Six Lessons Learned Through Adversity
Good morning Second Missionary! Please bow for a word of prayer. Our foundational Scriptures are found in Matthew 10:27 and James 1:2-3. I will be reading Matthew from the Classic Amplified Bible and James from the New King James Bible. Matthew 10:27 says, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops.” James 1:2-3 says “(2) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” You may be seated.
I first visited this Church back in July of this year. During that service the Spirit began speaking to me about a message I was to deliver here. I waited a month after hearing this before I approached Min. Hoard and told her what I believed I had received from the Spirit and asked her to pray about it – for confirmation one way or the other. You see, as the current ministry leader of this Church, God will not bypass her authority and tell me to do something in this Church without confirming it with her. I told her if she did not receive confirmation, then I will know that in this situation, I had missed God.
Now I know that many of you do not know me, while some of you know a little about me as I have been attending your Bible study and Sunday school sessions. But, for those of you who do not know me, as you heard in my introduction, I have been in ministry for forty-four years and have worked in pastoral ministry for thirty plus years. I founded New Light Faith Ministries, Inc. and through that ministry established New Light Christian Fellowship Church, which I pastored for twenty-one years. Following the close of the Church I became the interim pastor for Strangers Rest Baptist Church in Kansas City, KS. I served there for fourteen months and now that that assignment is completed, I have been visiting Churches as I wait for God to reveal my next steps. From a secular standpoint, I spent eight years in the military and thirty-two years in the pharmaceutical industry retiring as a district director from Merck pharmaceuticals. I have been married to my wife for forty-three years this December and we have two daughters and one granddaughter.
The title of the message this morning is “Lessons Learned Through Adversity.” I have provided a handout of the Scriptures that I will be referencing so you can study them and verify the Word that you will hear in this message. This Church, as all Churches have, has faced some adversity. It could be said that you’re still dealing with some adversity as a Church and as individuals. Every person at some point in their life will have to deal with adversity and it is not a question of “if” you will face adverse times, but “when.” And if you are a professed Christian it is a guarantee that you will face adversity because we have an enemy who wants to use our times of adversity to discourage us from maintaining our faith, and for those who are watching us, to test our trust in God. Therefore when we go through times of adversity how we respond to those times will lay a foundation of spiritual growth or spiritual stagnation.
This morning I will share with you two specific situations of adversity and I want to focus your attention on how each person(s) managed to walk through their situations. As you listen to this message this morning, please keep in mind what Jesus told us. He told Thomas (and us) in John 14:6, “…. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” When Jesus says He is the way, the truth and the life, He’s saying that, outside of Himself, there is no other way, no other truth, and no other life. He uses the definite article THE to drive this point home. We could say the verse this way and maintain its scriptural integrity: Jesus says, “I am the way and there is no other way but Me. I am the truth and there is no other truth but Me. I am the life and there is no other life but Me.”
Keep this in mind as you listen to this message because, when we face difficult times, Jesus IS the only way through them. I am here this morning to encourage you as you continue on your faith journey. This morning we are going to be looking at Joseph and the twelve disciples. Each faced adversity, but how they responded to their adversity is what I want to use as an example for each of us. As a point of reference, Webster’s dictionary defines adversity as “a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.” Let me begin by sharing a story with you to set the stage. I ask for your indulgence if you have read or heard this story before. The story is called “Carrots, Eggs and Coffee.”
“A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up as she was tired of fighting and struggling. Her mother, after listening to her, rose and took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots of water and placed each on the stove on high heat. Soon the water in each pot came to a boil. In the first pot she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last pot she placed ground coffee beans. She let them boil without saying a word. After about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots and the eggs out and placed them in separate bowls. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ‘Tell me what you see.’ ‘Carrots, eggs and coffee,’ she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother asked her daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hardboiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, ‘What does it mean, mother?’ Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, the inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they changed the water. ‘Which are you?’ she asked her daughter. When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
As I said, every person who has ever lived and will ever live on this earth will face adversity at some point in their life. They will experience difficult situations that, depending on how they respond, could change them forever. It has been said that we are all the sum of our experiences and in some ways that is a true statement. Our experiences have shaped how we see the world. Although we cannot change past experiences, we can change their lasting impact on our lives and, this is important, how future experiences impact our lives. Jesus died on the cross so that our negative experiences do not have to define us. He died on the cross so that we could live victoriously in a world that desires to destroy us mentally and spiritually.
