Chapter Chaplain's Corner

My Christian friends, despite the challenges, circumstances, contradictions and crises that you find yourself experiencing, it is critically important to recognize that God is in the midst of doing something incredible in your life. Walter Groogleman, an Old Testament Theologian once said, “God is always active in the affairs of human kind.” Which Means, God is always at work in your life, even when we cannot see it, detect it or discern it. This proclamation is an essential affirmation; without it, your faith fades, your joy withers, your peace evaporates and your hope is reduced to bitter hopelessness!

So the relevant question must be, “What do you do when things seem hopeless in your life?”  Or “What do you say when hopelessness seems to suffocate your sprit?”

You have to reassure your spirit and faith that God is working His plan for your life!  In God’s plan, He never includes any activities that will cause us to waste our lives, or squander any relevant opportunities.  In Jeremiah 29:11, God says, “For I know the PLANS that I have for YOU, plans to PROPER you and not to HARM you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE!”  In other words, God’s plan for your life is for: victory not defeat, prosperity not poverty, help not hurt, and blessings not burdens!

While you maybe sitting in the midst of your struggle, and wondering whether or not your prior mistakes will doom your future prosperity; always remember that the essential element in God’s plan, has to do with your Tomorrow, and not your Yesterday!  Yesterday is your history; you cannot revisit it, rewrite it, redo it, reclaim it, nor can you revive it!  Tomorrow is your mystery and today is your gift! This is why we call it The PRESENT!

And today is first day of the rest of your life! The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13: ”Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”  God’s plan deals with your “tomorrows,” not your “yesterdays.”  His plan is to give you a future and a hope.  In fact, God is so good at what He does, that He can take your yesterday’s MESS and turn it into your today’s miracle!... because in God’s plan, nothing is wasted! Your struggles are not wasted; your tarnished reputation isn’t wasn’t; neither are your “wishy washy” friends’ departure wasted.  So You Can Rejoice over the fact, that your: burdens, tears, set-backs, disadvantages, broken heart, irritations aggravations, frustrations and humiliations wasn’t for nothing!  They weren’t just apart of your PAST, but they were all apart of your perpetration for your purpose!

Let me prove my case, Paul says in Romans 8:28, “For we know that all things work together for our good” God is always working-out something good for our lives; whether we are experiencing the good, the bad or the in-betweens!  Everything that we go through is apart of God’s master plan for our lives.  The Earth Shattering Question… “Can you TOSS your PLANS and TRUST God’s TACK RECORD?” It is apart of the human physic to question the validity of God’s plan when we can’t see it; but you don’t have to see His plan, just trust His track record!  God has a track record of: making the crooked places straight, opening shut doors, making ways out of no ways, bring triumph out of tragedy, creating opportunity despite obstacles, allowing advancement despite of adversity, bringing life out of death, hope out of hopelessness and joy out of junk!  All you are required to do is checkout His track record!

Finally, as you move in your destiny of tomorrow, you are going to have to CUT some people OUT of your life! There are people who are close to you, but are detrimental for you.  They will continue to remind you of your “Yester-Years;” but God is saying that He knows the plan that He has for your life.  That’s why He took you through, what He took you through.  In other Words, God allowed you to be broken in all of the right places, so He could prepare you for your destiny!

So as you look into the rear-view mirror of your life, and see all of the: regrets, pains, mistakes and faults that you wished you could change, the good news for today is, whatever you went through, is over now!  Your pass: mistakes, pains and faults are all over now.  They can no longer define you!  God had to: shake you, so He could make you; allow you to hit rock bottom, so he could be the rock in your bottom; and even permit your lights to be turned-off, so He could be the Light of your world!  The fact that your survived it and is still breathing means, God is still blessing you.  So hold-on, be strong, and continue to fight the good fight of faith; because at the end of the day, God’s plan for your life will be worth it all!