Isaiah 41:10, 2 Kings 6 and 7, Hebrews 12:2

Deborah Mitchell attests to the trustworthiness of God.

Deborah Mitchell

Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and you have eternal life. As you confess with your mouth God's will, the eternal law of life comes into force and everything has to submit to the Lordship of Jesus' word.

Throughout my life there have been many situations where I have had to completely put my faith in God. Each time he has never failed me! As it says in Isaiah 41:10, "Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand".

When my youngest daughter was born, she arrived early. Both the doctors and my family were panicked as her heart rate was dropping rapidly. I had to be rushed in an ambulance to a hospital two hours away for an emergency C-section. In the midst of everyone around me feeling fear and trepidation, a still calm voice from the Holy Spirit said that my baby was a girl and that she would be born at 10.25pm and all was well with her. Thankfully that is what happened.

Recently I was with my eldest daughter and her husband as she gave birth to her first child. She also had to have an emergency C-section. As I cried out to God, the only thing I heard was "Peace", nothing else. Holding on to the word God gave me, I was able to relax, safe in the knowledge that God is in charge. I am delighted to say all went well and I am now the proud Nana of a beautiful grandson.

I have also learned a valuable lesson on my walk as a Christian - you can't control God! Asking God for help and getting annoyed with his response is not wise. God is bigger than us and his ways are higher than our ways. As we yield, submit and open up our hearts, he will lead and guide us. Put your trust in him. He will never let you down. When I was praying for the arrival of my grandson, I expected God to give me the same detail he had given me with my daughter's birth. However, you can't box God in and the word "Peace" alone gave me faith that God was in control.

No matter how dark the situation gets, God can turn it around. A clear example of God's delivering word is in the book of 2 Kings 6 and 7. Israel was trapped in a fortified city surrounded by their enemy. Starving to death, their provision was cut off. They were in a desperate predicament; no hope and no way out. Death was staring them in the face. Elisha the prophet of God spoke the word of the Lord to the king. "This time tomorrow there will be an abundance of food. A measure of flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley will also sell for a shekel in the gates of Samaria". The gate keeper of the guard scoffed and he would not believe it. His faith was in what he could see in the natural. Elisha told him that he would indeed see it, but would not take part in the victory.

Sat at the gate were four lepers - in desperation they decided that they would take their chances with the enemy (Syrian army) rather than starve to death. As the lepers approached their camp late at night, God made the lepers sound like a mighty army (of Israelites) and the Syrians fled in fear abandoning all their provisions. When the Israelites awoke the next morning, they saw that the enemy had fled, so they ran to the enemy's camp for food and the gatekeeper was killed by the stampede. Elisha the prophet's words were fulfilled.

Jesus is not confined to the natural laws of this world. He is a miracle working God. I have found the key to every challenging circumstance I face, is to tune into what the Lord is saying about it, and on that work I put my trust.

When Peter walked on water he responded to the word Jesus spoke. Peter was able to walk on water when his eyes were on Jesus, the living word. It was not until he looked at the stormy waves did he begin to sink. Jesus in his infinite mercy reached out his hand and encouraged Peter's faith.

Today he continues to reach out his hand when we are in way over our heads, ready to be swallowed up by life. Jesus is encouraging us not to look at our circumstances, but to look at him, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).