At the age of seven, doctors discovered a tumour in Abram’s spine and believed that it was terminal.    The paediatric neurosurgeon who would perform the surgery to remove the tumour, felt that there was a chance that it was benign. However, even after removing it, his parents were warned that he could be paralysed. His mother reached out for prayer support from as many people as she could. During surgery, the doctor discovered that the tumour had spread throughout Abram’s spinal cord. However, the surgery was successful and the sample sent for testing showed that the tumour was indeed benign. 
    After surgery, Abram was able to move his arms but his legs were paralysed. He gradually got movement in his legs and two months later, after being in rehab, he was released to go home. He refused to be wheeled out and instead convinced the staff to allow him to walk out with the help of a walker. During the next five years, Abram continued to improve thanks to continued rehab and prayer. 
    In September 2022, at age twelve, he and and his father decided to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, Africa. The scripture that they meditated on and used to motivate themselves as they climbed was: “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit,” says the Lord of Hosts (Zechariah 4:6). After six days battling freezing temperatures and fatigue, they were able to finally reach the summit. His father was thankful to God and proclaimed that God was a God of miracles. After all, his son who had been paralysed, had just climbed to 19,341 feet!
    This testimony encourages me because it is not just a testimony of healing. It’s a testimony about standing on the Word of God and trusting Him to help you do the impossible. At the age of seven, Abram chose to not be wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair but to walk out. Though he could not fully walk, he found a way with the help of a walker. He was determined to dictate his outcome. And, as if that wasn’t enough, five years later, he decides to climb a high mountain, daunting for many, and he succeeds in his attempt. 
    The Bible says: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). I believe it’s about where you put your faith - in the situation you are facing or in the God who can help you do the impossible. I believe God enabled them to fulfil their challenge because they chose to stand on His Word. They understood that it would not be their might or power but God’s Spirit. God would give Abram the strength to accomplish such a mammoth undertaking. 
    What is stopping you from accomplishing great things for God? For Abram, it was what he had been through with paralysis and afterwards facing Mt Kilimanjaro. For you, it might be challenges with your health, your marriage, your family, your job or even your own fears that keep telling you that you can’t. Everything does not have to be perfect for you to accomplish something great. God’s Word says clearly: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). It may be difficult, it may even be downright impossible, but God knows how to make a way even when there seems to be no way. The children of Israel faced a Red Sea (Exodus 14), yet God made a way through and they were able to escape their enemies. What was an impossible situation for them, was an ideal opportunity for God to show His might and power.
    So, be encouraged. No matter what you may be facing, no matter what may be standing in your way to hinder you, to stop you, even to destroy you, God is more than able to accomplish what is impossible for you. He is more than able to do great things in and through you - even when your circumstances are not ideal or even perfect. It’s about God’s ability not your own. He still has the final say - not your challenge, not your shortcomings, not your fears. It’s not over until God says it’s over!
    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 no mountain too high or challenge too great that can stop God’s purpose for you, that can hinder you from doing great things for Him. God will make a way. He will never leave you alone. He will help you accomplish what you cannot accomplish on your own.

    In Numbers 22-24 we come across the interesting story of the prophet Balaam. He is hired by king Balak of the Moabites to curse the children of Israel. Balak is terrified of the Israelites because he has heard how they have defeated the Amorites. He therefore hires Balaam to come and curse the Israelites in the hopes that he will be able to defeat them and prevent them from destroying him and his people. He had heard, after all, that whoever Balaam blessed was blessed and whoever he cursed was cursed (22:6).
    Initially, Balaam refuses to come when the king sends for him. God does not give him permission to go with the messengers sent to get him. However, when king Balak sends more messengers with the promise of great honour, Balaam suffers a conflict of interest. When he enquires of the Lord a second time, he is allowed to go with them but is only allowed to say what God tells him to say. When he reaches his destination, he is able to do nothing less than bless the children of Israel much to king Balak’s distress.
