Mona Burton

God was the Husband of Israel in that He made a covenant with that nation, as a husband would with his wife, to love, protect, defend, and to have pleasure in her. But only if she remained faithful. She was not allowed to have any other lover; no other gods, neither to worship nor to bow down to them, for she had a jealous Husband. Instead, Israel was to be committed to Him only, "...for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. The New Testament extension of this metaphor is the Church as the bride of Christ. God looks on the worship of idols and other gods as spiritual adultery and would have none of it with Israel. His command to them was, "You shall have no other gods before Me ... for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God."

To me, to bless or to praise the Lord mean to exalt Him, to let Him know how awesome I have found Him to be, to bow in wholehearted worship, with everything that is in me. Actually, it is most of what I do. At one time I was faced with a troubling situation which lasted for a long time. While praying one night, I heard the Lord said, "Just praise me." Almost immediately things began to turn around and eventually God fixed what needed fixing. Since then praise is a part of me. It means a great deal to me to receive a blessing from the One who made heaven and earth. When He blesses me, to me it is a sign that He approves of me, even if it is just a little, and that blows my mind. It means He is thinking of me, and watching me. And His blessings comes with no sorrows. What a blessing!!!

For me it is "... when brothers dwell in unity." It speaks to me of love and friendship, enjoying each others company, playing and having fun together, and in times of crisis, being there to support and help. I think lasting unity is hard to achieve in life because of the sin of selfishness. Everybody wants to be loved, supported, recognized, and esteemed by everybody else. Everybody is pulling in his/her direction, and in doing that everybody is contributing to the split in society, whether it be in the family, the church, the country, or the world. What happened to "let us ...?" Or "we are ..." I think the chief obstacle to love in my life is impatiens. When i find certain shortcomings in some people's lives, my patients run thin very quickly. Now I know that is unhealthy spiritually and that I need to get it fixed immediately.

In John 10: 30 Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." I think in claiming that they were one He was speaking of having equal power with God, of having one mind or being in complete and absolute agreement. They live in perfect unity. Jesus was distinct from the Father in several ways. On the day Jesus was baptized a voice from Heaven was heard which said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." While Jesus was on earth the Father was in Heaven. In John 12: 49 Jesus states, "For I have not spoken of Myself but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak." Scripture also tells of Jesus praying to the Father multiple times. Jesus also said that no one can get to the Father except through Him. In John 10: 38 Jesus said that He and the Father are 'one', and John 1: 1 says that Jesus was in the beginning with God and that He was God, which, to me, means that Jesus is as much God as the Father but with different roles.

In the Davidic Covenant God promised to bless David's descendants. That his reign as king would not end with him, but that his own biological son would be king after he would have died, and his kingship and kingdom, God promised to establish forever. David was promised that if his son, the king sin, God would discipline him accordingly but He would not stop loving him or disinherit him like He did Saul. God promised him that He would not only establish his throne forever, but also his family and his kingdom as well. This was fulfilled in Solomon who was David's son, and who succeeded him to the throne. God allowed Solomon to build a house for the LORD. This was fulfilled in Jesus, also known as the Son or descendant of David, whose lineage can be traced back to David through his son Nathan. This will be fulfilled when Jesus returns and take His seat on the throne of David in the New Jerusalem.

The intimate way Jesus taught His disciples about God as "Abba" and "Father" differs from the Jews' understanding of God as Father. In the Old Testament the Jews saw God as their creator, as the God of the nations and of the world, and as someone to be afraid of. They were so afraid of Him in the wilderness that they begged Moses to talk to Him then come tell them what He said and they will do it. They didn't see Him as being in a close relationship with them. On the other hand, Jesus comes along and is teaching His disciples that God is a loving Father who wants to know them, and them to know Him. My earthly father was very strict and so I had a very hard time relating to God as a Father. In my mind I saw Him just watching and waiting for me to do something wrong to pounce on me with retribution. It took a long, long time for me to truly understand that God really loves me unconditionally, even though one night when I thought I was going to die He literally showered me with His love. Now, I know that He loves me regardless of what my mind might try to tell me sometimes. I am still discovering and learning what it means to have this special and personal relationship with such an awesome Father. Because I do know for sure that He loves me, I find myself turning to Him more and more. I tell Him things about myself, I share personal things, and jokes, and hurts, and He is just so beautiful.

