight crew could not see the danger they were in or how they would land safely, just so, we too don’t always see the danger coming our way or how we are going to get through it. Yet, this is where faith and trust in a Sovereign God comes in. He can see what we can’t and He knows how things will work out. He knows the end from the beginning and if we just trust Him, He will see us through whatever trial we may face. 
    Second, in spite of the turmoil probably raging inside of him, the captain attempted to calm the passengers in his care. He never once gave them the impression that they were going to die, although, I am sure they all felt death very near. Instead, he chose to give them hope when he had no clue how things would work out. Our God is our calm in the midst of the storm. Like Peter who was able to walk on stormy waters once he kept his eyes on Jesus (Matthew 14:28-29), we too can experience calm in the midst of our situations once we keep our focus on God and His Word. There have been many times when God’s still, small voice assured me that I was going to be okay. And whenever I chose to trust that voice, I felt at peace, even though my circumstances seemed to say differently. God is our peace when wars and storms are raging. He is our hope and our strength when our own hope and strength fail. 
    Third, thanks to what happened to flight 9, systems were put in place to make sure that no plane, passengers or crew would ever again go through that type of experience. The reality is, we may not always like when we go through difficult times, but our troubles are not in vain. God will take that negative situation and use it to be a blessing to and an encouragement to others. It will even help mould and shape us into who God wants us to be.
    So, even when we don’t know what’s coming or how we are going to make it through, God is still a very present help in trouble. He sees what we can’t and He is able to turn any situation around for good. 
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God is able to do miraculous things. Even when we don’t see how things will work out, God knows, He has the answer and He will bring us safely through. Be encouraged.

     As I tried to decide what to write about this week, I went to different sources searching for inspiration. However, I found myself going right back to the Word of God as I had been doing for some weeks straight. There is truly a lot that can be gleaned from God's Word.
    I am presently reading the book of Nehemiah. I am somewhat familiar with the general storyline. Nehemiah was living in captivity in Persia and he was the king’s cupbearer. Some years before, at least two groups of Jews had been allowed to return from exile to Jerusalem. Some rebuilding of the city had taken place but it was not complete. Nehemiah was allowed to return to Jerusalem with a third group of Jews. This time, they would focus on rebuilding its wall which had been destroyed.
    It should have been a joyous occasion, as the opportunity had been given to them to rebuild their city. However, opposition arose to discourage them and to stop the building process (Nehemiah 4). Did they stop? No! Instead, encouraged by Nehemiah, they put their trust in their God. Nehemiah knew what God had sent him to do and he was not going to stop now. So, rather than give in to discouragement, he used strategy to get the job done. They did not just work on the wall. He divided the people into groups. While some worked on the wall, others were equipped  with weapons for battle, ready in case anyone tried to stop them by force. Nehemiah also encouraged the people in the Lord whenever fear presented itself. At one point, he told the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses” (4:14). At another time, he encouraged them: “Our God will fight for us” (4:20). It did not happen overnight but in close to two months, the wall was finally completed. 
    A few things catch my attention with this account. One, the Jews were not doing anything wrong when they started work to rebuild their city. In fact, first king Cyrus of Persia, then King Artaxerxes I, gave them permission and support to work towards rebuilding their city. Sometimes, opposition is going to come our way whether we like it or not. You can be doing your best to serve God and to please Him, yet challenges come to stop you, to hinder you, to prevent you from fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for your life. In these seasons, it will be tempting to give up, to give in to the enemy’s attempt to make you live a defeated life. But, when you are serving the true and living God, nothing can truly stop God’s plan and purpose for you. Once you run to Him and trust Him, like Nehemiah did, He will give you good success.
    Second, Nehemiah used strategy to complete the task. He did not just trust God and do nothing, he trusted God and put a strategy in place to get the job done. Sometimes we too need to put things in place, do what we have to do to get the job done. Instead of focusing on the challenges that are before you, choose instead to focus on the God who is with you while you face that challenge. And that’s the thing. You are not alone! God is with you and once you make the choice to keep moving forward, to keep going, God will stand with you and help you carry out His will for your life. When you and God work as a team, nothing and no one can stop His purpose for you! 
