Talk 6

AUDEE VILLARAZA: We are in Talk 6.

We have been reading the book of Exodus for six Sundays now and mind you, this is something that spoke to me over the last few weeks as we have been studying this long story. When you watch The Ten Commandments, it’s a very long movie.

But right now, after six Sundays that we have been reading the passages, we are now in the part of the story where the Israelites had already walked away from Egypt. They were going to the Promised Land. And they recently just went through and walked across the Red Sea.

And you would think that it’s such a short time— six Sundays, we were able to cross that journey. But did you know that it wasn’t just six weeks for the Israelites back then? How long did it take them to cross the entire wilderness? And how long did it take them to actually endure slavery? Did you know that they were slaves in Egypt for 440 years? Imagine that. And yet we’re covering it in just six weeks.

You know what that tells me? Sometimes in life, you look at a certain detail about a person and then you make a judgment based on that one thing that person did thinking that you can already give a label or a description of what’s happening to the person. But actually, you realize that you cannot judge a person based on just one detail. Actually, you can’t really judge people because it’s the Lord who judges people.

You Can’t Judge People

I want to show you this picture right now of our livestream— it’s a screenshot of Fr. Albert. That’s our livestream of our Mass earlier. You see the very clean background, beautiful plants…

But let me show the picture of what was really happening (below).

See that? Wires here, a microphone there, Zach with his guitar there…

Sometimes, you will make a final opinion about something that you saw somebody tweeted, or posted online.

And you deliberate… here’s your view of the person… not knowing that there are really details you need to learn about the person.

I had a classmate when I was in Elementary school. We gave him such a hard time because whenever he would come to school, he would often smell — his clothes had this foul smell…And I’m not talking about, you know, at the end of the day, when you ride the school bus… there are kids there and they smell like rotten egg. But this guy, he would show up in the morning, and for some reason, he would often smell bad. So much so that everybody gave him a nickname: Boy Bantot—

Foul-Smelling Boy. But you know, one day we found out the reason he smelled bad in the morning was that his family was actually going through financial difficulty. And you know when people wash their clothes they would rinse the clothes three times. But this guy’s family rinses clothes only once— they were being thrifty because they did not have enough money.

Know the Story First

You know, I truly believe this: When you know the context, it will result in compassion because compassion comes from knowing the background of the person.

So, before you even give an opinion about people when you do not even know what they’re going through, think again… Know their story first.

Know their background before you actually give an opinion.

That’s Word for somebody today. That’s what’s happening in the

Exodus story. The story in the book of Exodus is so long and we’re seeing just little details of what was happening. But did you actually know every detail, every suffering, every pain that the Israelites were going through before you jumped to conclusions? Know their story first.

Appreciate the Journey

Another reflection that I had here: You know, in life, sometimes, you feel like life is so long, the years are long, you go through a lot of problems …

And then you wake up, Boom! You’re already 44 years old. Or you’re already senior. You already have grandkids. You’re already in your exit season. And you realize Life had passed you by.

What you would probably remember are only the significant parts— the little details, the highlights you read in the Bible right now in the book of Exodus. Things that are so meaty that the author put in because they are significant. And they truly teach us to really appreciate the journey, to appreciate every moment that happens in your life. To make the moments matter.

The End Is the Beginning

The journey is so long that sometimes— you’re reading the book of Exodus— Didoy preached about it—the Israelites just recently crossed the Red Sea. But if this were a Hollywood movie, this would be the perfect time to roll down the credits — happy ending, good ending. But Actually, it’s not yet the ending. How do I know that? Because we’re still just in Chapter 15. The book of Exodus ends in Chapter 40. So, we still have a long way to go.

If you read the next books after Exodus— Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy— did you

know that the journey in the wilderness is just about to begin for the Israelites?

So, what does this teach us? That the end of a journey is really the beginning of another journey. So, don’t worry, don’t be afraid, don’t be depressed if the journey that you are in feels like you’re losing some battles. It doesn’t mean that it’s the end of a journey. If you’ve lost some things in your life right now, I guarantee you it’s because it’s the beginning of another beautiful journey in your life.— which brings me to our big message for today: God is in the journey.

Whatever journey you are going through— whether it’s rainy season, whether it’s a sunny season, I want you to know that God is on the journey.

