Psalm 30:11-12 ‘Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.’
DAILY READING Matthew 27:32-66; Deuteronomy 7-8; Job 7
In her book titled ‘The Inspiring Story of a Girl without a Country,’ Aggie Hurst tells an amazing true life story of God’s faithfulness. Her parents, a Swedish missionary couple, David and Svea Flood, had in 1921 gone to N’dolera, then part of the Belgian Congo in Africa, to reach the region for the Lord. However, on arrival at the village, they met stiff resistance from the local chief who refused them access to the people. The only contact which the chief allowed was a boy who visited them twice weekly to sell chickens and eggs. Svea Flood eventually led this boy to Christ and he became their only convert. Soon after, she had complications when giving birth to her daughter, Aggie, and died. Her husband David was devastated. Deeming their missionary trip fruitless, he gave up the newborn baby girl to another missionary couple and returned to Sweden. From that moment he began to backslide and eventually turned his back on God. However, little Aggie, brought up in America by a missionary couple, grew up and later married a minister of The Gospel, Davey Hurst. Surprisingly, one day in a magazine she read about a great minister of the Gospel in the Congo who was celebrating how a missionary couple, David and Svea Flood, had greatly impacted him. This minister was the little boy that used to sell chicken and eggs to the David and Svea flood. He had been used by God to lead more than 600 villages to Christ and also became the superintendent of their national church with well over 110,000 baptized believers.
Aggie excited about this story of her parents, decided to travel to Sweden to find her father, whom she had not seen since she was a baby. She did find him, and after introducing herself to her shocked father, she showed him the story in the magazine. From the great things God was doing in the Congo, David Flood realized that their labour in the Congo had not been in vain and that God had indeed been faithful. He repented and rededicated himself to The Lord.

No matter the situation, don’t easily grow weary in the battle and think that things are not working for you. No matter what you may have lost, keep blessing God for what you still have left. God works in ways you may not immediately fathom, and He knows how to take what may seem inconsequential and multiply it beyond your wildest imaginations.

Ephesians 5:20 says, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In every situation we are to give God thanks. When one door closes we trust He will open another. We don’t keep crying over the closed door. We do not allow what is happening to control how we feel.
Do not look at what you may have lost in the course of the year; rather bless God for what remains. And when you do, He will multiply that remnant beyond your wildest expectations. A wise man said if you have lost anything, God is the reason why you have not lost everything. Rather than complain or murmur, let us continue to bless God for His marvelous doings. Don’t let the happenings around you tamper with the joy within you.
Indeed God is too faithful to fail, so let us keep giving Him thanks in all things. Even when we may not see it, we have to trust that He is still at work. And if we refuse to be weary in well doing, soon we shall see the manifestation of His goodness.
No matter what may be happening, continue to judge God faithful, continue to walk by faith and not by sight. Every problem has an expiry date, every storm runs out of rain. Those times when it seems things will never work, may just be the very place and time that the tide will turn in your favor. It is often when you are closest to your breakthrough that the night seems the darkest. But then, though weeping may endure for a night, joy is coming in the morning. This is why we praise God at all times, knowing that He is at work even though we may not immediately see it.
We are close to the end of the year and everything may not have gone the way you envisaged it; still keep believing God to do great and mighty things for you. It is not over until God says so. Engage the weapon of high praises for a forceful turnaround. Be radical with your praise. If you can do the ridiculous, you will see the miraculous. Indeed when you offer high praises to God, He will take you to your high places, He will raise you out of the valley and turn your mourning into dancing.
PRAYER: Lord, please help me to praise You always despite how contrary things may sometimes seem around me. Thank You, Lord, because I know that indeed despite everything, this year shall surely end well for me in Jesus’ Name.
QUOTE
It takes a heart for God to make a mark in the sands of time. – WORDBITE 201