Choices

"Remember my child, when you walk through the valley,

I will never leave or forsake you, I will not leave you

comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn or helpless and

when you pass through the valley of weeping, I will make

it a place of springs and blessings when you draw your

strength from Me (Jn 14:18; Ps 84:6).

Never forget My Goodness, I am Good all the time, even

when you don't understand My plans for your life.

Bring Me glory by keeping praise on your lips.

And my child when life is hard and the storms come,

don't be afraid, for I have ransomed you; I have called

you by name, you are Mine. When you go through deep

waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you

go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When

you walk through the fire of oppression you will not be

burned up for I am your God and your Saviour.

I will never leave you or forsake you, no-one can snatch

you out of My hand! If I be for you who can be against

you? Nothing can separate you from My love!

(Isa 43:1-3; Heb 13:5, Jn 10:28, Rom 8:31,39)."

God of the Impossible.

Can I share this story as a testimony of the goodness of God! I first must give a bit of the background of how this all started! In 2013 I had a situation with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC). For some years they did not have access to my water meter reading...I would phone my reading in but to no avail as they just ignored it and estimated my reading way over what it was. I was not concerned as I thought well when they do get the correct reading I'll just get a credit hahaha!!! Well that did not happen! They did eventually read my meter but refused to give me a credit of U$279. So I refused to pay my bill until this was sorted out! The manager in the water section point blank refused to credit me so then I went above him to the main guy in the Tower Block, the Financial Director. Unfortunately, I later discovered, this action would make me an enemy of BCC (as I was definitely being victimized, I discovered several times others with much higher bills did not even have water cut off)! He did eventually credit me with U$79 saying the U$200 was given to me as a govt directive rebate (which most people got some amount back) just two months before all this happened.. just my bad luck!!! But by now my BCC bill had mounted up and I was unable to catch up which put me in a worse situation with them! I then went through a series of water disconnections... and then a series of legal summons (3 in total) along with legal fees and one week to pay a large amount or go to court... I now became an enemy of the legal department which made Mr... look like a fairy in comparison haha! After suffering several years with this problem, during a time of prayer, on 16/1/15, I felt the Lord said to me "my BCC bill will be cut in half". At the time I thought it meant I would only pay half of my debt? I wasn't sure yet of the interpretation so I just wrote it down, dated it and left it at that. It wasn't until another several years that I heard of a situation, from two different sources, that BCC were offering a payment plan! Both friends told me they were cutting the bill in half and if you paid that half you could get the other half written off i.e. a 50% rebate! Wow I immediately thought this is what God was talking about so I went to see them but to my disappointment this only applied to commercial properties and not residential. But at that same time they also had a payment plan for residential too which was actually a very good deal! They said they would SPLIT your bill into two! Your current bill would be reduced to your normal monthly bill then the outstanding debt owed would be put into another separate account, called a "parked account", which would no longer accrue any interest, legal fees or any other extra charges! Wow so I thought well I'm definitely going to apply for that (as all those "extra" charges had already mounted up to nearly U$400!!!). So I saw a very nice lady in the creditors department who worked out my payment plan by taking my debt of U$1280.29 and dividing it by 24 months which came to U$54 a month plus my current bill of about U$53 a month which totalled U$107 a month over 24 months. She said I had to first pay the U$107, bring the receipt back then she would put it through the computer etc. But then to my utmost horror she then says "Oh sorry I see you are under the legal department you will have to see them and do it through them!" OMG I was devastated and so disappointed as I knew I would have a problem with them (from past experience), maybe they might not even allow me to do it? I went home really discouraged and confused...what did God mean that my bill would be cut in half? Was it this payment plan or did He have some other way? I still wasn't sure so I did what Joyce Meyer often says "Step out to find out" in other words you take a step towards that door to see if it will open! If it doesn't then usually God is not leading you in that direction. So the next day on 30/4/18 I went back, paid the U$107 tried again with creditors department they insisted I go to legal department so I did and saw Mr... Yes I was right I had a problem! He told me that because this payment plan had already been available for several months he would work it out over 19 months and not 24 which brought my figure up to U$122 (U$68 + U$54) a month, which I knew I could not afford! He gave me a long explanation and talked a lot, I just nodded and kept quiet! He then brings out a contract form which I had to fill in...in the space that said over how many months I wrote 19 but in the space that needed the amount per month I wrote U$54 (not U$68) which miraculously (God intervention) he NEVER noticed...he then entered it all into the computer, signed the contract and handed it over to his clerk! Wow I was now on their payment plan but because of the contract I could NOT default or would be back in trouble! Ok now I have to explain our financial situation in Zim for those outside the country who will find this