There are times in life where we pass through valleys and it seems like God isn't present. During those times, the enemy will have us believe that God has deserted us and will not come to save us. Well, it is a lie. Unfortunately, as humans, we have a tendency to feel abandoned when our lives turn into tornadoes and the path before us lacks transparency. We also have a tendency to base the outcome of a situation based on what we currently see instead of we know to be true. According to the Word, we know that God "gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV). 

We also know that we can do “all things through Christ who strengthens us” (Philippians 4:13 NIV). It is the truth, the foundation of what we believe as disciples of Christ. That is a truth that must be so engrained in our spirits that we won't even flicker when the lights go off in our lives.

I remember when I was in the midst of a wilderness and havoc was running all through my life on every level: spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally. I couldn't catch a break. I would cry out to the Lord every night, sometimes screaming at Him, "Where are you?", "Why aren't my angels watching over me?", and "Do something Lord." I was torn, confused, and broken. Destitution plagued my life and I was nearly destroyed mentally. But through it all, I still kept attending church. I still kept believing that He would deliver me. I still kept moving.  And I still kept tithing.

What I didn't understand was while the enemy was having a field day in my mind causing me to lose my hope, peace, and joy, God was right there all along. He was the one that gave me strength to get up every morning. HE was the one that gave me the power to hold my tongue when my then job was spinning out of control with an irresponsible boss. He was the one who prompted me to get up every Sunday and go to church. He was THE ONE! He didn't desert me; he stood by me and within me the entire time. He was delivering me the entire time from the hand of the enemy even though I thought He wasn't going to deliver me. He was the ONE! And my dear, if He stood by me though the enemy was running havoc in my life, He will surely stand by YOU. In fact, He is standing by you right now. Forget what it looks like; I know it may be hard to take your emotions out of it, but try. God promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us in Deuteronomy 31:8.  And that is a foundational truth you must understand and believe in your heart, mind, and soul. Though the enemy may attempt to trick you as he did with me, it's important to know that truth so when he throws a trick at you, you can immediately throw that scripture right back at him. Believe it. Accept it.  You can't change that fact; it's certified gold in His faithfulness. So take courage into your heart. As the Lord told Joshua, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. " (Joshua 1:9 NIV).  No matter what it looks like or how you feel, He is there. Stand firm on the truth.

About the Author: A St. Louis native, Jerrica Patton is a model, musician, and inspirational speaker.  Though hearing impaired from birth, she has managed to set out to see her dreams come true despite her hearing loss such as walking in New York Fashion Week for several seasons. Jerrica is determined to live out her God-given purpose in inspiring others, particularly young girls and women to live authentically in who God-created them to be and to pursue their dreams in spite of any challenges they may have. Her life motto that she lives by is:  if a door doesn't open, find another one.

I started a lengthy process the other day.  I began organizing my closet.  It went as expected: I found articles of clothing I forgot I even had-some with tags, I found some clothing that was too small, I found some I am sure I will never wear again, and lastly I found some that were donated but were not for me to begin with.  What the last three points all have in common is this: they never would have been considered or removed if I had not initiated the task.  Like my closet, I noticed some things in my life as of late that were in need of some dire and thorough consideration.

This “reorganization” process mirrors what any person seeking growth experiences.  Take for instance the clothing I forgot I had.  There are some Christians who may be aware that God loves them and wants his best for them but have forgotten the power they have by the authority in the Name of Jesus.  In my experience I forgot that there are some issues that I don’t have to deal with- all I have to do is take authority over them in Jesus’ name and move forward. Just like the clothes with the tags on them, we don’t always know what we already have.

