Holiday Help

So… You made it through the Thanksgiving Holiday!!! Congratulations!!!!! One more major holiday coming very soon to get through…..

Many times during the holidays those who are more fortunate see it as a time to break from work or school (Like me, pray for me yall. Finals are among us!!) and to celebrate with family or friends. For the less fortunate, however, this is a time to remember the family they don’t have, or the friends they don’t have. It’s a time to remember the emotional or financial struggles for example.

1 Peter 4:12 is one of many verses in the Bible that warns us hard times will come. Many people think that trusting in God means we will never be challenged or go through hard times. That’s not true. Don’t get me wrong, God never created us with the intention of making us go through “hard times”. Sin and rejection of God is the reason our world is so crazy. His intention was for us to walk in His presence for all eternity. His presence is where we find the peace we need.

So why am I talking about all of this?

Whether you are on the fortunate side or the not so fortunate side, there is something for you to do in this season that matters, that counts, that helps…….

Part A.

If you are on the less fortunate side and you have been struggling with depression, suicide, loneliness, etc. I want you to take out a Bible and don’t just read, but break down the scriptures and really try to understand what God is telling you. Here are a few verses to meditate on for this journey….

1. Psalms 23
2. Psalms 30
3. John 16: 33
4. John 3: 1-21

SN: If you don’t have a bible there are a number of sites that offer free Bibles!! Just google free bible mailed to me!!

These are just a few verses to meditate on. I encourage you to really sit down and read the Bible, study it, and believe it. But don’t just stop there…. I want you to do something else, I want you to TALK to God.

Did you know that God is waiting on YOU to come to Him even with the smallest of smallest problems? Does this mean that once you talk to God all of your troubles will be wiped away? No, not necessarily. It means you will not be alone. It means you will have strength to get through this. It means that yes God will move in your life. It means that you will begin to understand that God really does love you and want to protect you.

Some of you may have heard this before. Some of you may have tried God before. But I’ve found that most people who say these things have usually either put their faith in people or failed to completely put their trust in God. People will disappoint us every time, because other people are just as broken as we are. We just have to be humble enough to realize this. Most people see imperfect people in church and get deterred from God. But God is not like man.

Trusting God isn’t as easy as some people make it seem. I know for me personally I really had to ask God why I didn’t trust Him. It’s ironic right, I’m asking the person I don’t trust why I don’t trust Him, haha. But to have enough faith to even go to God is where it starts. Start asking God questions like this. Just make sure you are listening. God helped me to see how past pain from people or situations made me not trust Him because I thought God was a certain way. But after getting to know God through prayer, studying the Bible, spending time with others who are pursuing God too, etc. I discovered God for who He is, and I learned that I CAN indeed trust Him…. I’m still learning… It is a journey….

If you know there are areas of sin in your life, start there. Get rid of them. And the ones you are struggling with, humbly go before God with your struggles. We can’t pretend to want God and still keep our foot in the world. Some of our struggles are because we refuse to let go of the sins in our lives that we know are sins. There is no sugar coating this. We have to choose God and His way…..

As you seek God by faith, begin to trust Him by faith based on what you find out about God. You begin to see things differently. You will begin to find solutions, peace, comfort, joy, wisdom, purpose, identity, etc……

Part B:

Ok, now for my people who are more fortunate. I want you to go back to part A and I want you to follow the same steps…….. See those who are fortunate are no less or no better than the next person. I bet you thought I was going to tell you to give or do something for the less fortunate right? I’m not saying don’t do this (please extend your hand to those who don’t have what you do have… be it financially, through encouraging words, a warm meal, etc….). I’m saying that we have to realize that we are all on this journey called life. We all need a relationship with Christ. We all need to draw closer to Him. We all need to not depend on people or things, but start depending on and trusting God for who He is…..

This holiday season let us receive the best gift of all times and that’s a REAL relationship with God our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s the only way we can get through the hard times and even through the good without losing……

If you would like to support me during this time as I prepare to be a missionary in Africa this summer 2020 you can go to my site at Toya Goes to Africa 2020 to donate. Prayers are also welcomed!!