Remember the Scripture I read at the beginning from Matthew 10:27? Jesus said, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops.” Jesus told the disciples that the things He shared with them privately they were to proclaim loudly and publicly. In order to do this we come to our first lesson: What God has shared with you in the Light, do not forget in moments of darkness, in times of adversity. I want you to let that sink in for a moment. When things are going right in our lives, it is easier for us to remember the words of Jesus (the Light) as we walk in our perceived blessings. Jesus said, “……I am the light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of life.” (John 8:12b) Jesus is our Light and our adversity can at times represent darkness. It is during these times of adversity that we can and often struggle to remember the encouraging words of our Lord and Savior. We are not alone as the disciples clearly struggled with this when Jesus was crucified. But first I want to talk about Joseph, who did not forget what was shared with him when he faced adversity.
How many of you remember the story of Joseph? Joseph was the son of Jacob (Israel) and when he was seventeen years old God gave him several dreams about his future. Genesis 37:5-10 records the following, “(5) Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. (6) So he said to them, ‘Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: (7) There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.’ (8) And his brothers said to him, ‘Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?’ So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. (9) Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, ‘Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.’ (10) So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, ‘What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?’”
Joseph had two dreams about what would happen in his future. The Light was showing him some things that would happen to him and in the midst of his adversities, and he had more than one, he never forgot them. As Joseph received these dreams, he shared his dreams with his brothers who were already jealous of him because he was his father’s favorite. Remember Joseph was the firstborn of Jacob’s wife Rachel who was his first and possibly one true love. Because of their jealousy of him, upon hearing about his dreams Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and then lied to his father telling him Joseph had been killed. That was the first adversity he faced. Now here is lesson two that I want you to keep in mind: sometimes sharing what the Spirit has told you to the wrong person can cause you to experience times of adversity. Remember, everyone cannot hear or receive what God might be telling you or planning for you so you need to be mindful as to who is spiritually capable of receiving that word otherwise their jealousy could lead to adverse times for you. This was the case with Joseph’s brothers – they could not receive or process what God was showing Joseph.
Now when Joseph arrives in Egypt, God elevates him and with that blessing comes more adversity. In Genesis chapter thirty-nine, Joseph arrives in Egypt and was sold to Potiphar who made him overseer of his house. Now, while faithfully serving his master, Potiphar’s wife took a liking to him. When he refused her advances, she lied on him and Potiphar had him imprisoned. Well when he gets to the prison he found favor with the keeper of the prison who gave him authority over everything in the prison. Are you seeing the pattern here? Now, while Joseph was in prison, he did not forget the word that had been shared with him by the Light. How do we know this? Because when two men who were also in the prison with him had troubling dreams that they did not understand, Joseph told them the meaning. I want to call your attention to what he told them before he told them what their dreams meant. He said, “…. Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.” (Genesis 40:8b) This tells us that Joseph remembered the two dreams he had had.
Now let’s jump to the end of the story because I want you to see that Joseph’s response to his adversity was more in line with how the coffee bean responded versus the egg or the carrot. Joseph had been in Egypt approximately twenty-two years when his brothers arrive seeking to buy food. Joseph immediately recognizes his brothers but they did not know him. When Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers they looked at him with the expectation that he would do to them as they had done to him and this brings us to lesson three: people will expect you to respond to adversity the same way they would if they were in that situation. This is why you cannot tell everyone about your adversity because their advice will not always be from God but instead what they would do. When you share what you are going through and someone responds with “Well if that were me….” RUN!!! Now if they follow that up with “I would go to God’s Word.…” then stay and listen a little longer. Be very careful of people who speak into you from their spirit versus being led by THE Spirit!
Genesis 45:4-8 records, “(4) And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come near to me.’ So they came near. Then he said: ‘I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. (5) But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. (6) For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. (7) And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (8) So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” As I read this, I had a “Wow” moment! Joseph tells his brothers that God sent him to Egypt to save them – do you see that? Yes, the famine affected everything, but God’s instructions to Pharaoh through Joseph was not to protect Egypt, but Jacob, Abraham’s seed. God used Egypt, a nation that did not serve Him, to save His people. Something to think about - when the rain falls on the JUST even the unjust can benefit!