    I also want to consider something else. In Nehemiah’s case, his opposition was people. In your case, your opposition may be challenges with your health - that sickness, disease, infirmity that seems to want to stop you from accomplishing God’s plan for your life. Or, your challenge may be your finances - that money and / or resources that you need to accomplish a particular dream. Whatever, your challenge is, it’s still about trusting God, maybe even putting strategies in place to get the job done. At the end of the day, your challenge is not too big for your God to handle. It may be overwhelming to you but it’s not overwhelming to God. So, just do what you have to do and trust Him. You are not alone!
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. We can’t always avoid opposition and challenges when they come our way. Yet, our God is more than able to help us successfully navigate these challenges in order to accomplish his plan and purpose for our life.

    At the age of thirteen, Jaedon was diagnosed with leukaemia. His parents were in shock and denial that this could be happening to their son. Treatment began immediately while his parents wrestled with doubt and disappointment. After all, Jaedon’s name means “gift of God.” He was his mother’s child of promise. 
    Chemotherapy treatments were severe. His skin peeled, his stomach lining shed, his organs began to fail. He became so weak, he was unable to stand and had to re-learn how to walk. He did begin to improve but unfortunately the cancer returned, stronger and more resistant. At this point, he faced various life-threatening issues such as sepsis, and his body being challenged to handle the treatments. What made it worse was that the cancer now spread to his brain. With this news, his mother lost hope and did not feel God so close anymore. They felt as if they had gotten as close to hell as you could get. 
    Jaedon endured further relapses, transplants and near-death experiences yet, in spite of it all, the family prayed and thanked God daily. God told Jaedon’s father not to inform himself about the symptoms but to inform the symptoms about who God is. Jaedon’s mother, in turn, felt God tell her that she would have a story to tell and she held on to that promise.         
​    Over time, however, they realised that Jaedon was getting stronger and improving and that his healing journey had begun. Jaedon admits that he always had the sense that God was there and felt reassured that He would get him through his ordeal. After two years in the hospital, Jaedon finally returned home cancer free. 
    He and his parents are thankful to God for all that He has done. Jaedon continues to thank God for His blessings for all He has done in his life. He is thankful for what He did for him while he was in the hospital and even during his recovery afterwards He is also thankful for the fact that he is now playing club volleyball. As far as Jaedon is concerned, it’s all because of Him.
    This testimony truly touched me because it’s a candid account of the brutal challenges that Jaedon went through, his parents’ doubts and fears and learning to trust God even when things were not always going the way they would have liked. Yet, God came through for them and turned this situation around. 
    I love what God told Jaedon’s father. He told him not to inform himself about the symptoms but rather to tell the symptoms who God is. I love this because it can be so easy to focus on what you’re going through. After all, what you’re going through may feel even more real than God Himself, yet, we need to shift our perspective. We need to speak to that negative situation and remind it of who our God is. He is not dead, He is alive. He is not powerless in the face of the challenge, rather He is all-powerful and able to handle whatever comes our way. God is not subject to our problem, in fact, our problem is subject to Him. We tend to forget this reality in the face of what our natural eyes can see or our body may be experiencing. But, the reality is that nothing that we go through will ever be bigger or more powerful than our God. God is still quite able to do the impossible!
    I also love how this testimony ends. Jaedon is thankful to God for His infinite blessings and for how God has brought him through. As far as he is concerned, everything he has been through and all that he is able to do now is because of God. He could not get through this ordeal without Him and he cannot accomplish the things he is accomplishing now without Him. It’s truly all because of Him and we need to acknowledge this even in our own situations. The fact that God gives us life to see another day everyday, the fact that He gives us the grace and strength we need to go through trials and challenges, the fact that we are able to accomplish things that we would have never thought possible, is truly all because of Him. So, let’s be thankful because it’s all because of His goodness, His grace, His mercy, His love for us. It’s all because of Him!
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. No matter what we go through in life, God is always there. He gives us the grace we need to endure challenges, and He brings us through, sometimes when we least expect it. God is good and faithful and we should be thankful because it’s truly all because of Him!