very difficult to understand haha! I'll try and be brief!!! Up to around 2002-2003 we had our own Z$ but inflation started and I remember they had a Z$500 note then a Z$1000 note. Shortly after that they brought out an additional temporary "standby" to the Z$ called the "bearer cheque" but because of excessive printing, inflation soared, quickly bringing it into trillions (counting all the zeros was mind blowing!). Then after the disastrous year of 2008 (NB a Shemitah year!) when shops were empty (which was caused by a "task force" forcing shops to reduce prices), it all collapsed and in Feb 2009, with GREAT relief, they announced we would now trade in US Dollar and SA Rand. So from 2009 we were mainly using U$. We experienced 7 years of complete financial freedom (no longer any forex restrictions), for the FIRST time in countless decades! Then as a reporter said, "the greatest heist of the century" occurred! At the end of 2016 we were very, very cleverly conned! Because there was a huge cash shortage, they announced "Oh we will print a local currency called the "Bond Note" so that it will ease the cash shortage and you will also have change" (as they first minted coins) "And we PROMISE not to mint more than 200 million worth" haha! Yes you're right they did print more $2 & $5 notes (another $400m)... then all the "real" money, i.e. hard currency, was externalized! We were then left with Monopoly money which can only be used in Zim! Now that we had a mixed currency, one real and one fake this immediately put a stop to our forex freedom - we were no longer able to use visa and master cards outside the country as before. When the Bond Note was introduced it was brought in at the same value as the US Dollar 1:1. Strangely enough inflation did not go up as quick as before and stayed pretty stable for a couple of years! The Bond started to devalue against the U$ towards the end of 2017 and was trading (on the streets, the Black Market) for 1.15-1.2 to U$; in 2018 at 1.25-1.3; Sept'18 at 1.7; Oct'18 at 2. Then for about 3-4 months stayed at 3-3.5...then from May'19 started to climb from 4, 5, 7.5, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20 to currently Nov'19 = 21:1. A side note here...shops and businesses have to buy U$ on the streets in order to import more goods, in fact even the Reserve Bank has to buy U$ in order to pay for external services such as electricity as not enough forex is available through normal means. We have very little revenue coming from exports and in fact what is keeping Zim afloat at present is the forex being sent home by the Diaspora.. Shops and businesses very quickly had to increase prices according to the black market rates or suffer huge losses! Medical expenses and even pharmacy costs soared & were even asking for payment in U$ (govt stopped this in Jun'19) but fortunately utility bills never increased! Only in Sept/Oct'19 did Zesa and BCC increase their charges which against U$ rates are still very low i.e. my BCC bill is now actually only U$4 equivalent! Those on other hand earning the RTGS Bond are complaining bitterly and many are on point of poverty, not being able to even afford grocery prices! 2/ last month they said they are printing new Bond Notes (different to current ones). Have no idea why or how it will affect inflation? Remember the more "fake" notes that are printed, the higher and quicker inflation rises! Sorry the reason I had to explain all of that is because it is the whole crux of my story! At the beginning of paying my debt off the Bond was not much more than U$ trading at about 1.15 (which meant you got $15 extra Bond on U$100). At that time I had a temp job and my boss helped me to make those first 3-4 payments to BCC. But shortly after that the rates were slowly climbing so I was able to pay my monthly amount for one year! Then the rates began to climb more quickly and I was even able to pay extra the following month...two months later I made my last payment in Aug'19. Paying it off, not in 19, not in 24 but in only 15 months wow! Now being debt free! It was only yesterday when I sat down and did an exercise of the rate I got against the U$ for each monthly payment, working out the equivalent U$ amount... that is when I realised what an incredible miracle God did for me!!! The total amount that I paid back to BCC was in Bond Notes, but the equivalent amount in U$ was U$368.37. This amount is NOT half (like the 50% rebate) but it is actually just over a third of the original amount I owed!!! Wow can you believe that???? Even with stealing my U$200 and with U$400 over charges I still paid U$864 less than my original debt!!!!! WOW!!!!!!! I would be amiss if I did not add the spiritual lesson that I learned during this whole process! James 4:10 & 1 Pet. 5:6 are pivotal here! "Humble yourselves under the hand of God, and in due season He will exalt you." He will exalt you above your difficult circumstances if you first humble yourself, under His hand no matter how long it takes. Humility means we do what God says whether we like it or not and we stay where He has put us whether it is comfortable or not. We do not try to squirm our way out or use some fleshly method to free ourselves, instead of waiting patiently for God to do it. That will only make things worse anyway! Many times when we are facing hardships we angrily think that God has forgotten about us or just doesn't care about what we are going through! But on the contrary, it is those very difficult circumstances, "the rock and the hard place", that He uses to mould & shape us (the Potter and the clay, it is only after the pot has been in the kiln can it be a usable vessel) into better and stronger characters. Without trials we would be nothing more than just "jelly beans" with no backbone and certainly with no desirable qualities! If you will do it God's way and learn patient endurance (Isa. 41:10; Jam. 1:2-4; Rev. 3:10) while going through the hardship there will be a time when He will bring you out and not only that but you will also be rewarded! And you will be very pleased with the end result. S.J.

