Faith and Life Blog

A promise is a comfort to a fool. Faithful promise mek fool glad - (A faithful promise makes a fool glad). These are popular sayings that we have often heard and maybe even use. This is true to an extent because in our fallen world, most, if not all of us have, at some point in our lives, experienced the pain and hurt of a broken promise. Such a saying issues a caution to those who blindly trust in promises made to us, especially if it known that such persons are unreliable or insincere. It paints a glaring picture of one who sets himself up to be disappointed by another. Ideally, your word should be your bond, and this should be the driving force to guarantee that any promise you make is fulfilled. However, not everyone subscribes to this idea, and so are often guilty of making willy nilly, empty and impulsive promises, without proper thought or a plan of action as to how they will be fulfilled. This often leaves a trail of heartbreak, betrayal, anger and a myriad of other negative em...

  September 19, 2024 • Lona For God has not given us a spirit of fear…2 Timothy 1:7 As a young woman, one of my dreams was to learn to drive and eventually purchase my own car. I kept the dream at the back of my mind for many years, but finally, in the late 1990’s I decided to take the plunge. Armed with my learner driver “lunatic” licence and the knowledge gained from reading the driving manual, I found myself a driving instructor and embarked on the journey of learning to drive. I was ready to put the theory into practice. My first driving lesson was a lunchtime lesson. At the time I was working at Jamaica Information Service (JIS) on Half-Way-Tree Road. My first mistake was to assume that, as is the custom with most driving instructors, we would head to the National Stadium or some other quiet area to go over the basics for the first lesson. Was I wrong! I was in for a surprise! We proceeded down Half-Way-Tree Road and turned onto Oxford Road in the heavy lunchtime traffic. The ...

  Yet you, Lord are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter. We are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8 If we are spiritually discerning, our eyes, hearts and minds will be enlightened to see the important lessons unearthed from last week's devotional. I will share three such lessons with you, hoping you will spend some time meditating on them and apply the nuggets gained from them to your life. 1. Be rightly positioned In order to receive the blessings that God has for us, we must be rightly positioned. We must be in the right place at the right time. We must be rightly aligned to receive from him. Had I been elsewhere, I would not have heard that artisan as he passed by, shouting out the services that He offered. I would not have been in a place to take advantage of the offer. 2. Seize the moment It is said that opportunity knocks only once in any season. You never know if or when you will get another opportunity to do the things that you want to do, so when an opportu...

  Hey, you! Yes, you! God sees that you are struggling. He is El Roi, the God who sees and indeed He sees your pain. He knows how much you are hurting, but He wants you to remember that He is standing by. Do not give up. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He promised never to give you more than you can bear. He makes a way where there seems to be no way. He is the God of the impossible, the God who can do more than you can ever ask or think. His plans for you are good and not evil, to give you hope and a future.  He wants you to trust Him. He wants to do something new in your life: make streams in the deserts and roadways in the wilderness. He wants to give you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. He is your balm in Gilead, so rejoice in Him, even though the fig tree does not blossom and there are no fruits on the vine.  Rejoice in Him and give thanks in every situation, whether good or bad, because it...