Demanding answers from God leads to stress when they (the answers) do not come when we want them to. When I find myself going into stress mode, I close my eyes, breathe deep, and ask Him to help me. To "hope in the Lord" means to quietly trust Him while waiting patiently on Him for His will to be done in and for us.

The formal way in which the word "father" is used in the O.T. as it relates to God, teaches us that He, as the creator, must be highly revered and respectfully obeyed. Because He created us He would be there for us, to protect us from enemies and to save us from them.. According to the quote from Otfried Hofius, the two aspects of a father that underlie our understanding of Father in the O.T. are: 1. ruling with absolute authority, and 2. guarding, supporting, and helping those who are submissive to being ruled. Because of those two factors, we should humbly submit only to our Father and be obedient to Him, for He alone is in control with absolute authority.

My heart is so full of gratitude for His faithfulness in forgiving us. Knowing that God forgives fills me with hope and joy for what lie ahead. Guilt bogs me down whenever I sin and I am so ashamed to have to go to Him like that, but because I know that a broken and a contrite heart He will never despise, I would just lay my soul bare before Him, confess my sins and ask for His forgiveness which comes with such a flood of peace. I am aware that in this life I will continue to slip and even fall sometimes - not that I want to, and I do not look forward to such times - but I know that I know that I know that my heavenly Father is always waiting with outstretched arms for me to reach up to Him so that He can pick me up again. Hallelujah!!! I am not so sure that my willingness to forgive is because God forgives us, but what I am sure of, is that if I don't forgive He will not forgive me. I have found that having unforgiveness in my heart makes me most miserable, so with Holy Spirit helping me, I try to dump that garbage as quickly as possible. I am so, so thankful for these lessons. I am learning to know God better and to trust Him more. It is as though I have just found my 'daddy' and discover that he loves me - in my heart there is a bubbling going on, an excitement. Do not get me wrong, I know all along that my Daddy loves me and has been there for me, but there is something happening in my heart, my life, as I study each lesson. My vision seems to be getting clearer each day, and so my expectancy level is growing tremendously. My hope has blossomed, and my faith is more rooted and grounded in my LORD.

An older sister of my husband lived with us for eleven years and she verbally abused me almost daily for about seven or more of those years. I pretended that it did not bother me but it was awful. About three times I told my husband about a few particular incidents without placing too much emphasis on them. He eventually found out and told her off, but that didn't stop her. One day the Lord told me to apologize to her. It was very hard, but I did. Then He told me to just praise Him. From that time things began to change. The abuse did not stop but God began to bless me openly. It was like He was "preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemy." He also gave me strength to be calm in the situation. It came to an end when my husband and I decided to rebuild our house. In the process everyone had to move. She left to go stay with another sister. When she was leaving she told me to my face that she was coming back. She said it in such a way as to make me understand that, 'don't think I am finished with you'. Before then, I had asked the Lord to let her get her own place to live, and told my husband that I didn't want her living with us anymore. He said to me that she had nowhere else to live and that she couldn't live on her own - a big woman, about five years older than him, who had been working and taking care of herself for years. Anyway, when the builders handed over the house, I moved in - my husband was working and living in the city. Very often I would go into the room he had prepared for her and pray and declare in the name of Jesus that she was not coming to live there. After I had been in my new home for about a year, my husband said to me that she told him that she was ready to come home and he told her 'no', to stay where she was, which was not with her sister anymore but by herself. That is one time I see God cut "the cords of the wicked" and delivered me from the affliction of a vitriolic tongue. I have no idea how I was freed from such bitterness other than it had to be God. I did speak to my leaders at church who prayed with me. Another thing that I used to do when we lived together, was pray that God would bless her. I asked the Lord to bless her bountifully. All I wanted in return was her out of my home ?. I have forgiven her and moved on. We speak to each other today as though there was never any friction between us. She came to my home a couple of times, but I do not want her as a live-in companion, not again?. I am thankful that I do not hate or resent her.

