The start of 2019 brought a flurry of activity in all areas of my life. I have been trying to power through a number of projects. But I began to feel uncertain about some tasks. They seem too big, and require a great degree of faith. So, I was praying last night about how to go about fulfilling these tasks. My gospel music was playing, and the Holy Spirit made me hear the words of Hillsong’s “In Control”. I felt a sense of relief! Jesus is in control and He will make a way!
Remember His Past Faithfulness
It’s easy to say that Jesus is in control. It’s another thing to really believe that in the middle of your situation. In these cases, I find it helpful to look back at past instances of Jesus coming through for me. When I received the inspiration for this article, I also felt a prompt to share a personal testimony. So here goes!
I am the product of a single-parent household. My mother (who has gone on to be with Jesus) was a domestic worker. This meant that she physically washed clothes and cleaned houses for others. It was a hard life, but I was determined to go to university. I wanted my life to be significantly different. But, my mother’s income would not be able to pay for university tuition.
I started attending The University of the West Indies at Mona Campus (UWI, Mona) with a student loan. This tuition loan came with a grant, which I used to pay for my on-campus accommodation (since I lived in Westmoreland, which is far away). However I still continued to apply for scholarships from my very first semester at UWI.
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By the grace of God, I received a full tuition scholarship during my second semester, and it would be applied retroactively. I would be able to return all of the original loan! No loan repayments! Hooray! But my celebration was short-lived. Returning the loan, meant returning the grant. I would have a shortfall in my accomodation that I would need to cover.
During a semester break I returned home. My mother and I were racking our brains to figure out this conundrum. I shared my problem with a former high school teacher and she referred me to a local politician to seek assistance. There was just one problem: he would leave office within a week, as he was retiring. She agreed to have him look out for my application for assistance: all I had to do was to get my application in ASAP.
I sprang into action, and I travelled from my rural home to the UWI campus in Kingston the very next morning. I collected my signed, stamped and sealed student financial statement which had the deficit listed. This politician’s office was in Savanna-la-mar, the capital of Westmoreland. On my way back, I dropped off my completed application and went home to the hills of Darliston.
Within that week, I picked up a check that completely cleared my balance! I was sure to convey my gratitude to my former teacher and the politician’s office (I never met this official in person). My mother and I were ecstatic! I was able to complete my first degree without any loans, as my scholarship was for the full term of study. I worked on campus and saved to pay for my accommodation in the second and third years. My mother also went into small-scale livestock farming to ensure that we would not be caught “short” again. Jesus continued to provide for me throughout all my degree programs.
Jesus Will Make a Way – But You Have to Step Out!
Will Jesus make a way for you? As long as you abide in Him, yes He will! We can be assured by the following scriptures:
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:33, NKJV.
Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.Psalm 37:4-5, NKJV.
The Lord will definitely make provisions for you. But you need to be prepared to walk into those provisions. Sometimes, they may require some action on your part. What if I hadn’t been proactive in getting my financial statement to submit that application? Would I have received that check? The answer is no. Jesus gave me the connection to that politician. However, there was a limited time frame for me to act, so I had to move very fast!
Consider the case of Abraham. God told him to leave his familiar hometown to sojourn into an unknown land. Why? God was going to bless Abraham. He was going to make him a great nation. What was Abraham’s response? He obeyed God.1 When we look at the genealogy of faith,2 we see men and women of God who not only believed Him, but they also took action. The actions they took aligned themselves for God’s glory to manifest in and through them. At times, these actions were costly to them, but they did it anyway. For the Christian, faith is a verb indicating the need for action. So while you seek the promises of God, be prepared to walk out your faith3 for the fulfillment of these promises.
Jesus Christ is Always in Control!
Remember, Jesus is in control. I leave you with the words of a familiar hymn:
When Israel out of bondage came,
A sea before them lay;
My Lord reached down His mighty hand,
And rolled the sea away.Then forward still—’tis Jehovah’s will,
Though the billows dash and spray.
With a conquering tread we will push ahead;
He’ll roll the sea away.“He Rolled the Sea Away” by Henry J. Zelley.
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