By Sister Sareatha Majors
18 “Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
I got an unexpected call from my uncle that he needed me to come to Woodbridge. I begin to contemplate in my mind, what about my Medicaid, money, friends, etc.? I forgot that prior to my uncle’s phone call, I would cry in my grandmother’s yard and travail for God to deliver me. Little did I know, relocating to Woodbridge was my deliverance.
As my uncle picked me up from the train station, and headed down Old Bridge Road, we pulled up to the traffic light and in front of me was Holiness Tabernacle Church Of God In Christ. I knew this was the will of God concerning me. When I joined the church, I was excited and redeemed. I enjoyed long suffering – learning to patiently wait on the Lord – and believe or not, I even came to I enjoy trials because I knew that God was using them to build my character.
By and by, however, I begin to fast less or cut my fasts short. I lost my joy because of my lack of consecration – and the cares of the world began to choke me. My mom warned me, “Sareatha, you’ve lost your joy,” but I ignored her. I begin to get weary in well doing. Like the children of Israel, I wanted to go back to my “Egypt,” – the very place the Lord had delivered me from.
Then the Lord spoke to me through my pastor and confirmed that there was a “spiritual leak” that was dripping in my life – through activities such as spending too much time on Facebook and too much time on the phone. I was trying to seal it on my own, but I needed God’s grace.
Today, I am reminded of what the Word of God says: in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning me (I Thess. 5:18); think it not strange concerning the fiery trails which try you (1 Pet 4:12); glory in tribulations for they produce perseverance and hope, which maketh not ashamed (Rom 5:3-4). Regardless of what you’ve been through, our disappointments were for the trying of our faith – for a God-ordained appointment.