Thursday, 15 December 2016

Word Seeds

Just lately I've been despondent & discouraged by hard, harsh & sometimes even cruel actions & comments by so called friends & have even thought well maybe I should just keep quiet & not say anything (as there is another important issue I wanted to share about the Jubilee)!!! But isn't it amazing how your own words will come back to you like a boomerang (for good or bad) like the saying, "You will eat your own words". Prov. 18:21 puts it so perfectly "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it (for death or life)." Yesterday we were being taught on sowing & reaping... one of my favorite subjects which I have written a lot about over the years! It's a life principal that I've tried very hard to follow (still getting there haha) and Matt. 7:12 is the key to it ALL "Do for others what you want them to do for you..." TLB. Jesus wasn't trying to get us to be kind to each other haha oh no, He is teaching on the law of sowing & reaping here and it's a warning... God is not mocked what you do to others WILL come back to you (Gal.6:7)! Ok I got a little side tracked there... I wanted to add something from yesterday to my notes and came across this amazing statement that I had written years ago about words being seeds, while on the subject of the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:18-23) and the four different types of soil, representing the human heart and it's condition... "It is not our responsibility to see where the seed falls but only to be the continual sower of the Word, constantly sowing and scattering the seed and speaking the Word of God". Those were the "boomerang" words that I needed to hear today!!! You will note that 3 out of the 4 types of soil represent "hard hearts" only one type was "good, fertile soil". Again we are still to sow the Word seed even if only a very few will receive it! I once had an amazing picture... I was planting 3-4 seeds in the ground I then watered them and watched them grow into huge trees, bearing much fruit. When I looked again to my surprise behind these trees was another row of trees, then another, then another and another until I saw a huge orchard. Even if only 3-4 seeds fall in good fertile soil, those 3-4 will also sow seed and produce fruit themselves (in their circle of people)... then those too will plant more seed and so it continues to grow into a huge orchard. Yes there will always be the envious haters, backbiters & even slanderers out there who will do their best at trying to stop you! But just remember haters are always "benched" God will never use them, they will get to sit and watch while you play in the game of life & win all the goals and rewards!!! So be encouraged never give up always speak the words God puts in your mouth (Isa 59:21) as words have creative power for the positive or the negative (we can bless or we can curse), this is what differentiates us from all other creation. They are extremely powerful but also wield great responsibility (Matt. 12:36-37, James 1:26).