Because Joseph understood what God had done through his adversity, he held no animosity towards his brothers. His thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment did not change who he was or his faith in God. As a matter of fact, it strengthened him. Joseph came to believe that God had orchestrated these events to save their lives and therefore he would not blame his brothers for what had happened to him. And this is important, he did not want his brothers blaming themselves either. If this had been you, can you testify that this would have been your response? There are Christians who have family members that they do not speak to because of something that happened years ago. Do you really believe that God is pleased with that?
Joseph went through adversities that God used to prepare him for what he would ultimately do in Egypt – lead them through a famine. What would have happened if Joseph’s response to his adversity was like that of the egg? He had a soft heart before the adversity but afterwards he became hardened. How would he respond to his brothers with a hard heart? Or what if his response to the adversity was like a carrot? What if he was a strong confident young man before the adversity but after experiencing the adversity he became soft and weak. Would Pharaoh trust his kingdom to someone who was weak and would not stand his ground? I do not think so. So Joseph’s response to his adversity was to embrace it and allow God to work through them. Now let’s look at the disciples where we will see an opposite response to adversity. To understand their response we need to hear what Jesus told the disciples on His final entrance into Jerusalem and what they forgot when they witnessed His death. Mark 10:32-34 records the following, “(32) Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him: (33) ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; (34) and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.’” (Mark 10:32-34)
As they were walking towards Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus told His disciples exactly what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. He told them that He would be taken, given to the Gentiles (Roman soldiers), mocked, spit on, beaten and finally killed. Had He stopped there that would have been enough for anyone to experience anxiety, depression, sadness, and great concern for His life – but not Jesus. Then He told them after all that happened on the “…. third day He will rise again.” He told them what would happen and that in three days it would all be over because He would rise again in total victory. It is obvious that the disciples focused on the first things Jesus said and totally missed the ending – that He would rise again. So, what happened when they got to Jerusalem? Exactly what Jesus said would happen. Jesus was arrested, mocked, spit on, scourged (beaten) and finally killed. Everything up to and including the moment He was killed was just as He said it would be. You would think that His followers, especially His disciples, would have been encouraged and looking forward to Sunday – but they were not. You see, what Jesus had shared with them in the light was forgotten in that dark moment – the days following His death. When Christ died on the cross everyone thought that His life was over. They believed in their hearts that what they had witnessed and experienced for those three years was over and there was nothing else for them to do. But the disciples should have known better because Jesus had told them! Regardless, no one understood that their lives were about to change drastically forever.
The disciples believe, and that is a key word, they believed it was over. So lesson four: what you truly believe will come forth during times of adversity. If you don’t know where you stand on God’s Word, you will find out quick when you face adversity. You might believe that you have great faith, but when you face adversity the truth becomes known to you and everyone else. Let me read a few verses so you can see what I am talking about. Mark 16:9-11 says, “(9) Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. (10) She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. (11) And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.” Luke, the physician, recorded this story with a few more details. In chapter twenty-four he wrote, “(10) It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. (11) And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” (Luke 24:10-11) When the disciples heard that Jesus was indeed alive, they did not believe; they did not accept the report; and they looked at the women as if they were crazy. This was not the response of someone expecting Christ to return. They were acting on their belief that He was dead and would remain that way. But what if they had believed differently? Would their response have been different? Do you know that we act on what we believe? Whatever we believe will dictate our actions. The disciples believed Jesus was dead and forgot He had told them that He would rise again. In their adversity (Jesus’ death) they had forgotten what He had told them in the light. But what would their responses have been had they remembered? When they were in their darkest hour, what if they had remembered what was told to them by the Light?
Do you think that if they had remembered what Jesus said about rising again that on Sunday morning they would be at the gravesite to make sure He got out okay? I do! If they had remembered, instead of grieving and being depressed, they would have been planning the next stages for the ministry. Having completed the first phase with Jesus training them and then dying on a cross for mankind, they would now be making the necessary preparations for Christ’s return because they only had three days until everything would change. Then as they received word from Mary Magdalene and the others that He had rose from the dead, the celebrations would have started. In fact, they might have been camped out at the grave site in anticipation of His rising and wanting to witness the event. There would have been a praise service unlike anything that they had ever participated in before because now the ultimate had happened – Christ had conquered death, and death was no longer to be feared. If they had known and believed, they would have told Jesus, “Jesus, we know this is going to hurt you physically, but we will definitely be waiting on you Sunday morning.” Can you see them asking Him, “Okay Jesus, what do You need us to do while you’re in the grave dealing with Satan and stripping him of his power.” Their attitudes and their actions would have been different had they known and believed. In every case, they acted on what they believed. What do you believe this morning?