As a freshman I came to NC Central a size 3, 115 pounds.  Ten years later I’m about four sizes larger, x lbs heavier.  I’ll be frank: there’s nothing I can do with a size 3 other than look at it and flashback.  Therefore, imagine my surprise when I noticed a size 4 skirt in my closet.  I literally laughed.  That should have been either disposed of or given away several years ago but somehow it managed to make it into my closet after moving from dorm to dorm and apartment to apartment.  Consider the parallel: there are some things in our lives that should not still be here, and I dare add “some people.”  We have outgrown some ways of doing things, we have outgrown some people but for some reason we look up and these persons and things are still in our lives.  They are not beneficial in anyway, just taking up space from some article that actually belongs there.  Depending on the context of our experiences it may or may not be fun to flashback to those people or things but there is nothing else we can do with those articles but “flashback.” Very much like clothes, some things and people are seasonal.  They are not appropriate for where we are or may be headed.  A tank top is not adequate in the winter, and a sweater is a hindrance in the summer.

Another fact about me as a NCCU freshman is this: I was a party girl.  If the club was open I was there; it didn’t matter the time, the club location, or the theme.  I take that back, the only time I did not club was on New Year’s Eve.  That was only because my religious self would not allow me to be in a club when I knew that God kept me safe for a whole year (how foolish).  So, in my closet I found a few halter tops and cat suits.  Now, how in the world they managed to make it this long is beyond me.  I’m sure that I will never, ever need them again so why was I holding on to them?  Unlike the clothes I mentioned in the previous paragraph, these clothes weren’t even good for flashing back.  They served absolutely no purpose in my closet.  They were only a reminder of who I was and will never be again.  Kind of like old CD’s, old photos, or old habits.  Case and point.

Lastly, and my personal favorite:  the clothes that I should have never taken.  The clothes were never for me.  These clothes were given to me by others who believed it was a nice gesture, or that they would look nice on me, some I honestly believe, just wanted to get the clothing out of their own closets (No pun intended).  I did not have to accept them. Even more importantly, I did not have to keep them.  This idea is probably one of the most liberating to me.  There is an old adage: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”  I personally like the remix of it: “when life gives you lemons, throw them back.”   There may have been times that you have been handed situations beyond your control, situations you would not have picked for yourself, specifically things you did not deserve.  Whatever the case, you don’t have to keep those things in your closet.  Have an open conversation with God and let him have those things.  Will to forgive others and move on. 

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,..(Hebrews 12:1)” Do not continue to hold on to things that are not for you, things that hinder your progress or growth.  Check your closet.  Assess where you are spiritually and decide what needs to be moved out, replaced, or trashed.

About the Author: Marisha Mathis is a spoken word poet, blogger and writer; just like every one

else, a product of grace with a story to tell.   After several years and transitions she has looked within herself to find who she truly is. So far, its she’s been established to be a plain Jane that has a passion for God, art, and helping others.  As a result, God has given her the gift of writing to use all three to sow hope, healing, and encouragement. You can read  more from Marisha at www.loveverbage.tumblr.com 

I've spent quite a bit of my life worrying about being safe. Not always physically; I'm a scrapper,

after all. But more so emotionally. I've rarely felt safe emotionally, and to get me to trust you takes a lot of work. I've gotten better because of Jesus, and working through my past, but I'm still cautious.

And rightfully so. Have you met some of those people out there? 

The quote is from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It's my favorite out of the whole series. Lucy (the youngest) is speaking to Mr. Beaver about Aslan whom is the representation of Christ.  I was always taught Jesus was safe as houses; sweet, wonderful, and nothing bad ever happened. They were all blatant lies meant to not scare children of course. Which I understand. No, really, I do. But kids can handle a lot more than we give them credit for. We shouldn't sugar coat what Jesus does for us. However, that's another post for another day.

As Mr. Beaver says Aslan is not safe, he is good. Psalm 86:5 says, “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.” And Psalm 119:68 says, “You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.” Our God is good! He is unconditional in his love and salvation. In the book of Psalm the scripture “Give thanks to the Lord; for he is good, his love endures forever” six times. He is unwavering in his protection and guidance. There will be times of trouble when the boat rocks during the storm.  There will be times when we run to him as a refuge.  There will be times when we feel we can’t hear him, when we can’t feel him, when we’re completely alone.  But even in those moments, he is there!  He never leaves us, nor forsakes us (Deuteronomy 31:6). 