What I’m going to do today is I’m going to teach you four messages. I’m going to read you first the Scripture— this is after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea:

This is actually the New Living Translation (NLT) version. There is another version that I like: the English Standard Version (ESV):

No Shortcuts

Notice the change in the word: from desert to wilderness. The other word for desert is wilderness.

I try to imagine this as a first-time reader back in the day when they published this book. It must have been a shock for the first-time reader to know that the Israelites — they endured slavery for 400 and 40 years.

They went through unimaginable pain and suffering that none of us probably can ever experience in our entire lifetime. And now, they’re free. They just walked away from Egypt. They just walked away from Pharaoh and Egyptian abusers — only to wind up in the wilderness?

Isn’t life like that, sometimes? You feel like you’ve been going through two years of a big struggle in the Pandemic. You lost your job. You lost a loved one. You lost a relationship. You lost some opportunities. You lost a bit of your health. And now that you’re finally back on your feet, and you feel like you’re able to take your steps again, all of a sudden, there’s another problem. Like for those who were affected by the storm in Mindanao. I cannot imagine how some of them are still just recovering, and then all of a sudden a calamity falls.

Isn’t life like that sometimes? You’re trying to swim and then all of a sudden new water comes in….

You’re now cancer-free, for instance, you’re now in remission.

The chemotherapy worked! And then a week after, you find out that the cancer is back— and now it’s in full force.

Or, another example— you’re finally debt-free. And then the next day, you were scammed. All your savings wiped out.

Why does that happen? If there’s anything that we can learn from this point is this: Exiting your Egypt or that place of hardship doesn’t automatically mean that you’re already inside your Promised Land. It doesn’t automatically mean that you’re already in that land of abundance. Some of us want the shortcuts, sometimes. We want a quick fix. We want a miracle right away.

I remember, one time, my son Ethan, my wife, and I were traveling along EDSA. And then he noticed there was a beautiful motorcycle beside us— a big bike.

And he told us, “Mom, Dad, can you buy me a motorcycle?” Just like that …as if we’re rich.

I told him, “Okay, maybe when you’re older, if you work hard enough, and if you learn to be responsible, if you’re safe in riding a motorcycle, then maybe— maybe— you can buy one for yourself.”

And then there was silence. He did not say anything. After 10 seconds, you know what he said?

He said, “Dad, am I older now?”

Sometimes, we are in a hurry. We want it right away, right here, right now: “I want to make it happen, Lord.”

But you know, I’ve realized… after living in this world for 44 years, you know what I found out? I found out — the hard way— that if the Lord will give you the blessing right away, and you’re not ready for that, blessing, you know what’s gonna happen? You will end up breaking that blessing. Instead of being a breakthrough, it will break you. You’ll drown in so many blessings because you’re not ready. Or you’re immature. So, I praise God that He knows the exact timing of when to send the blessing. When we are ready. And praise God for allowing us to go through the wilderness. Why?

Here’s the first message: Before you get to the Promised Land, you need to go through the wilderness. Because it’s in the wilderness where God will change you. It’s in the wilderness where God will refine you. Maturity happens in the wilderness. For instance, you know, you have that relationship but you’re not ready for that relationship, what’s going to happen? You’ll eventually be going to break up. If you have that business but you’re not ready to handle that business, and God gives you the blessing— that business— what will happen is that you will eventually break that business. Sayang— What a waste.

So, praise God for the times that He allows us to go through the desert because it’s in the desert where He helps us to become mature. He refines our character. refines our personality.

Praise God. If you’re in the desert right now, praise the Lord for that because that’s in the moment where He actually is trying to remove some of the things that He doesn’t want you to take into the Promised Land. Because if that happens, what will happen in the Promised Land is that you will not be happy where God will take you.

If you are in the wilderness right now, here’s what you need to do: and this is Message No. 2: You worship in the wilderness.

What happens next:

I made sure that I underline those words —three days. Because this is a hyperlink Remember, the same author of Genesis, the same author of Deuteronomy, of Exodus, of Leviticus— he likes hyperlinks. He likes pointing to different events and those words— three days— are actually hyperlinks— of what?

Choices

Ten chapters earlier— Moses and Aaron were talking to the Pharaoh and they were telling the Pharaoh, “Can you please let the people go.”

Why? “So that we can all take a three-day journey into the wilderness”

For what purpose? “So that we can offer sacrifices to the Lord

Question: Did they actually do it— now that they’re already in the wilderness?

