Facing Struggles With ConfidenceSample

I love the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s one of my favorite books in the Bible. Solomon does a great job of explaining life – that there’s a time for everything. There are seasons for everything. 

My life was a struggle at the beginning. 

I grew up in South Central L.A., one of nine kids. If you’re not familiar with South Central, it’s one of the roughest areas in Los Angeles. My father was killed when I was eight years old. I’ve seen some of the worst things that anyone could imagine. In that environment, you had to grow up early, quickly. You had to learn how to deal with death. I was taught to be emotionless. It was a survivor mentality. You had to be tough.

My great Aunt raised us. She prayed for us and her prayers were answered - that’s why I’m here today. I didn’t have a relationship with Christ except for just praying out of fear. I never opened a Bible. 

But one day, when I was eighteen, I ended up praying to God something along the lines of: “I don’t know where I am. I don’t know where I’m supposed to be. But God, take me where you want me to be.” To this day, I don’t know what spurred that prayer. 

When I look back at my life now, I see the way everything lined up in order for me to get to the point where I am now. It amazes me! It couldn’t have been anyone but God. I couldn’t have done it on my own. 

When I look back at my life, Ecclesiastes 3:11 stands out to me: God makes everything beautiful in its time. I feel like a rose that grew from the concrete. That’s how I feel about my life. I just thank God. I can’t take credit for it. 

I see my story as a triumph of God’s glory. I made mistakes. I did stupid things. But God aligned things. I would have been in a totally different place without God. I could have been anywhere... homeless, a drug addict, a gang member, in prison, dead... Instead, God made my life beautiful. 

I pray that you will trust the process and embrace the process. I pray you will remember that, as Scripture says, God works all things together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to His will. I pray that you will trust the process – no matter what it is, no matter where you are... Trust that the outcome will be all of what God wants it to be. I promise you, it will be worth it.