    There is one verse in particular that catches my attention. Chapter 23:23 says: “For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘Oh what God has done!’” I was encouraged with this story and in particular with this verse because it is a reminder to me that no matter what comes our way, as children of God, it cannot prevail against us! In this case, even though Balaam was hired to curse the Israelites, he could not. Three times, he could only do what God directed him to do - bless Israel! It tells me that no matter what the enemy tries against us, it cannot and will not prevail against us. Isaiah 54:17 says, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue which rises against you in judgement you shall condemn.” In short, efforts may be made to destroy you, to sabotage you, but that does not mean that they will succeed against you. 
    After the second blessing, when Balak becomes frustrated with Balaam for not doing as he had asked, Balaam reminds him that he had told him that he could only say what God told him to say (23:26). As a child of God, God will cause even negative efforts to submit to His perfect plan and purpose for your life! The enemy may try to bring you down, but at the end of the day, whatever is tried, God will use it for your good. We may be fearful at times in the face of what comes our way; we may be afraid many times that those negative situations will get the better of us. They may seem bigger than us and even more powerful but they will never be bigger than nor more powerful than the God we serve. God knows how to take big problems and make them small before us; He knows how to make those mountains in our lives like level plains before us. 
    It does not matter what is coming against you - sickness, disease, financial challenges, marital issues, problems on the job - none of these things have the final say in your life, God does. According to Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” The situation is what it is but that does not and cannot determine God’s final decision. And, as His child, that challenge that you are facing is not writing your story - God is. As God’s child, you are in the palm of His hand and He is responsible for every detail of your life - every line, every chapter of your story. Things may not always go the way you want it to go, but everything will certainly work out for your good (Romans 8:28).
    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 no greater privilege than to serve a God who will cause even your enemies to bless you. God will take care of you. No matter how challenging the situation may seem, it does not have the final say in your life, God does. And you can be confident that whatever the enemy sends to destroy you, God will use it instead to bring about good in your life!

    Justin would go to church as a child and strum his Bible as if it were a guitar. His parents recognised his interest in the guitar and got him one by the age of fifteen. Unfortunately, it was around the same time that he got his first job and he began to hang out with the wrong crowd. He started to lead a double life. He would go to church and be with his friends from the youth group and lead in worship, but on weekends, he would spend time with the wrong crowd. He began stealing and by the age of eighteen he was standing before a judge facing the possibility of going to jail. In his heart he felt conviction because he knew that was not how his parents had raised him. 
    The judge chose to give him a choice - he could choose to go to jail or do community service after which he would join the army. He chose the latter and saw his hopes and dreams for music gone. Within two years of joining the army he was sent to Iraq. While there, his grandfather passed away and he was angry with himself because the poor choices he had made had caused him to miss the opportunity to be with his family at that time. He felt led to go to the chapel. The chaplain asked the small group gathered if anyone had experience playing the guitar and leading worship. He raised his hand. God was putting the guitar back into his hands. 
    On returning home, he expected that he could hit the restart button and start his life over. Unfortunately, that was not the case. His traumatic experiences in the army, caused him to battle with anger, depression and PTSD. He returned to alcohol and the addictions he had before he joined the army. He started working again. One day a co-worker invited him to a music studio. The engineer invited him to record something. As he was leaving the session, he handed him a CD of what he had recorded. When he got home, he threw all of his alcohol down the drain and he lost his desire for it. He has not had a craving for it to this day. He began rebuilding his relationship with God and started writing music again. One day, God directed him to do a night of revival and worship at his home town at the same courthouse he had found himself in years earlier. He was reluctant at first but when he obeyed, it was a personal revival for him. 
    Justin sees God’s love as the ocean and himself as the shoreline; he sees God’s love as being in relentless pursuit of the shoreline. He wants to be submerged by God’s love and never lose sight of what He has done in his life, of how He has brought about his story of redemption.