Did they actually offer sacrifices?

Sometimes, we negotiate with the Lord— we offer promises. Have you ever negotiated with the Lord even once in your life? Like, “Lord, if you give me this promotion, if you give me this boyfriend, if you give me this girlfriend, if you give me this blessing, Lord, I promise You, I will never ever commit sin again. I will never ever lie again. I will never do this.”

Were you like that with the Lord? I remember when I had a final exam in college, I was like, “Lord, if you let me pass this exam, promise,

I will already study. “

Sometimes, we make negotiations with the Lord that are so lofty, sometimes, we end up breaking that promise. So, I can imagine the Lord listening to that negotiation, “Lord, if you only give me this, I will already change my life.

I can hear the Lord, saying, “R-R-Right.”

Because God knows we are creatures who are imperfect. We end up breaking our promises. And that’s exactly what happened to the Israelites.

Moses and Aaron said to the Pharaoh, “We want to go to the wilderness. Let us go. So we can offer sacrifices to the Lord. “

You know what they did? Instead of offering sacrifices, they started complaining. The people started complaining to Moses. They started grumbling.

In the wilderness right now— or whenever you find yourself in that hard place, you have a choice, actually: You can either grumble or be grateful. What will you choose? Will you thank the Lord that you are in this mess?

Or, will you complain to the Lord, “Lord, and ba naman, buwisit na buhay ito.

You know, one thing that I’ve realized is that the enemy cannot stop God from being good. Because God will always be good. God is good all the time. You cannot change that fact. God will always be good.

So, if the enemy cannot stop God from being good, you know what he is going to do? He’s going to stop you from being grateful. Because when you stop being grateful, what happens is that you become miserable. You remove yourself from the Presence of the Lord. Then everything in your life, you’re just looking at toxic stuff negativity.

You don’t remember the Lord when you are ungrateful. That’s why the enemy loves it when you’re not grateful. Because gratitude unlocks all the good stuff from Heaven— joy, peace, love, hope— all the good ingredients from Heaven.

You know, what the enemy wants you to do? He wants you to start complaining, to start feeling miserable. He wants you to be bitter about life.

And that is exactly what’s going to happen next with the Israelites:

So, you see what I mean? Now it’s turning bitter to them.

Here’s Message No. 3: God will use the wilderness to change you.

God will use the wilderness to actually change you. So, you see it, right? What happens is they start complaining to Moses and to Aaron: “Why did you bring us to this place so that we can suffer even more?”

Ang dami kong problema.— This is a bad life. I have so many problems.”

Is Evil Following You?

I mean, it’s a little ironic, to begin with. The Israelites suffered greatly in Egypt. Now, they’re free. And then all of a sudden… What a way to kick people when they’re already down.

They come to a place thirsty. They’ve been at this for a month now. And now, they are thirsty… Only to find an oasis—a body of water — but they cannot even drink the water because it’s too bitter.

Is it possible that the bitterness is actually following them?

Is it possible— I wonder— that there are some sins and some evil that are still following you even up to this day that’s why you experience hardship in your life?

You know, one thing that you need to know, my dear friend, is that just because you’ve left your place of sin. Just because you’ve left that hard place, it doesn’t mean that that thing can’t follow you.

I mean, look at this: the Israelites already left Egypt, not knowing that Egypt was still inside of them. That’s what the Lord is trying to do in the wilderness— allowing them to go through the desert. And mind you, they are going to be there for 40 years. A whole generation will pass by. And they’re going to be in the desert.

Why?

Once upon a time, the Israelites enjoyed freedom. When? Throughout the time of Joseph. For Joseph and his family, there was freedom, there was hope, there was abundance in Egypt. But then, when you go back, if you go back all the way to the first chapter of Exodus, you’ll see:

So, now we’re talking about who? The new generation— the new generation of slaves who never saw freedom in their life. This is what they grow up with.

They were born when their father was a slave, their grandfather was a slave, and they become slaves too. So, imagine: All they’ve known all their life is slavery. All they’ve ever known is bondage to the Pharaoh and the leaders.

Being Human Again

God allowing the Israelites to go through the wilderness was actually an act of teaching them how to be human again. They were dehumanized for so long under the Pharaoh. They did not know how to be human again.