He is the King. That is where my heart is settled, and that is where my peace lives. Is he safe? No. But He is good!

About the Author: Aimee is a 34 year-old student pursing a degree in English.  She would like to be
a full-time fiction writer someday, and she enjoys editing as well.  Aimee grew up in church but didn’t become a Christian until the age of 20. Aimee lives in the sunny state of California with no pets, but follows several dogs on Instagram.  If you’d like to follow her on IG (she’s rather hilarious, or so her friends think) her IG is aimeebethbryant.

James 2:18 "But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

If we say we have faith in God then we must live as we do. If we say we believe we are a new creation, born again, dead to sin, then as children of God, our actions, thoughts, motives, everything we do should be evidence of our faith.

 
From the way we give our lives over to him 100 percent. You see God desires to have all of you, not some of you. He wants to be included in everything. He wants you. From what time you wake up, to what time you go to sleep at night. He cares about what you eat and how you take care of the body he has given you. He cares about what you wear in and outside of your home. He cares about where you live and where you work. Who your friends are, where you go to school. Where you go on vacation. How many children to have. When to speak, when to stay quiet. How to love him and how to love others.

A verse of encouragement-Hebrews 12:11 "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

About the Author: Andreana Barfield, loves the LORD.  She is married and has a 2-year-old daughter. Andreana is also a first generation Haitian American.  Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, she currently works as an activities coordinator in a Social Adult Day Center.  Andreana enjoys reading, writing and seeing where the LORD takes her next.

Today I wanted to share something that is very intimate to me. Something that many might know but can’t understand.

I was 16 years old when I became pregnant with my oldest daughter, Evelyn. I was young, inexperienced and immature. I had chosen to sin against God and my parents and made a choice to have sex before marriage. The results of that was a child. A child that never asked to be brought to this earth, yet was on its way. Being 16 my reaction was honestly… It’s not a big deal. I thought to myself . Ok, I made this choice knowing the outcomes and here they are. Now it’s time to stop crying and deal with it." Easier said than done.

You see my parents were pastors and they had sat me down and explained fornication but now what I had done in God’s eyes, I sang and played drums/bass in the worship team and was sat down until I fixed my sin. This is the proper way to do it. (Christian parents please know it’s more than singing or playing its ministering to people of God. If you know your child is deep sin you should sit them down until they have fixed it with God)  Anyway, the options were should I abort the child? Many came to this conclusion and I just couldn’t even imagine doing that. Should I give the child and place it up for adoption? That’s what some suggested still to the day of my daughters birth. I just knew I had to take responsibility for this soul and learn along the way. Should I give the child to my parents so I can live my life? WHAT life?! I would not be able to function knowing I had a child I wasn’t taking care of. Should I ask my then “baby daddy” to take her? Not at all. These are all ways I’ve seen parents handle their teenagers when caught in this sin. I know this is very unpopular in our world and I know many would consider themselves better parents that mine because of their decision on how to deal with my fornication. Marriage. 

“How dare they choose for a 16 year old what’s best for her, clearly she’s smart enough to to make good decisions!” Right? Ha! I wish more parents would chose what’s best for their idiotic 16 year old’s. “That’s the pastors family?!” I would hear. “I would never allow my child to have sex before marriage!” Some said, that was my favorite one since these people clearly thought my parents gave me the green light to sin. These people didn’t realize I’m a sinner too. I made these choices when my parents thought I was in school. They never let me out of their sight. My only time was school. At 16, kids are selfish. I was never one to be selfish about things but still the decisions I made, were clearly out of my own fleshly desire not thinking of my parent’s ministry that they later lost partly because of what I did. That’s selfish. Try caring that on your shoulders.