To "fear the Lord" means to have such reverence for Him that it inspires a desire to please Him. The 'fear of the Lord' affects the 'walk' of the believer. The way he/she dresses, the things they do, say, listen to, even places they go. The person who fears God, wants to please Him in every area of his/her life. God has showered me with different kinds of blessings. I am blessed with health - some minor pains - and strength, I am able to do all my chores. I have been blessed with the husband of my heart, two lovely children and three beautiful grandchildren with two more on the way, and a lovely home, etc. 'Things' are not my priority, but lately it seems like God is going out of His way to give me things. He has blessed me with His protection, His guidance, and His overall care for me. Along with the aforementioned, I truly consider being exposed to these lessons a great blessing from the Lord. The remaining struggles, I think, are to remind me that I need Him every moment of every day. To keep me in relationship with Him. And maybe, so that He can always have something to do for me ?. As children of God, if we truly trust Him and have the faith that He has our best interest at heart, then I think the result of that faith is prosperity. In Psalm 34 it tells us, they that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing. And in chapter 84 and verse 11 says, "...No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." We might not like the results of our faith, but once it is from God, it is for our good, Romans 8: 28, "All things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose." I define prosperity as having peace of mind, my daily needs met by a Father who loves me unconditionally, my family saved, and being with Jesus when I leave this earth.

God as a Spring of Living Water or a Fountain of Living Water for me, speaks of Him fully and completely sustaining me. It speaks of my heart, my life being immersed in His ever flowing river of life. It also speaks of me being totally whole - not perfect - and fully satisfied in Him. He is my Keeper, my Healer, my Deliverer, my Everything. 'He is my Strength, Strength like no other.' This tells me that God is awesome. Like Psalm 23 says, "The LORD is my Shepherd ...", He is beautiful for situations. And He watches over us to take care of us. God as a Spring of Living Water or a Fountain of Living Water completely quenches my thirst and at the same time leaves me panting for more. I know that once I keep drinking at this Fountain of Living Water my future is secured in Jesus.

When our focus is on work, work, and more work to accomplish the things we need and want in this life, we usually end up doing more harm to ourselves rather than good. And we do this when we look to ourselves to provide for us. As this lesson teaches, there needs to be a balance of work and rest. I believe that as we labour, we need to trust God for the increase. We can see work without trust is inadequate for we can work ourselves into the ground and have nothing to show for it, but when we work and trust God, He blesses the labour of our hands. He wants us to put Him first, "Seek first the kingdom of ..." If we obey Him we will reap the good of the land. Trust without work is not only an illusion, but laziness. God can only bless what we put our hands to do. So we can trust from now until kingdom come, if we don't work we won't be able to reap. Faith without works is dead. If we are faithful, God promised to bless what we do. We can achieve the kind of balance that affords us good rest when we do what we can and trust God for the rest. I think the psalmist stresses that children are both a "heritage" and a "reward" because: 1. heritage means that they are 'the portion' given to parents by the Lord; inherited from the Lord; they are an inheritance from the Lord. 2. reward means that when the children are grown they can now care for their elderly parents, watch out for them so that they are not taken advantage of. When they were young, the parents took care of them, fed them, clothed them, nursed them back to health when they had been sick. Now the parents get to relax and take it easy. At least some do.