And you know what? This is a very relevant topic right now. We can learn something from this. We live right now where there’s so much canceled culture, hate culture. People are very divisive right now. People are judging one another, other people are walking away from relationships because of a post. I know people who walked away from their Light Group because of political differences during the elections. And that was what? Many, many months ago.

They’re still not friends even today.

We have learned how to be lesser human. I believe that in this wilderness that we are in right now, God is teaching us how to be human again. We have forgotten how to treat others with dignity and respect.

And you know, this is the reason I love congregational worship— whenever we come together to worship the Lord. Why? Because you can be with people — sitting beside them, or standing beside them—not knowing what their background is, what their political alliance is, what their beliefs are. And you can worship together. Beautiful.

I know two persons who during the elections, did not like each other. I do not want to use the word hate, but it’s close to that word how they were feeling for each other. But you know what happened? They saw one another in PICC and they started worshipping together as if nothing untoward happened between them.

That’s what happens when Jesus is in the middle. Jesus unites all of us under the banner of His love.

We suddenly realize that, hey, we can have differences but we certainly are together on the same boat. You might have a different problem than mine. But you realize that all of us are also struggling and we all need the Lord. No one is exempted from needing the Lord. Because we’re all sinners— in need of a Savior. That’s why I love Worship. I love that God can humanize us again and we start thinking: “I may not know this person and we may have different surnames, different backgrounds, different sets of beliefs, but we’re one and the same. We all need to be saved by the grace of the Lord.

The Reality

It’s in the wilderness where God wants to change you— where God is making you more and more human. That’s the reality. That’s the purpose of the wilderness — that’s where God is molding you so that you can be more and more human. Which leads me to the last message…

Let’s read what happens next. The Israelites start complaining again to Moses and they said:

When I was reading this, it certainly affected me this way… Imagine this:

I would certainly understand the Israelites. They started complaining after a year of being in the desert. They started complaining when they were seeing their families and their friends, and their classmates die from starvation, or even die from malnutrition. But this was just a month after they left Egypt. And now they’re starting to complain. Why were they complaining in the first place?

The reason they were complaining was they were hungry. There was a desperate need. Did you know, my friend, that when you have a desperate need in your life, you are capable of the most atrocious complaints?

Bad Trade

I’ve known people— good people, great people, holy people— who got hungry just once, and they started walking away from their place of abundance or place of blessing. They started giving up something that was so priceless.

Do you remember what happened with Jacob and Esau? One day, Esau was so hungry that he traded his birthright for Jacob’s bowl of soup.

We’re capable of doing that.

Judas. He was offered 30 pieces of silver to trade for his Master Jesus. And he took the offer— something that was so, so temporary.

I always like to say this: We trade our treasure for temporary pleasure.

I remember the story of two men. They were friends, but they hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

Then one day, he noticed his friend was very sad. He asked him: “Why are you so sad?”

The guy replied, “You know, just two weeks ago, I lost my cousin to dengue.

But you know, he left me with P50, 000.”

The friend was like, “That’s so sad. Condolences. But you know, that’s also a blessing— that he left you with something.”

“That’s not the end of the story,” the guy said. “Because a week after his death, you know my other cousin died, and he left me with P100,000.”

The friend was like, “Wow. Again, condolences. But that’s a blessing — that he still left you with something.”

The guy said, “No. You’re not listening to my story. Because just last week, my grandfather died and he left me with P1 million.”

And by now, the friend was already scratching his head, saying, “Again, my friend, I offer my deepest condolences. But that’s a blessing also— that he left you with something.”

And the guy said, “No. The problem — and the reason I am sad— is this week, nobody has died yet.”

Fixated on One Problem

Whenever you have a desperate need, what happens is that you look only at that one need.

That’s all you see. That one problem. Meanwhile, God has blessed you with so much. But you don’t see the blessings because you’re focused on that one need. That one desperate need. You’re looking only at one provision.

You’ve got a good marriage, you’ve got a good career, you’ve got a good family who loves you, but because God is not blessing you with a child, “Lord, why do you love others more than me?”

All of a sudden you start complaining about that one thing that you do not have in your life.

This is the story of Adam and Eve. It’s a hyperlink, my friends. God blessed them with a whole Garden filled with fruits— let’s say a thousand fruit trees. But you cannot eat from one fruit tree. Do you mean to tell me that you will focus on that one tree, and not thank God for the 999 fruit trees that you have? And still just choose that forbidden fruit?

