It was a tough day today. For some reason, I was just discouraged…though I tried to fight through it. I think the global economic crisis is starting to get to me. Though God is not a God a of fear or anger and I have to treat those thoughts as an attack of the enemy. I think one of the reasons why I went through so much pain was so that I could be ready and able to encourage others. I think that was pretty evident today with my South African friend. I feel really bad for him. I mentioned last week he lost his job. I told him to keep the faith. God has a plan and purpose. All things work together for good. The bad part is…he faces deportation, he can’t get the deposit back on his Turkish vacation so its use it or lose it, the banks froze his accounts so he can’t access his money, and his credit cards have been cancelled…Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play. Wow…all this happened. I know that I know that I know that God brought me into the South African and his wife’s life to help him through this sucky sucky time.
As he was telling me all of this, with his wife’s arm in his for support, I told him. Mr. South African (of course I used his name) I would trade places with you in a heartbeat. If I had the choice of a loving supportive wife, or a good income, I would trade the job quicker than Britney can get out of rehab. I think that helped him put it into perspective. Its true, I would trade it. So if you have a wife or husband…treasure your mate. Never assume anything. I assumed I would always be married and took a wonderful wife for granted. Look at all the pain that created. But I don’t want to dwell on that anymore.
I remember leading this Bible Study group of South Africans. I exhorted them how God speaks to me, and that they can hear his voice too. Mr. South African said…how do you know you hear from God…I’ve never heard from him and always wanted to. So last week, you’ll remember I had the guys go on a fast. They all had never done a fast before. They were a little bit nervous. I was asking him about it tonight, (they had me over for dinner). He said it was very hard, especially the last few hours. But as he was reading in Daniel, when Daniel was thrown into the Lion’s den. Nebuchadnezzar was wondering why Daniel wasn’t killed. He replied Because I trusted God. At that point the South African heard and recognized God’s voice. Breakthrough—woo hoo. We all can hear God’s voice, because he is talking to us all the time. Many of us just don’t take time to listen.
It’s amazing. I had a hard day emotionally. Nothing happened…im just anxious to be in love again, to hold someone’s hand. Yet despite the heartache, God is still using me to encourage others. The more I encourage others, the less time I have to feel sorry for myself. Maybe that is part of his plan too. The South African had a vacation plan for four weeks to go to Turkey. He can’t get his money back, so he’s going anyway. I told him, that fear, depression, and anxiety are an attack of the enemy. If he feels those coming on, he has to pray them away. Its cool being over here and being used of God this way. I feel very honored…and now I have two new dear friends, that are most likely going to be going back to South Africa in three weeks. Work is really getting slow here in terms of construction. The recession has hit global…we just have to hunker down and hope we can survive.
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