My parents with all wisdom and faithfulness to God did what they saw to be right and went to the court house and asked the judge to marry me to someone I hardly knew. 4 months to be exact. The judge, since I was 16 had to choose. Not my parents. She did a background check on his family and mine and determined I should not. But my parents asked her to let them do what’s right in God’s eyes and she said yes. So there I was, 16, pregnant and married to a guy I hardly knew and who also wasn’t Christian oh and who was of a different culture and age. How was I going to win? By the time my daughter was born January 10th 2008, I was 17 and five months married. Didn’t know how to cook, I thought my apartment was “clean”. I had no idea what to do as far as being a wife to someone so different from me. So you might ask “why did your parents make you get married? And are you resentful they did that?"
As a Christian I understood fornication. Sex before marriage. I understood what God had said about the topic. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. So knowing this, I knew the baby wasn’t a sin. What I had done was a sin.

The bible says to repent and confess. When I found out what I had done, what it really meant my heart hurt, I couldn’t breath, I felt a pain in my heart for what I had done. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Having a relationship with God again made me understand and what I had to do. I wasn’t perfect all of a sudden I just understood what I was to do as a wife and mother but still had much to learn. I was to be responsible for the baby and to be of an example to my unconverted husband of age 19. My husband not being Christian and me now being could have been an excuse for me to get rid of him and on with the next. But that’s not how God works. We must be wise and fight for our homes until the very last day. 1 Corinthians 7:13-14 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. Not a very popular way to see things but this how God was telling us to do things. This is how I believe any Christian believing wife should handle it first. Now, do I hold it over my parents head that they made me get married? Absolutely not. Proverbs 20:7 The righteous who walks in his integrity blessed are his children after him. 

My parents knew what to do and I had to honor that. Up until then I made decisions on my own that lead me where I was. I’m thankful. If it had been up to me, I would of never gotten married and my husband would of never known Jesus and I would of never learned to be responsible, I would of never learned that there are consequences to my actions, I would of never stopped being selfish, arrogant, bratty and disrespectful. I would of never learned to love God the way I do and that sometimes tough love is needed but trusting God and being faithful is always good and he is just to bless the marriage that is fixed. To be clear I don’t judge single moms and I believe an abusive relationship is no relationship and would NEVER condone anyone to marry an abusive man. Men addicted to drugs and alcohol, only God can work in that if they open their hearts to him. Or if they leave you. But the Christian excuses I hear are not of God. We had EVERYTHING going against us. Our age, I was 16 he was 19. I was a new Christian, he didn’t know who God was or why I was acting “different”, our race, he was American and I was Mexican, many of the things we saw were a BIG deal he thought were normal. Racism, I was called a dog because he mixed his race with me. All this and more and we had NOTHING in common but our sin.

The only thing that brought us together was GOD. But because I was faithful to God in being of example Chris opened his heart to God. This took 4 years by the way. Fixing our sin he was faithful to us in leading us, cleaning us and preparing us to where we are. I can’t imagine life without my daughters, without my husband, I couldn’t imagine where I would be. As I look forward to turning 25, September 29th. I look back at our short 8 years of marriage how much God has restored, renewed, fixed, and loved us. How my parents decision was the start to my happy life in Christ. To my husbands coming to repentance and restoration. To our family and the future we will create. I pray today that if you’re single because a man left you with a child that you will seek God’s will and forgiveness If you’ve sinned like I and you’ll see how God will lead you to a life of marriage one day.

If you’re a teen mom to not give up and look to the one who knows your name, surround yourself with Godly women who will guide you. If you’re a parent who knows God, to pray for wisdom and do his will and let us not be like the priest Eli who never corrected his son’s and look how he ended up. Never be afraid as a parent to do the Lords will even if your kids don’t agree or like it. Better is to please the lord and not men. I pray we may encourage younger woman to wait until marriage. To encourage those unequally yoked to be their spouses salt and light. I love Gods ministry of restoration. This is just a little bit of what God has done in our life’s and I hope its of blessing.

About the Author:  Ana Nelson is now 24 years old and married to her husband Chris. They have two daughters. She loves to cook, garden, run and be of help to other young women. Ana says its by God's grace that she and her husband have been married since she was 16 and she wishes she would have had the help she has now, at that age. Her wish is to help young women in a world that ridicules Christian women and their calling. Read more from Ana by visiting her blog, "Soft Hearts, Strong Minds."