That’s what we are. When we have a need, that we think it’s big, we focus on that one need and then we start forgetting the ways God has blessed us.

What are the ways God has blessed you this week? But because you have this one problem you’re so fixated on that problem you feel like God has left you all of a sudden. You start complaining. Not too long ago you were praising God for the ways that He had healed you, and the ways that He rescued you, the ways He has blessed everything in your life. But because now you’ve got this one problem, you’ve forgotten all about God. You’ve forgotten to praise Him.

I hope this is speaking to you. You know, there is this behaviour the psychologists call homing instinct. Homing instinct is a psychological term that describes, for instance, there are children who are abused when they grow up, did you know that some of them will try to recreate a traumatic part of their childhood to have a semblance of comfort in the past? It happens— kids who have been abused would recreate the abuse, not knowing that because they felt comfortable with the glimpse of their old life. And that’s what their view of family. They will try to recreate that.

Amnesia

This is the reason there are some people who go back to their abusive exes — people who were abused physically, emotionally, or verbally—- they go back to their exes even if there would be abuse in that relationship again.

This is the reason people go back to their addiction—to gambling, to lying, to cheating — because they feel that it gives them a semblance of comfort. Did you know this?

This is a staggering fact.

Statistically, in the United States, among people who are released from prison — and this is scary— 70% of them, after five years, end up back in prison. Because some of them deliberately or unconsciously commit another crime so that they can go back to prison.

And why do they do that? Because they were afraid of the outside world now.

They got so used to life in prison that the outside world scares them even more. So, what they’ll do is they’ll try to go back to prison. They’ll go back to that sin, to that crime, to that evil deed so that they can go back to that place of comfort.

This is what happens to us. Sometimes, we’re so afraid, of uncertainty, of stepping out of our comfort zone, that we want to suffer even in that place of comfort. Because we’re afraid of uncertainty more than suffering.

That’s what’s happening to the Israelites. They’d rather go back to Egypt.

Not too long ago, my friends, the Israelites wanted to be freed from Egypt.

And now, they want to go back to Egypt.

We forget. We suffer from amnesia. How can you encourage people — people who are afraid of the future— how can you encourage people who lost their faith and trust because they’d forgotten? One way: I want you to know that if you’re that person and you’re afraid of what the future holds and you’d rather stick to that place of comfort,

Don’t Be Afraid

I want to encourage you or guarantee you that God walks ahead of you in the wilderness. Wherever you’re going, my friend, God is already there. He has already prepared every provision. He has already prepared every resource. He has already orchestrated every blessing to where you’re going.

I don’t want you to be afraid.

You have been going back, returning to the same place that God already rescued you from.

Come on. Stop going to the same prison that God rescued

you from. Stop putting back the chain that God already broke for you.

It’s a message for somebody to know that God is walking ahead of you.

Wherever you’re going, God is already there. He’s already led everything to that place. So, stop, stop, stop going back to that same place. Stop going back to the same sin— because you feel that is your comfort. It’s a prison. The enemy wants you there. It’s time to walk away from your prison.

I want to end the talk with this: If there’s One Person who can understand us… The truth is, you know, you will have your family, you will have your friends, you will have your best friend, but there’s only one person who will understand you.

And he will never walk away from you. Because if there’s One Person who also experienced being in the wilderness, guess what? It’s Jesus.

The First Temptation

Once upon a time, Jesus was also led into the wilderness. The book of Matthew says that. He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, mind you.

And you know what? In the wilderness, He was tempted. The first temptation was also the same temptation for the Israelites. It was hunger. You know, the enemy knows where to tempt us. It’s always hunger. We always have a hunger for a need— whether it’s a physical need, an emotional need, a need for attention, a need for love, or a need for affirmation. We will always have a need in our heart. And if the enemy can grab you by that temptation, to get you, to fulfil that need with a worldly, material thing, he will win in your life.

But the way to overcome the temptation is the way that Jesus overcame it.

You know what Jesus said? And this will preach to you today. Jesus said to the devil in the desert:

How To Overcome the Temptation

I want to break your mentality about the hashtag—#Bread Is Life. Yes, physical bread is good. But when you say #Bread is Life, you need to be talking about Jesus. He’s the Bread who will give us Life.

And you know how Jesus was able to overcome the temptation? Two reasons.

