Have you ever just felt alone; there is no one for you even though your surrounding is full of people. I can’t tell you how often I’ve wanted to say, “What are we going to do”? I can’t say it because I have to be the Spiritual Leader of my environment…I have to be the one who says, “It WILL BE okay, the Lord will provide for us”!! Even though, I really do know for a FACT that God is our provider and will make a way of escape for us, it would be soothing, sometimes, to hear in my own surrounding in a different voice than mine. The undisputable WORD of God says in Psalms 37 verse 25, “I have been young, and now I am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” and in I Cor. 10 verse 13 says: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (KJV) Psalm 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.”
For the past twenty-seven years, I have been proclaiming trust in God. I have always had that leadership role, certainly not because I chose it, but because He placed me in it. The most difficult task is to proclaim faith during a time at a crossroad where I have found myself; do I trust Him or not. Finding myself in one of the lowest valley of education in trust that I’ve ever been in, I do trust Him. I have to continue to lead on the road of trust. I will not stop for I am “pressing toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:14 (KJV)
The hardest thing to do is not to worry when everything is upside down and inside out. Pastor Joey preached straight to me a few weeks ago. The title of his message was “Upside down, Inside out and Right Side Up”. He said when everything is Upside down and Inside Out, you can live Right Side Up. I’m not perfect by any means and I am the first to tell you that I struggle in the area of worry. Since that message I have purposed in my heart to exercise Luke 12: I’ll give you an excerpt and you can read the rest for yourselves. 22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. I want to continue to grow in my walk with my Lord. So, I will continue to trust Him with whichever direction He leads me.
I’m astonished when I think about how God knew me well even before I was born. Even while we were still in our mother's womb, He loved and had plans for us. He chose me.Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5 KJV)The word sanctified means set apart. So, he not only formed me, knew me, but chose & set me apart and ordained me. Therefore, I know that my footsteps are ordered by Him (Ps. 37:23). Without hesitation, I tell you that I don’t always walk where He leads me and for that I’ve spent much time repenting. Therefore, I believe that is why I have found myself here in this place once more. I say once more, as I have been here before, just not to this degree. I truly believe if we endure a test and fail it, we will have to test again. This is how we grow and our faith is perfected.
I remember a trial that we were going through early in our Christian walk…a big test! I worked at Sears making minimum wage, which was $3.35 at that time. We were flat broke. All we had in our cabinets were dishes and crystal light pink lemonade drink mix for one quart and nothing in our refrigerator. We had enough gas to get to work on the rest of week only. One evening that week, a friend called and asked if we wanted to go church with her in Onedia. She said Bro. Joey and Sis. Vicky Burns were having a revival as they were trying to get their ministry started. She picked us up and we went to church in the old Onedia Store building. To the best of my memory, Oakley Foreman passed the offering plate that night. All I had to my name was $1.47 when the Lord spoke to me to give $1. I wrestled with the Lord that night, because we had nothing to eat and only crystal light to drink. I did give that dollar. I have to admit I didn’t give it without a little worry. The next day, I went to work at 8AM with $.47 in my change purse and my ½ quart of Crystal Light pink lemonade. Around 10:30 I started to get hungry. The chip-man always delivered chips to our office every week so we kept an ample supply of Little Toms bags. If you know anything about those bags, you know they were given the right name “Little” because there wasn’t a handful of chips in them. I bought a bag for $.35 that morning. You will not believe me, but I’m telling you the TRUTH…I ate on those chips ALL DAY!!! My boss even made the comment, “You’ve eat on them chips all day”. Yes, I did. And I believe I didn’t go hungry because I was obedient to the Lord and gave that dollar. I chose to trust Him then and I choose to TRUST HIM now.
I said all that to say I started this race proclaiming my trust and faith in the Lord, my God, my Savior, my Keeper, my Shield and Buckler and I will continue on doing so. I have a long way to go, but thank God I’ve come a long way. In the times that I feel desolate, I will trust all the more for I know I’m never alone. If I believe any of His word I have to believe that he’ll never leave nor forsake me (Heb. 13). So, I don’t have to ask the question, “What are we going to do?” I know what we are going to do -- Keep trust and faith in action!
Glenda Harris