    This testimony truly moved me. I felt encouraged as God reminded me of what He has done in my own life. I love the way God chooses to hit the restart button when we don’t know how to or we simply can’t. God gave Justin more than one second chance. He chose not to give up on him. God ’s pursuit of him was indeed relentless no matter how many times Justin failed.
​    God is in hot pursuit of you too. When He says He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), He means it. On our good days, He is there and on our bad days, I think God is more than there, even though we can’t feel it. God does not go back on His Word, we do. What I especially love is the fact that when we can’t get it right ourselves, God is right there to put things in place to get us back on the right track. 
    Isaiah 44:22 says, “I have swept away your offences like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me for I have redeemed you.” I think this verse sums up God’s love for us. He will not allow anything or anyone to stand in the way of His love for us. He wants us and loves us more than we will ever know.
    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 nothing you can do to stop God from loving you. He loves you even when you can’t love yourself. God’s love is infinite, passionate, relentless…

    When Tonya went to church with her husband and parents one Sunday morning, she was not expecting the word that the Lord would speak to her through their pastor. The Lord told her that He was holding her in the palm of His hand and that she was going to face some problems in her life that she was not even aware of. Her family had various opinions on what those words could mean. None of them could guess what would happen twenty-four hours later. 
    A few years earlier, Tonya had been diagnosed with diabetes insipidus, an uncommon disorder that causes the imbalance of fluids in the body. The day after the Word from the Lord, Tanya got up not feeling well. On top of that, her doctor was concerned with some lab results and wanted her to do another test. On her way home, she became extremely ill and could barely move. She called her father and told him that the doctor had diagnosed her with water poisoning and that she needed to get to the hospital which was an hour away. It was a matter of life and death. The doctor had given her one hour to live. On the way, her father prayed for her, remembering that God had her in the palm of His hand. Psalm 91:1 came to mind and confirmed this in his heart. Her father got her to the hospital in twenty-five minutes. 
    At the hospital, doctors discovered that because of her diabetes, Tonya’s sodium level had dropped dangerously low. This had caused her brain to swell and a loss of consciousness. The family were told that no one with her condition had ever left the hospital alive. The family earnestly prayed and believed God for a miracle. Her husband remembered their pastor’s words and this gave him some comfort. Within three days, her sodium levels came back to a safe range and she was on her way to recovery. 
    Tonya knows that God spared her life. She is grateful for the encouraging word God spoke that offered hope during a challenging situation. She acknowledges that God loves her and spared her life for a reason. She knows that her life is in the palm of His hand and understands that what she went through was all for His glory.
    What brings me a sense of comfort and encouragement is the reality that, as children of God, our lives are in the palm of God’s hand. God will never allow us to fall out of His hand. He will never allow the enemy to snatch us out of His hand either. We are safe. Psalm 91:1 says: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most Hight, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” This is the verse that came to Tonya’s father’s mind and it was so appropriate in that season. 
    Being in God’s hand does not mean that bad things won’t come our way. In fact, when they do come, we are safe. God will take care of us and take us through. The situation may look so much bigger than us and we may feel fearful but our God is bigger than the biggest giant that may come our way. Nothing is too big for our God. There is no situation that is too big for Him to handle. 
    When we think of the story of David and Goliath, David was a tiny, insignificant thing before Goliath (1 Samuel 17). He was a mere boy in comparison to the soldiers in the army. Yet, because He allowed God to go before him and fight for him, there was no way that he could be defeated. His life was in the palm of God’s hand and not even the great, big Goliath could pluck him out. It is the same with us.There is no Goliath of sickness, disease, financial trials, relationship issues, that can prevail against us when we are in God’s hands. God’s got us. And nothing or no one will be able to have their way with us when we are dwelling in His secret place and abiding under the shadow of His protection.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God wants to be your Protector and Deliverer. When you commit your life to Him, you are safe in His hands. Nothing and no one will be able to have their way with you when you are under His covering and care.
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