Think about some of the things you have done in your life. How many times have you acted based on something you believed, even if what you believed was later proven to be wrong? What we learn from this and this is Lesson five: when it comes to our responding to adversity, it is not always about the truth, but it is always about the belief! This is what is easily identified when we face adversity – what we truly believe. The first part of Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he….” Our first response when we face adversity will be based on what we believe, what is in our hearts. What we believe will dictate our response. Joseph believed that the day would come when his brothers would bow down to him. He did not know the specifics, but he came to realize that he would be the source of saving his family. So as he faced his adversities, he never lost sight of what God would eventually do through him. Now the disciples were the opposite. Jesus told them exactly what He was going to go through and how the end would play out. They refused to accept and believe His words. Therefore when it played out exactly as Jesus said it would, their focus was on the immediate – what had happened – not on what was coming. So lesson six: when we are experiencing times of adversity we need to focus on what’s coming versus what is happening. What we focus on (the immediate or what coming) during our times of adversity will lead us somewhere, but that somewhere will be dependent on what we believe. For Joseph it led to faith that he would eventually save his family. For the disciples it led to fear, depression and them going into hiding because they believed Jesus was gone forever.
Before I close I want to circle back to the story I opened with at the beginning. In the story the daughter believed that it was time to give up. She believed that her life would not get better. She wanted to give up because she believed there was no other way for her. Based on what she believed about her situation, she was ready to quit as she had grown tired of fighting. The mother, however, believed in her heart that her daughter could overcome this period in her life – she wasn’t focused on the immediate but what could come. But, she needed a way to make it plain for her daughter to see the possibilities. So, without saying a word, she showed her daughter three diverse ways one could choose to deal with adversity. Had the mother believed that all was lost for her daughter, she could have bailed her out. But this would have been a temporary fix. The mother acted on her belief that if she could prove to her daughter that she needed to change her response to adversity versus the adversity itself that would continue to come in some manner, then her daughter would see adversity in a different light and her life would be changed forever. Both acted on what they believed. If you are facing any darkness in your life today, are you remembering what was shared with you in and by the Light?
Remember Jesus said, “…. I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) I do not know what darkness you may be facing, but I do know that Jesus said He is “the way, the truth and the life.” This Church has stood on the Word of God and you have heard some powerful words being spoken here through the years – have you forgotten them? Do you remember what you’re heard? Do you remember your purpose? Do you remember what you’re supposed to be doing? When you are going through dark times, remember what was shared with you in and by the Light – He is the way! No person can come out of spiritual darkness except through Him. He is the only way that leads to salvation. Remember, you are never alone and God, because of what His Son did on the cross, is forever with us. This is why James 1:2-3 says “(2) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” We know that Satan will use any and every situation to test our faith as he tries to get us to abandon the promises of God. Now I didn’t say that Satan causes the test; I said he will use the test in every way imaginable to get us to doubt God’s love and His faithfulness towards us. I am not going to belabor this point, but it is important: sometimes the trials or tests we face are the results of the decisions we have made. But even in this, REMEMBER! We know that some seasons in our lives will be more trying than others and it will be hard to find joy in those seasons, but James tells us that it is possible to have that joy. So, if James said we could have joy in the midst of our trials (tribulations) it had to have been for a reason – it had to be because it was the truth. And Isaiah tells us why. In Isaiah 41:10 God says, “(10) 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.” God says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.” God does not change. God is telling us not to live in fear of our situation. We may not have all the answers, but we do not have to live in fear of not knowing. Church, when we live in fear, we choose to live in fear. God is telling us we can make a different choice.