Wednesday, 2 November 2016

U.S. Elections 2016

The U.S. elections that will be held next week are going to be the most interesting, most important and most shocking of all time? I heard Pastor Perry Stone say recently that there will be an exclamation of “What…how did this happen?” Unexpected turns of events are going to happen that will cause this reaction? Also last year in August, on Sid Roth’s program, he interviewed Glenda Jackson and she gave a profound prophecy that said-: “The U.S. elections in November 2016 will not take place. It will be suspended because evil will arise and some disasters will happen and the President will not be removed but will be required to stay in office.” Of course we will all have to wait and see how this is going to turn out but my own studies that I have done on “The Four Great Beasts” could also strongly suggest the same outcome? Four world empires that Daniel predicted in Dan. 7:3-7 are also shadow types of future, present day empires…for example the Babylonian Empire is a shadow type of the U.S.A. (lion with eagle’s wings). The Medo-Persian Empire – present day Russia (bear with 3 ribs) and Grecian Empire – the Middle East (like a leopard). But interesting to note the fourth empire (Roman Empire), a composite of the 3 previous ones, is described in more detail by John in Rev. 13:2. “And the beast that I saw resembled a leopard, but his feet were like those of a bear and his mouth was like that of a lion…” Notice all three same animals are represented again and if we look at the symbols and their meanings we come up with an interesting conclusion? 1. body = temple = religion – leopard (small but swift) = Middle East 2. feet = dominion – bear (large, all devouring) = Russia 3. mouth = authority – lion (king of beasts, strength) = U.S.A. Now to put this all together…this beast has the religion (body) of the Middle East (Islam), the dominion (feet) or backing of Russia and has the authority (mouth) of a king. At the moment the statement of “backing of Russia” doesn’t add up as there is much in the media at the moment about Russia, war ships, submarines, nuclear war threats and possibly another “Cold War” with much tension between the two superpowers! An interesting thought though, this tension has only arisen now that a new president is about to be elected – that’s strange? But another very interesting study on numbers makes me totally convinced? We are currently on the 44th president – the 45th about to be elected or maybe not? The number four is the number for earth – kingdoms, nations and continents…the double 4 could represent the whole earth, the entire world? In Daniel 2:41-44 he describes the final kingdom of 10 toes, mixed with iron and clay, that will rule on earth and will control the entire earth (Dan. 7:23-24) and ultimately will be ruled by one leader over all the 10 rulers. This final empire or “One World Government” is known as the “New World Order”. Whew I’ve written a whole, very interesting chapter, on that alone…you are getting just a very brief snippet here! We are certainly living in the final chapters of this age and are seeing prophecy about to be fulfilled right before our eyes. So yes this election is a very crucial one and depending on the course of events, may reveal the beginning of all these prophetic fulfillments?

Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Storms of Life

We should not despise the storms of life even though they bring great upheaval and destruction! Storms uproot and bring things to the surface that would never normally be seen. Often people in our lives pretend to be devoted friends or acquaintances but underneath lays currents of hatred, jealousy, disloyalty and betrayal (Ps. 55:8, 12-16, 21). It is only a storm that will bring these underlying deceits to the surface where it is in plain sight for all to see and what was truly in their hearts is now exposed and the truth revealed. It could be that this person was even blocking or holding back the blessings that God was trying to release into our lives and in order to expose this He had to allow a storm to uproot it? Remember God is able to turn every situation around for our good (Rom 8:28) even though at the time it seems like a disaster! As long as we stay in the secret place of the Most High (Ps. 91:1-11) and remain stable (don’t stoop to their level, keep your heart pure) you will be protected from evil plots and curses. In fact, in due season, you will witness the reward of the wicked (vs. 8) as curses are like boomerangs they always return to where they came from. Dr. Chris Hill made an interesting statement…“Rejection is God’s protection! Sometimes God will remove someone in your life to protect you from the ‘stuff’ that’s on them.” He gave an example of his father who walked out before he was born. God later told him that if his father had stayed he would have had the same generational curses come into his life. We are often devastated by such rejections but God always has the best plan for our lives. May God give you the strength to face your storm and may peace, which is beyond understanding, and is only found at the storm’s centre (Ps. 91:1) be your reward and comfort.

