The Official Writing Challenge
BACK TO
CHALLENGE
MAIN
INSTRUCTIONS
how it works
submission rules
guidelines for
choosing a level
ENTRIES
submit your entry
read current entries
read past entries
challenge winners
Our Daily Devotional HERE
Place it on your site or
receive it daily by email.


TRUST JESUS TODAY

  • Share
  • how it works
  • Submit
Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Abundance (06/08/06)
“Your source is now gone, how’re you going to survive?” Like a well sharpened spear, those words cut deep into the hub of my heart. The words came, not from a dark-costumed demon with two pointed horns but from my mind, I was overwhelmed by legions of voices all singing the same tune. I must confess that I don’t think an average person from the developed world will be bothered by this but for someone who grew up in the myriad of Africa’s problems, having your father died while you are young is a really big issue.
In a society that does not acknowledge a woman’s voice, where the slogan is survival of the fittest. In a structure that lacks a welfare system for the poor or scholarship for the less privileged, the father assumes a fundamental and important role of “fighting it out” for the sake of his family, at least if they are going to survive!
You can then imagine the implication of having that man cut off from you at a point when you needed him most! Inundated by several questions with no clear answers, I decided to face my fear. I started analyzing the questions, one after the other. The denominating factor common in all the questions is “from where comes your supply now? The one that supplies your basic need is dead and gone?” You know, for a minute, I sat there acknowledging the sense in that insight. I had never had to bother my head for a second for my needs all my life because I had a father who was responsible and reliable. Now he was gone! I was in a mess, a really big mess! How am I going to go to college? How am I going to take care of my siblings?
But looking back over these past years, I just will never be able to explain how I survived. Not only did I finish college, I got married to a beautiful child of God and I have enjoyed most tremendously, the inexplicable favor of God and Men. The other night, I remembered that night, when I was plagued by the fear of uncertainty of my future and I smiled a victorious smile. While the devil was harassing my young heart that night, God was trying to get me to look at the store room of His abundant blessing. Although at that point, I lost my earthly father, his death actually gave the opportunity to start focusing on my real and genuine father whose source of supply never gets finished. It is ironic that I never lacked any thing since then, because my heavenly father who is the God of Abundance took over.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
This article has been read 858 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Sandra Petersen
06/17/06
Thank you for sharing this very personal story! You showed how deceptive Satan can be when he uses our own thoughts in our own voice to question God's provision or to cause us to sink into fear and despair.

To make this easier to read, put a white space between paragraphs. Also, I would make the opening question your first paragraph for greater impact.

Be careful about changing verb tenses within your article. You used past tense throughout except for these sections: 'The denominating factor common in all the questions is “from where comes your supply now?' and 'How am I going to go to college? How am I going to take care of my siblings?'In the first example I would take out 'is' and replace it with 'was'. Then leave the 'is' in the questions inside the quotation marks. The second example could be handled in a way that allows them to be in quotation marks, too. Maybe 'I remember thinking, "How am I going to go to college? How am I going to take care of my siblings?"'

This could be the basis for a devotion with the addition of a Bible verse and questions for the reader to ponder. Good job! Looking forward to reading more of your work.