All of us face adversity – dark days, and sometimes that darkness causes us to forget, just like Jesus’ disciples, what the Word has told us about our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Because we forget, sometimes that adversity (darkness) causes us to become weak and sickly. The strain of always having something thrown at you; of always having to fight to get ahead can take its toll. In the story, consider the carrot. If you take a carrot out of the refrigerator and bite into it, it is hard, solid, and crunchy. It takes some strength to cut it with a knife. But when that strong, solid carrot was placed in the boiling water, the boiling water made it soft. The boiling water kept attacking it until the carrot finally gave in. When all was said and done the carrot was changed, but the water remained the same. This happens to us individually and as a Church body because the Church is made up of individuals. Repeated adversity can break us down depending on how we respond to it. But there is another side to this carrot story. You see, there are many people who are so strong and hard that God cannot use them. They are so full of pride that they believe that they do not need God. Yet when they are faced with such adversity and are forced to call on Him, it is then that they realize that they do need God. It is at that moment that they become soft, more humble, and more willing to allow God to use them. Paul records what Jesus said to him when he was complaining about his adversity in Second Corinthians 12:9. It says, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” If our adversity beats us down to the point where we turn to God and rely on His strength versus our own, then it is okay to become like the carrot.
Now when the egg went into the boiling water, its shell protected it against the water, so the water could not seep in. However, its shell could not protect it against the heat and when it was over the egg had changed but the water was the same. There are many people who experience adversities and become hardened by them on the inside. Whereas before they were loving, kind, and willing to help others, after experiencing some adversity, they became hard, bitter, and unrelenting. This is not what Christ would have us to become when we face adversity. If you have changed your outlook on life based on the challenging times you have experienced and you are not allowing the love of God to flow through you to others as it once did, it is not too late. Accept the love that Christ has made available to you; allow Him to provide the healing you need from your past experiences.
Finally, we return to the coffee bean. When the coffee bean went into the boiling water, it embraced it. Its embrace was like what we read in James earlier, “(2) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” The coffee bean’s embrace of the boiling water was also like Paul saying, “…. I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” after Jesus told him that His power was perfected in weakness. The coffee bean did not fight against the boiling water; it did not fight against the adversity. The coffee bean embraced it, and not only was it changed, but it changed the adversity also. Remember, not only did the boiling water cease to be boiling water, but the coffee bean also ceased to be a coffee bean. The coffee bean allowed itself to be changed in order to change the adversity (its response to the darkness.) The coffee bean knew that by embracing the boiling water, it would achieve its purpose. Sometimes when adversity comes God will use it to work out something within us. The adversity can change us for the better. When we recognize that through our weakness Christ’s power is perfected, it changes how we see our weaknesses.
Now I want to speak to the leaders here at Second Missionary. This Church, as all Churches do, has gone through some times of adversity. What you are dealing with today as a Church body has affected people differently. You must remember that not every member responds to adversity the same way so because of this how you respond to a member must be based on your understanding of where they are. Some in the Church might be responding like the egg. Their temperament has changed and they have become hardened. Be patient with them, acknowledging where they are, and pour more love into them. Others might be responding like the carrot. For those members, do not let their past hardness stop you from being open to them becoming softer. Sometimes we do not allow people to move beyond their past as they change through the love of Christ. Finally other members might be responding like the coffee bean. For these members you cannot take them for granted. While they might be embracing this adversity like the coffee bean, they might have a different response to the next one. Appreciate where they are today and together work to support the other members who might be struggling. And please remember, do not assume everyone is responding to the same adversity the same way (or as you are responding) so please be prayerful and watchful. You cannot stand in judgment of someone because they are responding to adversity in a manner different from you, regardless of what that manner is.
As I close this morning, remember what God has shared with you in the Light and do not forget it in the darkness. It might seem dark today for some of you but remember Who you belong to. Remember you are not alone. Remember the words that have been shared with you through the years that have prepared you for this very season you are in. For example Pastor Ford delivered a sermon to you about the meantime. Seven years ago, in memory of him, your media team posted an excerpt of that sermon on Facebook. Listen to what he said and maybe some of you will remember this sermon: He said, “What do you see when everything is right, good and flowing your way – what do you see? When everything is upside down and nothing seems to be flowing your way and there are times when it just ain’t happening – what do you see? How many of you have been in the meantime? I aint where I was and I’m not where I ought to be. But in the meantime - sometimes I am praying and it seems like my prayers are not going anywhere – in the meantime. I am petitioning God and doing all that I know to do – but in the meantime. God works in the meantime.” If you remember that word that was delivered to you then you can take it and use it today because right here, right now, you all are in the meantime. You’re not where you were and you’re not where you’re going to be! God is working! Do not lose hope – do not lose faith! May God bless and keep you is my prayer.