Friday, 21 October 2016

Pit of Depression

Only just recently having read an open and honest testimony of someone who last year went through a very difficult time of depression, reminded me of what a serious and common problem this is. I too have been through this dark side of life and would like to just share a few things that might be able to help someone else who is in this right now? Depression is a pit, a hole that we fall into due to certain circumstances that can overwhelm us or bring fear into our lives. We all experience depression, things happen in life that are just simply not fair, that are extremely difficult and sometimes hard to understand! We might go through a loss of a loved one or a job or something else and feel we just cannot go on. Unfair things also happen to us, we are unjustly criticized or slandered, being despised and rejected. Or it could be a fear and uncertainty of the future. Unforgiveness and bitterness is another huge cause of depression. Whatever the circumstance you are facing, just know that you are not the only one who is going through it, there are others going through the same thing, such things are common to all of us. But when you are going through it you feel you are the only one and no-one can understand what it feels like – this is an untruth and even if there was no human to understand there is One who knows all our weaknesses as He too suffered in every way we do and therefore understands and is able to comfort and strengthen us in these times if we will just turn to Him and not run from Him. 2 Chron. 15:2 “if you seek Him, He will be found by you...” and Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.” and Acts 2:21 “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (delivered or rescued).” There are of course other things that can cause depression, such as medical problems which are physical. It could be a simple thing as hormone imbalances in woman going through menopause (or have had ovaries removed). Also chemical imbalances in the body can be caused through excessive intake of alcohol; most people don’t know this but alcohol is a depressant. People partake of it when they are depressed to make them feel better (and it does momentarily) but then when it wears off it takes you down into a deeper pit of depression. We then try to fix this imbalance with medication such as anti-depressants. But be extremely cautious of anti-depressants, some of them are highly addictive and others once you come off them can make you suicidal. They should only be taken on the short term. I strongly suggest you seek medical advice before continuing such drugs. This of course doesn’t apply to chronic disorders such as manic depression. So therefore seek medical help and advice then seek spiritual advice. It is usually impossible to get out of this pit by yourself. You need the helping hand of a family member, a friend, a pastor or a professional to council you. Sometimes just talking to someone who can offer Godly advice can be all that you need to get you through this. Of course God is always there to deliver those who will call upon His name and He will often use ministering angels to help change the course of depression and “lift” you out of it (Heb. 1:14; Ps. 40:2). Depression is a pitfall or trap the enemy uses because he knows your strength comes from your joy (Neh. 8:10). If he can keep you there long enough all your strength will be drained away and you will be totally helpless like Samson was when his hair was cut (Jud. 16:19). This pit is a bottomless pit with different levels. When you first fall into it you are on one of the higher ledges – the longer you stay in it the further down you will go and will progressively fall to lower levels (this is when suicide becomes a constant thought). Just a side note here suicide is not an option; our lives are not our own and we have no right to end them. First of all the choice to commit suicide is a sin that will send you to a place of outer darkness and terror even if you do not believe hell exists that does not change the fact that it does. Jesus actually spoke more about hell than He did about heaven (Luke 16:19-31). He only promises eternal life to those who overcome and who endure to the end (Rev. 2:10, 11; 3:5, 10-12; Matt. 10:22, 24:13). He also promises to never leave us or forsake us and that He will always be with us through every trial and difficulty (Heb. 13:5; Ps. 91:14-15; Josh. 1:9; Isa. 41:10). It is a pit you cannot get out of yourself – it is only the long arm of the Lord that can reach done and lift you up out of the deep miry clay (Ps. 40:2; 69:14; Isa. 60:1). When you are in depression your natural tendency is to wallow in self pity and to isolate yourself – this is the worst thing to do. Don’t be too proud to tell someone (someone who can stand for you in prayer), as soon as possible, that you are struggling with depression. The enemy’s favourite line he will whisper in your ear is…“God doesn’t love you, nor does anyone else, nothing good will ever happen for you! It’s too late, it’s over, you’ve blown it, and you will never make it! You’re just a failure” It’s important to note that depression is a “fruit”; it is the result of something i.e. of failure, fear, disappointment or the loss of something. It is also one of the fruit’s of sin, where there is anger, strife, bitterness, unforgiveness, anxiety, worry, fear, unbelief and doubt, depression will surely follow! One of the keys to overcoming depression then is to find out what the root is (you cannot kill a weed without pulling up its root) then pull it up by dealing with the cause of the problem. If strife is the cause, make amends with that person, if fear is the cause counter attack with the Word of God (Jer. 29:11; Ps. 139 etc). If it’s a loss allow time for the grief process but then stop holding onto the past (or you will become trapped there), let it go and begin to focus on the bright future God has for you. Then the next step is a huge one and that is to take perspective on reality and to begin to think of and focus on all the good things in your life – be grateful and thankful for the sooo many blessings in your life! Even things like having the use of your limbs, being able to breathe easily, being able to see and hear and being able to live without pain! What about the blessing of family and friends? Once you begin to think about the good things (Phil. 4:8) and keep your mind “set” (Col. 3:2) on them your problems in comparison will soon fade away. Stop allowing the depression to breed and fester by focusing on the problem. I live right opposite a school for the handicapped and often when I become depressed I have to just remind myself that there are so many suffering with hardships and difficulties we can’t possibly imagine (what about those who are trapped in human trafficking?)…there is always someone far worse off than you! Being thankful and grateful is a main key to being set free from depression and self pity. Here is a cute saying… “to keep your tank full (of love, joy and peace) be THANK FULL”. It is also, by the way, the only way you can approach God (Ps. 100:4). Depression is not something we have to bare and put up with. It is a choice! You, yourself can choose to stay in depression or you can choose to take steps to get out of it. You can choose to leave the past and all its mistakes and disappointments behind you and begin to focus on what’s ahead of you… “BEHOLD, I AM DOING A NEW THING!” “New things always seem frightening at first but soon they will become old things! In order to take hold of a new thing, we must let go of the old & allow ourselves time to get acquainted with the new. Remember the good things from your past, but do not get stuck there, do not be afraid to release and walk away from what God is finished with! God is always doing a new thing and He has wonderful new things waiting for you!” Joyce Meyer (Josh. 1:1-9; Isa. 43:19; Jer. 29:11).

