Psalm 34:1 ‘I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth…’

DAILY READING; Matthew 13:1-23; Leviticus 17-18; Proverbs 28

When Jessica Cox was born on February 2, 1983, a startling hush filled the room. Jessica’s mother who couldn’t see her baby because of a separating curtain, anxiously asked the nurses “What’s wrong?”
A few moments later, the doctor came and gave her the shocking news; her baby was born without arms due to a rare birth defect.
However, despite the shocking news, Jessica’s parents who were Christians still believed God has a plan for their child. And with their support and encouragement, Jessica grew up learning to do everything with her feet the way normal people used their hands. She didn’t let being armless stop her. She learned among other things, to drive an unmodified car with an unrestricted license and to type on a keyboard at 25 words per minute. In 2005 she graduated from the University of Arizona and has become the world’s first licensed armless pilot. She is the first armless person to get a black belt in the American Taekwondo Association and she is also a certified scuba diver.
Currently, she works as a motivational speaker and has shared her story in over 20 different countries. In 2015, she published an autobiographical self-help book titled ‘Disarm Your Limits.’
Yet, Jessica deems her greatest triumph in life as her journey of faith! It was a journey that began with the question, “Why me?”, but ended with a trust in God’s plan and purpose for her life.

Jessica’s life serves to remind us to always trust God in those difficult moments we may be tempted to ask, “Why me?”
While God does not bring evil, He is still able to turn negative situations around to work together for the good of those who trust in Him.
Trials are not intended to weaken our relationship with God, but rather to strengthen it. Despite setbacks or disappointments, God is able to bring forth beauty out of the ashes.

Isaiah 61:3 says ‘to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…’

Indeed God has a plan to turn every mourning into dancing for you. He plans to give you the garment of praise in exchange for every heaviness.
Even though you may not see how initially, eventually God connects all the dots of the good, the bad and the ugly, to form the beautiful picture of His faithfulness. He works behind the scenes to eventually orchestrate the lines to fall for us in pleasant places. This is why we must continue to bless Him at all times. In all situations we must continue to praise God and judge Him faithful.
In the scriptures, Job went through many trials and tribulations, but in the midst of his pain Job proclaimed, “I know my redeemer lives”. And in the end God brought full restoration to Job and he went on to live a blessed, happy life.
We must always trust that God has our best interest at heart. His thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace, never of evil to give us an expected end.
Therefore in every circumstance, we must keep believing and keep hoping in God’s Word because He never fails. Our foremost concern should be to always abide in God’s will through close fellowship with His Spirit and obedience to His Word.
God never fails. As long as you stand in faith, when it is all said and done, you will see indeed that God has caused all things to work together for your good.

PRAYER: Lord, thank You for enabling me to always stand in faith and strengthening me by Your Word. No matter what comes my way, I thank you for the grace to always rise stronger and better in Jesus Name. .

Quote
True success is not verifiable in the fact a man has never fallen before but rather in the fact that he did not only fall but also got up- WORDBITE 222.