Dear Reader,

Do you feel like you are in a very turbulent dust storm, with no promise of fair weather in the near future? Is everything covered in dust and your vision greatly impaired? Has Worry attempted to set her traps at night by throwing hopelessness into your dreams? Does she whisper into your ear saying, “You have spent too much time wandering around lost in the dust and will never be able to finish your assigned work from God?”

My, oh my, what lies the devil will invent to discourage and dissuade us. We need to be grounded enough in our walks to recognize his nasty whisperings. Get your eyes back on Jesus and you will find your way out of your dust storm.

God allows storms to strengthen our resolve so that we hold an ever-deepening conviction to move onward towards Calvary. He knows how long you will struggle to weather your personal storm. He promises in Joel 2:25 to RESTORE the years that the locust have eaten. This means that while you are in a trial, the opportunities you miss out on or loose will be restored in His time. This is a promise.

You must first find your way out of the trial you are experiencing and learn the lesson(s) God would have you attain. Be at peace in knowing that the world that has seemingly slipped past you is held in God’s hands. Every minute of time you think has been “lost” is really NOT lost. God holds the stopwatch and is aware of your time line. He created it and has numbered your days.

Don’t be afraid to go down a path that seemingly eats up your time, fearful that you will never accomplish the goal set before you. God’s purposes will always stand. He is faithful to complete the work that He has begun in you.

Finally, don’t worry about the locust. What you have lost is of little worth. Focus on laying up treasure in heaven. Next, recall the book of Job and remember that in the end of the story, God restores Job’s wealth and increases all that he lost.

The Lord is not ignorant of your struggle. He has a reason for it and a lesson to learn be learned. You will be back on track soon and all the wiser for it, thanks to the dust storm God prepared for you to endure.

John 111:43-46 (NIV) When He had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

2 Kings 5:10 and 5:14 (NIV) Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

“So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.”