Thursday, 20 October 2016

Men - The Woman of Your Dreams

You have inspired me to write something very interesting…well I hope you find it interesting, maybe not what you are expecting but these are God’s principals in finding a “wife” and if you follow His path you will have success and be blessed i.e. you will “birth” an Issac (which by the way means laughter)….but on the other hand, if you choose to do it your way, you will most definitely “birth” an “Ishmael” i.e. you will have difficulties and problems and it will be extremely painful. All this talk about “birthing” yes it’s “Birthing Your Dream”. God will but a desire in your heart as a seed, you then go through a whole process of actually bringing that dream or desire to “full term”. Unfortunately most people are in too much of a hurry and are impatient to wait for God to work out this process in your life. If you try to “help” God along and hurry up the process you will fail and have disaster. It’s like the story of the “Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:11-32) the son took his inheritance before he was ready to receive it, his character had not been developed enough for him to be able to handle success, he then squandered and lost everything. The same thing happens to us if our character has not had the chance to develop before we are ready to receive what God has for us (He develops your character through hardships and adversity). And this particularly applies to men as they are the spiritual leaders of the home and family and God will not give you a woman to lead until you are proficient in being led, directed and submissive to your heavenly Father. The main verse on this subject, I believe is Ps 37:4-5 “Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” The key phrase here is “DELIGHT” yourself in the Lord…you see God will NOT take second place in your life He wants and deserves FIRST place in everything that involves you. Why should He give you a wife (or a business) if you are going to just ignore Him and maybe even idolize and worship your wife instead of Him? Can you see and understand my point here? Once you have put Him in first place and love and delight in Him (Mark 12:30) “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment.” He then can trust you with other things…the desires He has already put in your heart. You see when you love Him like that you will want to please and obey Him and a woman can feel safe and secure in the knowledge that you will seek His council and lead her correctly and also treat her well. Whew, you see not what you were expecting eh? But there is more wisdom to add to this if you’re willing to listen? I just want to add a quote I wrote:- “I just want to add here that the enemy will do anything to try and distract us from God’s perfect will (Rom 12:2) and purpose for our lives and to move us in another direction, getting us to birth an Ishmael which will only bring huge problems, anxiety and stress into our lives. It may seem right and look and feel right but its way only ends in destruction and death (Prov 14:12). A sure and full proof way of “steal, kill and destroy” (Jn 10:10; 1 Pet 5:8) tactic. All I can say here is this “FOLLOW YOUR HEART” for this is where the Lord speaks, this is where He will lead and guide you – follow His footsteps and the promptings of the Holy Spirit and He will never, ever guide you into the wrong path as He only has a good and perfect plan for your life. One that will bring you great joy, peace and prosperity (Ps 16:6,11).” What I was trying to say here is that there are counterfeits out there which the enemy of your soul is longing for you to take the bait…to be lured away from God’s plan for your life because he knows it will bring great destruction to you and totally lead you in the wrong direction. Some wise words once told to me were “how can you ever find the right relationship if you are in the wrong one?” i.e. if you are in the wrong relationship, the right one can slip away. I know this is a very hard pill to swallow for guys, it’s much harder for you to “wait” but I promise you it will be worth it in the end. The other point I made here is “listen to your heart…the Holy Spirit will direct you". Many times people will mislead us and give us wrong council (Ps 1:1). A story here of a couple