I have seen God do the Stupendous miracle of which He is capable for me, and I have also experienced the excruciatingly slow execution of desired answers to heart wrenching petitions. Why does God do this? I am not sure that I know the answer. Could it be the same reason why He didn't just pick Israel up out of Egypt, which we all know He was capable of doing, but instead He set them on their 'marching' way with them thinking that they were finally free, only to glance behind and see the Egyptians in swift pursuit of them. Ahead, the Red Sea and nowhere to go either on the left or the right? Talk about feeling trapped! And why didn't God just fry Haman with one blink of His all seeing eye and done with that, instead of allowing him to plan and plot and scheme the annihilation of the Jews? We all know that Yahweh is God all by Himself, all powerful, all mighty, great and awesome. What we do know also, is that He is no magician. A magician waves a magic wand and by whatever 'power' - which is very limited anyway - does some trick or the other. But when His children are in dire trouble, as Psalm 18 reveals, our Jehovah God knows exactly when to stupendously come in and rescue us. But He also knows that in the delayed answers processing takes place, which works for our good. I think patient obedience is necessary because it is only with time one can see the true value of one's effort. The potter takes time to create the vessel of his choice. If he hurries up the process, the finished product could be irreversibly marred. Isaiah 40: 31 tells us that, "They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." When we patiently wait on God, the success of our labours and our spiritual maturity are assured. We sure can shout for joy before we receive the answers to our prayers. Even though the answers might be long in coming, we know for sure that our Father hears us when we pray, and while we are still asking, He answers. Belief/faith in God, knowing that He watches over His word to perform it can prompt us to rejoice before we receive the answer we are looking for. Our God is a promise keeper and Psalm 138 tells us that He honours His word above His name. Knowing this, we can confidently rejoice in advance of receiving our answers.

Sometimes we resist calling on God to be our helper because we either don't believe He can help us, or we are confident that we can do whatever needs being done by ourselves. We try to fix our problems by ourselves because that is our nature, to be self-reliant/self-sufficient. Also sometimes we do not trust God to come through for us. Many times we think that He will not answer our prayers even if and when we do pray. Then when we try everything we know but nothing happens, we turn to God as a last resort hoping that He will come through for us rather than by/in faith believe that He can 'do abundantly more than we can ask or even think.' If God is to be our Helper and Shepherd, then it is necessary for us to completely put our trust in Him. We have to believe that He is who He said He is and that nothing is too hard for HIm.

Yes, I believe that the path my life has taken is a clear demonstration of God's care for me as a Shepherd. When I never even thought about it, wasn't even looking for a job, God opened the door for me to be employed in the educational system where I worked for about twenty-six years. Looking back, I believe that God set it up like that for more than one reason. Number one, I think it was to have me trained as a teacher, and number two, to take care of me financially in my senior years. It is almost nine years since I am retired and I see God come through for me all the time. In this pandemic I have been able, with God's help, to assist some persons who are less fortunate. I am blessed. Almost everybody in the neighbourhood where I live know that I live by myself. Also living in the same neighbourhood at the time was a young man who had a 'penchant' for sexually harassing females older than himself. One day he came to my yard with a friend of my husband who is a mechanic and had come to fix a problem I was getting with my car. I thought he was this guy's son for he was dressed in his school uniform. He came to the door under the guise of asking for some water and went straight into a story about his private part and asked if I wanted to see it. When I talked to the mechanic about it, he then told me that this boy was the son of somebody I know form my area. Now this guy, who is five years older, taller and with a good bit of shoulders, came into my yard looking for me one day. God is such an awesome Father. Had I been at home at that time and alone as is usual, I do not know what might have happened. But my Good Shepherd knows the end from the beginning and so sees what is ahead. When I arrived home my sister-in-law called and asked if I knew he was in the yard. Then another neighbour said she saw him in the yard behaving like I was expecting him. Today he is in prison where he, along with other inmates cold bloodedly slit the main veins of another prisoner and watched while he bled to death, posting the entire thing on social media. In this lesson the Shepherd as a healer is discussed. I need my Shepherd to be my healer. I am experiencing pains about my body - fingers, elbows, legs, etc. I was told a number of years ago by a doctor that I would suffer like this, but healing is my heritage. So I am depending on my Healer. He always come through for me.

