When life happens...

    Tomekia, the daughter of a minister, was the youngest child with three older brothers. She was a natural on the basketball court and was able to enter college on a scholarship. Tragically, at this time, she lost her mother to cancer. In spite of her tragic loss, she successfully completed college and decided to pursue her dream of becoming a coach. 
    At the age of twenty-five, she became an assistant coach at Jackson State University. Sadly, a year later, her brother, Robert, who understood and supported her dream, was murdered in his home during a robbery. She was devastated. Shortly after, she took another coaching job at a nearby university. While there, she had a son but the relationship with his father did not work out. She, therefore, turned to her father to help raise her son as well as to provide spiritual and emotional support. She admits that her faith was more in her father than in God. 
    At the age of thirty-six, her dream finally came true when she became the head coach at Jackson State University. Her father was extremely proud of her. She confessed to him that she couldn’t dream of living her life without him. Sadly, however, three months later, her father died from a blood clot after a routine surgery. Tomekia admits that she lost her purpose, her meaning and her drive. She had done all that she had done to make her father proud. With him gone she couldn’t see the value in doing it anymore. 
    Four weeks later, she sat on her bed with a loaded gun ready to end her life. She was consumed with grief. She asked God to take away the pain before she ended it all. As she reached for the gun, her son ran into the room and said, “Mom, what are you doing?” She hugged him and cried. She realised at that moment that she had greater in store and she just had to trust it. She started going to church and surrounded herself with people who encouraged her relationship with God. She had to develop her own relationship with God. It was finally her and Jesus!
    She returned to school after a three-month leave of absence just in time for the start of a new basketball season. They lost five games in a row and many believed that she was not the right person for the job. Through prayer and God’s guidance, Tomekia finally became the leader she needed to be. Her team went on to win the next eleven games and made it to the championships. They lost by four points but in Tomekia’s eyes, they were winners. Whenever praise is heaped on her for her success, she gives the honour to the Lord. She realises that she has a purpose that is bigger than her. She acknowledges that at times we will suffer hurt and that that’s okay but that we should not stay there. We have to get up and keep going, trust the Lord, put our faith in Him and stay mission-focused. All things work together for the good to those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28).
    Life is filled with unexpected and sometimes painful circumstances. We can never see around the corner and are many times totally unprepared for what lies ahead. Yet, the God who can see around any corner, wants us to trust Him completely. Tomekia faced tragedy after tragedy, yet, through it all, God was there and took her through each difficult season. He helped her attain her dream even when she was burdened by the tragedy in her life and she wanted to give up.
    Sometimes, we too can feel so burdened by tragic and difficult circumstances that we just don’t feel like going on. The temptation can be to give up, to give in, to even turn our back on the One who can and will see us through. But, don’t! Just when you may think or feel like it’s over, that God will never step in and help, He will. Tomekia reached the point of attempting to end her life but God stepped in. We may wonder why He didn’t step in earlier, why He didn’t stop all the tragedy in her life. Yet, His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). We may never understand it all, but this one thing we know, according to Tomekia, we can’t give up, we have to keep going, we have to trust the Lord and stay mission-focused because at the end of the day, all things will work together for good to those who love the Lord! 
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. Life can be so filled with dark moments and tragedies that we need a God who is big enough and powerful enough and loving enough to help us successfully through it all. God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us and He knows it’s because we can’t do this life alone. We need Him, we need His strength, His wisdom and His guidance to make it through. Trust Him.
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