Year of the Bible

It had been a difficult and long month. Rent was due, and we were running out of diapers and food. We were going crazy.

On Friday evening, after our “Sabbath Welcome” worship, I prayed, “Lord, I can’t carry these worries into the Sabbath. I’m just going to give them to you! I know You will take care of us.” At that moment, an amazing peace entered my heart.

In my early twenties, I began wondering about everything I had experienced in my life. I endured verbal abuse as a child. My heart was badly broken at age 16. I was kicked out of my home at 17. I experienced a fire that claimed all my belongings at 20. What was my life’s purpose?

We may not be called to cross a literal river, but we are admonished to indeed “arise, and go over” our own personal Jordans, and to help others accomplish this too.

This verse, penned by the apostle Paul, became my firm foundation in Christ. It gave me a solid assurance that the Lord would never allow me to pass through a temptation that was too difficult to endure.

We need to understand that near the close of earth’s harvest, there will be a special outpouring of spiritual grace to prepare each and every one of us for the coming of Christ.

A few years ago, my house caught on fire. My family was at church when it happened, so luckily no one was injured. One of our friends, however, was living with us at the time.

In our attempt to be right, we refuse to hear the other side of the argument and judge others for seeing things differently than we do without even trying to understand them.