I know that had great opposition from even church leaders and were told not to marry…but they listened to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and obeyed Him rather and today 15 years later are still happily married. You see people do not know God’s plan for your life…He will reveal it to you not them. A word of warning here…having said that, God has put safe guards in place in the form of your family, especially your parents who He has given godly wisdom to, to guide you (and also your spiritual authorities). They are able to see things that you might not. You know the saying “love is blind” so relying on their wisdom is paramount. But again the Holy Spirit is your final authority and He is the only One to obey in the end (if you should be put in a very difficult situation where people are totally against your decision…but most of the time your parents will somehow “know”). Another point…write the vision and make it plain (Hab 2:2)write down the qualities you are looking for in your “Dream Girl” you will be amazed at how God will bring all those qualities before you when the time is right…but you have to first be clear and know exactly what you want…this is another “safe guard” as if a woman comes along that distinctly doesn’t have the qualities you’re looking for, even though you like her, I promise you, you are on the wrong track as remember God gives you the desires of your heart. So once again be clear and distinct and know exactly what you are looking for in “your woman”, and don’t be tempted to settle for second best. Another word of warning here, of course NO-ONE is perfect…you will not find a perfect woman, remember we are ALL works in progress…even you! But you must still know and be clear of what qualities you are looking for as God is a very specific God, He needs to know exactly what you want (eich be careful here what you ask for or forget to ask for...story of a woman who said I forgot to ask that he would also like my friends…her husband hates her friends). Ok can I add something personal here? This also relates to the part on the counterfeit….my experience in this journey is that God gives you this vision or dream and in this process of birthing your dream, there seems to come a point when your dream or what you are believing God for, actually dies, right in front of you, it dies. To your absolute horror and dismay and confusion you begin to wonder what on earth is going on….why has this died or come to an end…wasn’t this what You have promised me? All these questions begin to arise and you are in a state of shock! But this quote explains it quite clearly:- “God often births a vision in our lives only to allow it to die first before the purest version of the vision is manifested. This has happened several times in my own journey. Oswald Chambers observes, "God's method always seems to be vision first, and then reality, but in between the vision and the reality there is often a deep valley of humiliation.” Os Hillman You see the way I see it…God’s vision and plan for you is far greater and bigger than we could ever imagine and is often too overwhelming for us to handle at that time so He allows us to see our vision the way we want to see it…the way we can handle it. In parallel to this is His vision…running parallel to yours at the same time and as you are walking through your vision, He is working His vision into being. And at some point your vision has to come to an end so that His can begin. Wow does that make any sense? It will when you have to actually walk through it. But my point I just want to make here is don’t panic and be dismayed when this happens…don’t worry it’s all just apart of the plan, just keep holding on and keep trusting Him, remember Prov. 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding” often our understanding is not reliable as we cannot see what He sees (Isa. 55:8-9). I wonder if any of this makes any sense but hopefully some point I’ve made will jump out at you and maybe give you some insight to this journey that you are on? May God bless you with wisdom, insight and vision and may He bless your hands as instruments of kindness and grace and bless you with a heart full of love, compassion and understanding. But hey most of all may He bless you with a wonderful, gorgeous and godly wife!