Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, “Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better than that we should die in the wilderness”
Exodus 14:11-12
The above lamentations spurred from the mouths of God’s children because of their predicaments. They lashed out at Moses who was physically leading them because they had reached what seemed to be a dead end. They had just been delivered from age-long slavery and were on their way to eternal freedom, only for them to meet with a humongous sea and their long-term slave master chasing after them. They had fought, prayed, cried to the Lord for so long to leave Egypt only for them to be forsaken like this? They could not move forward, and going back to slavery wasn’t something anyone would be excited about.
About this time last year, the above story became somewhat real to me. It seemed like I was living it, I could say that I perhaps felt similar emotions as the Israelites at the red sea. I felt betrayed by my God, I felt left alone and forsaken by God. I had trusted Him so much to embark on this journey and He had been leading me all the way, I could see all the evidence that He truly was with me all the way. Only for me to be let down big time, multiple times in a row, and I became stuck! Where was I to turn to? Lord, where would I go from here? You literally brought me here. At this point, you could as well call me to glory, so I could live with you forever and finally enjoy peace. Those were the things that went on through my mind exactly this day last year.
It was my birthday and I just could not see anything to be happy about, I laid in bed all day feeling so morose. I did not even have as much strength to open my mouth. All the conversations I had with the Lord that day were in my heart. For months, I was hopeful that He would come through for me through the front. I was so full of hope but the week leading to my birthday, my hopes were dashed to multiple pieces. King Solomon sure knew what he said when he said that hope deferred makes the heart sick – Proverbs 13:12. And of course, one with a sick heart can absolutely not function optimally.
At this point, I would not make you sick with the extremely sickening experience from last year. Today, I write from a place of extreme gratitude. That very day when I felt the lowest, God showed me His unending love through a call I got. Although I expressed to this person what that call meant to me that day, I doubt that she’d know the depths of the kind of hope that call brought back to my life that evening. I literally had given up on life, on hope on anything. But she asked me a question from a place of care and genuineness. She ordinarily wouldn’t ask me that kind of question but when she did ask- it was as though God was saying to me, “I have not forsaken you, my love!” To tell you the kind of hope that came back to me, I actually left the house to get myself a red velvet cake.
My hope in the Lord was restored and I had some strength to press on with the Lord and where He is taking me to. My miracle did not come on that day, it took a couple of months of hoping, praying, working, seeking, and expressing a complete dependency on God for my miracle to come through. I am extremely thankful to my parents, who alone knew exactly what I was going through, I am so thankful that I have praying and faithful parents. Lord, on days when I could not and did not feel like praying, they kept praying for me. I am thankful for my pastor and His wife who through them, God showed me His unending love for me.
In the month of May, I met with my God who parted the red sea centuries ago for His children, He came down into my situation and parted the red sea before me. It completely blew my mind the way in which He did it. For days and weeks after my miracle, I still could not fathom it, it felt so surreal to me. I have thanked and worshipped my God, I really cannot thank Him enough. My God never forsook me, He was right there with me all through as I passed through the fire and the sea. He took me right through it all and gave me victory.
Just like His children back in the day whom He led through the red sea and through battles and fire to their promised land flowing with milk and honey. I am confident that given that we follow His lead, He would lead you and I on our journies to Canaanland. I pray that we never forget the victories He has given us in the past and I pray that we are strengthened to always trust Him and communicate with Him in Jesus’ name.
Amen
My Altar of Worship to my king