Looking back, I truly believe God delivered me from a very dangerous situation. One evening I was about to leave home to attend Bible school. I had my house keys, car key, and some scrap of garbage to drop in the bin at the gate, in my hands. I do not know how it happened, but the car key ended up in the bin. After looking around for, and eventually finding a piece of stick long enough, I was able to fish the key out of the garbage bin. I finally left home and was driving along the route to my destination. About two or three minutes away from where I was going, a small group of people had gathered, including the principal and a few of the Bible school students. I stopped and asked what had happened. I was told that a neighbourhood shopkeeper had just been shot by one of two strange men who then got in their car and drove off. On asking a couple of pertinent questions, I came to the conclusion, and the BS principal, who had called 911, agreed with me, that hadn't my key fallen into that bin I might have been at that place at the time or just in time to see the shooters walking away from the victim and probably be able to identify them. You see my car is low, my wheels are size 13, and the stretch of road in front of the shop has some terrible potholes, so I usually almost crawl along there. Could have been dangerous. I have no explanation for God's undeserved love toward me other than to say that He is love. That is His nature. He is love and so He loves me. I am aware that I don't deserve it, but I am so,so grateful for it. Well I do have a sister-in-law who for along time verbally abused me almost daily - we lived in the same house at the time. I do not hate her, but I don't trust her and my husband told me not to. She is his sister. We talk to each other now, and sometimes she would call on the phone to talk with me, even to ask for favours. It shouldn't be hard to love and be merciful to her because I do know that God used that situation to teach me to be a better person. I asked Him one day why I had to go through that and immediately He said that if I didn't go through I would not be able to help others. So now I have some work to do, for you see I have never thought of her and love together.

This psalm teaches us that it we trust Him, our Master will right our wrong. The scriptures say, "Behold the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine." "Woe unto those who offend the least in His kingdom" Our heavenly Father watches out for us to take care of us. Being contemptuous of others is a sin. We are instructed in the word of God to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. We have to treat others the same way we would want others to treat us, you know, 'Do unto others ...' I am happy to say that we have come a long way in the way we treat each other today. Things have even out a great deal from when I was a child. My country is made up of six races including the indigenous people - Amerindians, derogatorily known as 'Buck' people. At one time they were considered uncivilized and undeserving of respect. Then there are the East Indians, contemptuously called 'Coolie'. We also have the black people or 'nigga'. Over the years there have been a lot of interracial coming together in marriages and common-law relationships that produced children of all kinds of mixed races, which is so good for our society. Our problem is that we have a racial political system which feeds racism between the two largest groups of people - the East Indians and the blacks. There is a kind of subtle dislike of the black people by the Indians which comes to the fore periodically. Other than that, on the surface, everybody lives peacefully together until there is an election. In my community businesses are owned and run by people of different races. Under normal circumstances, I deal with whomever can provide the goods or services I need. When things are tense between these groups and others would boycott certain race because of what might be going on, I try to do business as usual by continuing to get the things I need from my usual providers, be they black, white, pink, or green, with a pleasant attitude.

I think Abraham was really expecting God to provide a sacrifice and was not just saying that to Isaac. The support I have for my position is found in verse five of Genesis 22, where he said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." I have received last minute provisions from God. One day I left home to go to the market. When I arrived at one of the two five-corners in the town where I live, I heard in my spirit 'go in the Ward'. Amelia's Ward is a housing scheme in this town. My daughter and her family live there. To go to the Ward I would have had to turn right, instead, I turned left and at the next corner as I turned right enroute to the market there was a traffic cop checking vehicular documents. He pulled me over and asked for my documents, and that was when I discovered that I was driving around with an expired road license. Of course I was charged and was instructed to go to court on a given date. I was praying and trusting God that I wouldn't have to pay a heavy fine because I am a pensioner and do not have a job. I went to court, and when my case was called, the magistrate warned me not to let it happen again and let me go without having to pay a fine. Another morning I was on my way to the city. When I got to the cross-road to leave the housing scheme where I live I sensed strongly to turn left, instead, I turned right and as I proceeded along the road I decided to give a nurse, who was waiting at the side of the road on transportation to take her to work, a lift, and without checking my rear view mirrors or putting on my turn indicator, I stopped right there, in the middle of the road, and bad luck for me, a police corporal on a motor bike was right behind me. Of course I was escorted to the police station where he instructed an officer to charge me for dangerous driving with instructions to attend court the next day. Well from the time the incident happened I began to pray. The next day I went to court. The court Orderly singled me out and asked what I was there for. I told him and he then asked if I was sure that I was charged. Well I was there when the charge was written up so of course I was sure. He was having none of what I was telling him, so he sent me to an officer who was sitting over to the left of the judge. I didn't want to go and was even a little angry, but he insisted, so I went. I explained to the officer what had happened and told him my name. He checked among the documents on the table at which he was sitting but found nothing with my name. He called another person and had him checked those documents he had, but he also found nothing for me so the officer told me to go back to the station to find out what had happened. On my way, going through the gate of the court yard, the officer who had written up the charge was coming in. She remembered me from the day before and said that I should have been called, but that the corporal called after he got to his office and told her to cancel the charge. To this day I have no idea why God came through for me like that when in my book I was wrong, but He did. We can expect God to supply our needs when we are unable, and do not have the means, to provide for ourselves. The only conditions to having God provide for us is to seek first His kingdom and all its righteousness, and He said all other things will be given to us.