No. 1: Because of the Body of Christ. What do I mean when I say the Body of Christ? You know one way that I’m able to overcome all the temptations of Life…You know there are so many temptations that I could have walked away from the Light of Jesus Family, from The Feast.

Do you know my story? Let me tell you before we end. My story is this: When I started serving at The Feast— not even serving, just attending Feast

Valle Verde— after three months, I said, “I want to serve at The Feast.”

And I joined the Music Ministry. It was difficult, but by God’s grace, I passed the audition. Praise God, I was able to experience ministry for the first time in my life. But you know, that ministry life ended abruptly— after one month. I stopped attending. I stopped serving. Why? Because I felt like I had no friend — I was not part of the Ministry. I would come, be part of the rehearsals, the people who were there, you know, they had their own set of friends… They’ve been friends for a long time… And here I was, new guy walking in… I did not have an idea who they were. The only one I knew back then was Anne Relova who invited me. I felt like an outsider.

And I had one friend — Bro. Sonny, a senior. He was the only one who would sit beside me. One day, Bro. Sonny was called by the Lord back to Heaven. My only friend, still taken by the Lord. So, I stopped attending.

But after about two months, I got a call from a guy named Paolo Payawal who happened to be the nephew of one of our leaders in the Community and he said, “Bro., I noticed you’re no longer attending. But you know, my uncle,

Bro. Adrian Panganiban, he wants to form this group — something like the Kerygma 5— and he wants to invite you to join the group.”

I’m Still Here

So, one day, I walked into the Lighthouse (headquarters of the Light of Jesus Family). Then I met all of these brothers… For the first time, I opened my life to them. Every week, we would have a fellowship at the Lighthouse— no fail— Monday nights, 8:00. And then eventually we had music lessons under Simon Santos, also one of our leaders at The Feast. After the fellowship, at 1 a.m., we were still together— we would read the Bible, and eat chicharon bulaklak.

After an entire year, we all opened our lives to one another— and little did I know, that I was actually letting people into my life. And fast forward, to today, I’m still here in Community — 12 years later.

I’m still here. I haven’t walked away. Why? Because of the people. I’ve met so many people that I have done Life with. I’ve changed different leadership roles —

I had new friends when I became Worship leader, I had new friends when I was in the music Ministry, I had new friends when I became Ministry head, and now as Feast Builder. But one thing is for sure: all the people who I’ve journeyed with have helped me grow to become the person that I am today.

The one reason you have not walked away from Community and you will not walk away from the journey is the Body of Christ— the people you walk with. Just small groups—it doesn’t have to be a group of a lot of people. Can be one, can be two— you can call your lifelong friend. People who will become best men in your wedding, people who will become the godfathers of your children, people who will be there when you are down. Those are the people you cherish, who will journey with you.

That’s the first reason Jesus was able to overcome all the temptations— because He had the 12 apostles surrounding Him. The 12 band of brothers.

No More Hunger and Thirst

No. 2. The second reason Jesus was able to overcome the temptations— Very simple: Because He was the Bread of Life.

You know, whenever we go to Mass to receive the Holy Eucharist, we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. And so He becomes the Food for our journey in this world.

When was the last time you received Jesus— as your Food? Last week? Last month? Last year? Or maybe 10 years ago. I don’t know. But I want to invite you, I want to welcome you right now, receive Jesus. He’s the Food in the journey. He said once upon a time, that you will always be thirsty, you will always be hungry for things.

But you will never know the kind of satisfaction and nourishment when you receive Jesus. Because you will never thirst, you will never hunger again when you’ve got Jesus in your life. I want you to receive that.

You are on a journey right now, my friend. There are so many things that you might be questioning: “Where are you taking me, Lord?” “Where are you bringing me to?”

You know, it doesn’t take faith to follow God— if you have all the details of where you’re going. Praise God, that He doesn’t give us all the details because it takes faith to take that step every single time, every single day — especially if you don’t know where you’re going.

I want you to start trusting the Lord because He knows where He’s taking you on this journey. It’s a long journey but if you take it with the Lord, I promise you, my friend, it will be a wonderful, wonderful journey.

I want to invite you now to prayer, as we worship the Lord:

Lord, I trust you. I may not every detail of where You want to take me, but Lord, I know, and I believe, that it will be a good journey, a wonderful journey, a journey filled with blessings, a journey filled with love, and laughter, and Life because You are with me. I trust in You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus.