Scripture: Psalms 50:15

Are You In Pain?

I went to bed with the worst stomach ache ever and it didn’t get better during the night. Curled up and crying, I sat on the edge of my bed in the middle of the night. My family and friends sent me urgent WhatsApp messages, “Go to the hospital, Déborah! What are you waiting for?” But my reply in each case was, “Not until it gets worse!”

Today we’re getting down to the nitty gritty. How much longer do you want to carry this pain around with you, when you could be getting help for it? I’m talking about true help from your Father in heaven. How much worse does your pain have to get before you pick yourself up and stop fighting on your own, but bring it before God?

“Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15 NIV). This is a verse we should all know by heart!

God promises you His help, but not just like that! In fact, He is already looking forward to the moment when He will be praised by you for it! Don’t let your life be derailed first in order to praise your great God!

It is easy for God to help you! Maybe He can meet you more easily when you are in need of Him than when you’re not.

God also wants you to praise Him for His help in your life, yet we often remain silent and repress our pain, as well as the resulting praise. We even think we can somehow “get it together” on our own. But, honestly, don’t we both know that we will come crawling to God in the end anyway?

So why not go right to Him, swallow our pride, and admit to ourselves, “I need you! Now!” You know the saying, “When the need is greatest, God’s help is nearest!”

He is close to you today, no matter how long you’ve tried to manage on your own. Now you may call on Him for help… and then praise Him with all your heart!

It’s going to be a good day!

You are a miracle!

Scripture: Psalms 50:15

It Was Not Planned That Way

I was totally excited as I held the plane ticket in my hand. I was going to meet the brother of the singer Xavier Naidoo in Bratislava! He had already told me I would be performing at a big festival….

But now I was lying on the floor in the bathroom and could only scream in pain. In no time I was on the operating table in the hospital. That was it. The dream was over. I had missed the flight and this great opportunity because of it.

“Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15 NIV). This was one moment when I didn’t want to call out to God, because I was so disappointed. Why had He let me get sick right then?

Since this problem also fell on my birthday, I was doubly disappointed. However, one of the gifts from my visitors was a book with an interview with Xavier Naidoo. My eyes fell on the first question: “Do you have siblings?” And Xavier answered this question in the negative.

Afterwards it came out that this alleged brother was a brothel owner who lured young women to himself. I didn’t want to think about what could have happened to me if I’d not become very ill. In the end, this surgery saved my life.

Even if you don’t understand right now why you have to go through an unpleasant phase in your life, you can trust that God knows what He is doing. Even if you don’t understand what’s happening right now, God is fighting behind the scenes and giving you the victory!

Are you willing to continue to call out to Him and trust in your time of need? Let’s pray together about this, “Lord, I don’t understand my current situation and yes, I am disappointed. Nothing is going as planned. But today I still want to call out to You and say that I trust You to bring the best out of this phase! Thank You for that! Amen.”

You are a miracle!

Scriptures: John 14:27, Matthew 7:24-25

Before The Storm

Instead of the alarm clock, I was jolted out of bed by a phone call. The message pulled the rug out from under me: My mother was on her way to the hospital!

I jumped out of bed and rushed after the ambulance—literally, because I was still able to intercept it on the highway. How I would have loved to have been there for my mother!

When we arrived at the hospital, a barrier separated us. A few days passed before we were allowed to see her again, to find out how bad her illness really was. The worry, the fear, sleepless nights, all those were very, very real.

But just as real was this peace that God promises: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you…” (John 14:27 NIV). How many times I would look at my father and he would say, “I don’t understand it myself, but I just have peace, despite everything.”

A few days later, after my mother was finally back home, I came across this passage from the Bible and understood:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”

(Matthew 7:24-25 NIV)

We had decided BEFORE this storm to listen to God’s Word, that is, to read His Word and live by it. Because of this, our hearts were full of the truth that God is our healer, our peace, indeed our friend who can perform miracles!

If you are safe with God before the storm, He will take care of you during the storm!

That is the most precious knowledge in such moments, that Jesus will take care of you! It didn’t do any good to race after the ambulance, because Jesus was in the ambulance the whole time.

It also doesn’t help to worry about your tomorrow, because Jesus is already there! Are you trusting Him today, before you meet tomorrow’s problems?

You are a miracle!

Scriptures: Exodus 23:30, Psalms 50:15

Little By Little

Do you sometimes wonder how long you will have to struggle with your problem, how much longer you’ll have to wait for your miracle? It can be quite discouraging, can’t it?

When the people of Israel, under Moses’ leadership, were on their way to the Promised Land, God made it clear from the beginning that there would be some hurdles to overcome: “Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” (Ex 23:30 NIV)

I know we don’t want to hear the words “by and by,” or “eventually.” We would prefer “immediately.” But, I’m sure you know God doesn’t do anything by accident or even to annoy you. He loves you!

Everything He does, He does out of love! If you don’t have the solution to your problem yet, then maybe He wants to reach you first! “Little by little” He wants you to get more and more involved with Him.

You would like to have the solution to your problem immediately, but God seems to be solving it a little at a time. God wants you to trust Him right away, even while He solves your problem “little by little!”

God promised the people of Israel to lead them into the Promised Land. Yes, God promised the land of Canaan to them. God promises to save you in the verse that accompanies us this week: “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15 NIV).

The people of Israel eventually reached their goal, but maybe some of them thought to themselves, “If only I had traveled with a better attitude. If only I had trusted God along the way!”

You have a choice today about what attitude you want to have as God gradually leads you to the destination He promised to you!

You are a miracle!

Scriptures: Daniel 3, Daniel 3:17-18, Daniel 3:26-27

Why Does God Allow This To Happen?

“Why did God allow this to happen?” This is a question I am asked over and over again when it comes to the many difficult times I’ve experienced in my life.

The questioner always looks at me with wide eyes, hoping for and even expecting the solution of all solutions, which can then be applied to every hard time for every person.

Do you know what? I don’t have an answer for them. Honestly, I don’t even have the answers today. Ironically, that’s what helped me get back to living and being happy!

When Daniel’s three friends defied the king’s command to bow down to the golden statue, a story told in Daniel 3:1-30, the king had them thrown into the furnace of fire! (See Daniel 3). They didn’t stand there crying and say, “Why is God letting this happen? Why me?”

There is so much of value for us in the response of Daniel’s friends to this threat of being thrown into the fire: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)

WOW!

They proclaim ahead of time that their God can save them!

They proclaim ahead of time that they will continue to trust their God even if He doesn’t save them from the fire, because they know God is always for them!

We don’t need to know why God allows things to happen. We just need to know that God can save us! And even if He doesn’t, we have to decide to trust Him anyway! Because you know what? Even if you go through a hard time, you never go alone!

“Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.” (Daniel 3:26-27 NIV)

What an amazing story! This story can become yours! Proclaim beforehand that your God will save you! Decide beforehand that you will trust your God, even if He allows a very difficult time, because even though you may not come out of the situation unscathed, you will be changed and strengthened as you trust in your God!

God is with you and for you!

You are a miracle!

Scriptures: Psalms 69:16, Psalms 69:18, Psalms 69:4,
Psalms 50:15

Are You Being Bullied?

The 11-year-old girl looked at me, her beautiful eyes sad as she said, “Every morning I open the front door and hope this clique won’t be waiting for me, because they insult or hit me on the way to school almost every day.”

Yes, I hear stories like this often. Way too often. Even in adult life, such hurts take place very often. They may be milder, or more extreme. Where can we put all the pain, all the hardship?

Even David had experiences like this! “Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me…” (Psalm 69:4 NIV) And he doesn’t understand why either.

There is one more thing I want to share with you, on the last day of this series, and for this I will again repeat our weekly verse, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15 NIV ).

David’s prayers were not answered immediately either! He had to cry out to God over a long period of time, without experiencing his miracle, his salvation right away. Even if a lot of time passes without your answer, stay on your knees, stay in prayer.

David, meanwhile, reminded himself of the miracles God had already performed in his life, and he reminded God of the miracles He had already done:

“Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love: in your great mercy turn to me.” (Psalm 69:16 NIV ), and later he says, “Come near and rescue me; deliver me because of my foes.” (Psalm 69:18 NIV)

Today, continue to cry out to God and remember what He has done for you in the past. Then, as David did, remind Him of what He has already accomplished WONDERFULLY in your life! It is possible for Him, in His time, to perform the miracle!

Until then I pray for you, that God gives you the strength to stay strong! You are not alone!

You are a miracle!