People desert the house of God in our day for many reasons they consider legitimate. Some people leave the church citing frivolous excuses such as the members are not friendly, or somebody talked bad about them. A lot of people leave because, according to them, there is no "fun" in church. Many desert the house of God because the 'pastures look greener on the other side'. Things and money have magnetic powers that some people just can't resist, and so they leave. Many Christians believe that they can mature on their own because they know how to pray, and they know and fully understand the word of God, and that there is nothing anyone else can teach them. They are of the opinion that the Holy Spirit will teach them those things they may not know. Instead of complaining to God and others about who is preaching heresies and who is not living right, we can talk to Him about bringing peace and unity in among His people so that we can be salt wherever we are and our light can illuminate our surroundings by the way we live. We can "seek the good" of God's house by being faithful in everything we do, 'doing it as unto the Lord', having good attitudes, and serving others in love.

That God is my keeper means that He watches over me. The song says "His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me." I am here reminded of Matthew 23: 37 where Jesus said "...How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." That verse right there shows me the heart of the Father. If we are willing to be gathered as the hen gathers her chicks, then He is going to take care of us. He keeps us, He protects us, He provides for us. Psalm 34 says "No good thing will He withhold from them that fear Him." In Psalm 91 we are shown the ways in which God 'Keeps' and 'guards' us. Many attacks seem to come in the dark of the night. Especially robbery and, sickness but the children of God shall not be afraid because their refuge is hovering over them to protect and keep them safe. The adversities that show up in the day time shall not find landing place but shall fall by the thousands both on the right hand and left hand of the believers. We shall call on Him and He will answer. He will be with us in trouble. He will deliver us from every fear and satisfy us with long life.

God is my help spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally. He helps me spiritually in the area of growth: 1. where I used to read my Bible and not understand a thing, now with His help I am able to read and understand enough to feed and satisfy my inner person and still have some left over to share with others. I can also now apply what I would have understood from my reading sessions. 2. He helps me in my prayer life. There are times when I really do not feel like praying, but know that I need to. I just turn to Him and explain how I feel and how I really don't like feeling that way and He steps right in and next thing you know I am praying so easily. Physically He keeps me from sickness, from dangers both seen and unseen, from accidents. I have experienced God's help in situations when things should have gone badly but didn't because He was there. Like when my family and I were returning from my son's wedding, which was like eight hours drive to where we all live - another town. We were actually making the trip that time of the night because one of my sisters who doesn't live in this country had a scheduled flight for after three o'clock that morning, so we were going to take her to the airport, then continue on our way home - she was driving one of the cars. We were in four cars. I was the driver of the first car - it was not my car - that ran off the road after running over a half dead animal lying across the road - it was pitch black with no street lights. I was following the lead car. By the time I realized that he had bumped up on something it was too late, I was already on it - the animal - I lost control and ran off the road in what seemed to be long moments after trying to control the car. There were five of us in that car. The car was damaged but we were unhurt except for one of my sisters-in-law whose little finger was hurt. We parked that car and the five of us found seats in the other three. As we continued on our journey another car which my sister was the driving (she fell asleep at the wheel) side swiped a lamp post, swerved and headed across the road stopping on the edge of a trench. Yes I was in that car sitting on the very side that swiped the post. The car again was damaged but not to the extent where we couldn't continue on in it. Again, no one was hurt. We were able to continue on our way. The amazing thing is that when these accidents happened no other vehicle except ours was in the vicinity, or there might have been deadly collisions. I cannot remember how I came to be in one of the other two cars - my car this time (driven by one of my brothers). We were on the last leg of our journey when suddenly both tires on the passenger side of the car blew out at the same time, and yes again, I was in that same car. And as before, nothing happened to anyone, but by this time everyone was so traumatized. My mom was crying, a couple of my brothers also were in tears, not knowing what to think or how to deal with what was going on. That is when I became angry at what, to me, the enemy was trying to do and told everyone not to cry but to let us praise God with everything in us. Hallelujah! That is what we began to do. We stood on that highway and praise God. Of course by then we had to call for help. And would you believe that it didn't stop there? Help came and we started on the last lap to our homes. I was now in one of my other brother's car when about five minutes or so after we got on our way, that car started trying to run off the road. It was as if it had a mind of its own. But my brother with the help of the LORD was able to control it and eventually we got home safely. To God be the glory. And so that night and early hours of the next morning I saw God in operation as a helper and protector. Most of us could have died but God. He promised to not leave nor forsake us and He didn't. I have had about two to three pints of hot water spilled on my thigh. It stung terribly but left no blisters. My God is awesome. He keeps me safe all the time. When I face emotional turmoil He is my peace. When I am mentally stressed, He helps in guarding my mind which keeps me at times from going berserk. I find that the more I trust Him, the more He comes through for me.

God is a rock in the above verses in that He is dependable, unmoveable. The shifting sands of times may unsettle us but God remains steadfast. He is as steady as a rock. He is a hiding place, a place of refuge, a stronghold. A shelter from the storms of life. In Palestine a rock served as a hiding place for those who were trying to evade their enemies. For example one such rock was David's hiding place at one time when he was running from Saul. Also bandits used the rocks to secrete themselves in order to ambush those who would dare to travel such routes without adequate protection.

Those who live Godly in Christ Jesus find God to be their shield of protection to secure them on all sides when surrounded by enemies. He is a shield against all the fiery darts of the enemy aimed at our minds. He is a shield of peace against the storms of emotional pains suffer in marriages at the hand of unfaithful spouses. The child of God finds in Him a shield against His own wrath which is to come on the ungodly. God is our glory when we suffer afflictions for Him. He is our glory in tribulations. He is our glory when we are despised because of who we are. He is our glory when we are faced with all these things and yet 'count it all joy'. God is "the lifter up of my head" in deliverance from the snares of the enemy. In times of being downcast, or discouraged because of slander or ridicule, or you have been lied on, He is the One who restores, the One who will 'lift your head up' again, and there will be no shame. This teaches us that God can be trusted in any and all situations. That we can depend on Him knowing for sure that He has us in His sight every moment of every day. When it comes to us, we are so limited in our abilities. Without Him we can do nothing. We like to think that we are capable of managing our lives, but if we do not 'acknowledge Him in all of our ways' we can and do so easily go astray. We need Him in our corner all the time.

Stress pulls us away from God when we focus on the situation and try to fix it ourselves instead of looking to God and trusting Him to do the fixing for us. Stress draws us closer to God when we turn to Him in prayer and cry out for His help. Sometimes all I can do is cry for "help". I have found Him to be faithful. He has always come through for me. Sometimes I tell myself that I have given all the things that cause me stress over to God and then, it seems as if out of the blues, I find myself worrying about the same situation/s. Then I go to Him again and hand them over. I find that there are times when I have to be watchful and on the alert so as not to take those stress points away from God everyday. But I am so thankful to Him, and I have the confidence that He is always ready and willing to help when I call. I am asking Him to fix the things that need fixing in my family, in our homes, in our lives, and as usual, I am crying to Him for 'help'.