Life keeps throwing me stones.
― Ana Claudia Antunes
And I keep finding the diamonds…”
― Ana Claudia Antunes,
Do you know African Star Apple? It is called “Agbalumo” among the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria and “Udara” among the Igbos. It is a very huge and tall tree. Children and adults alike pluck it by throwing stones and sticks. So it is only a fruitful and ripped “Agbalumo” or “Udara” that attracts the hardest stones and sticks, not a barren ones. Remember, ‘your enemies will be right in your own household!’ (Matt 10:36).
No wonder you are receiving attacks from left, right and center without any just cause, even from your family members. Remember that a man who doesn’t have enemies is an idiot because has been rejected by God and forsaken by the devil. If the devil doesn’t throw any a stone at you, it means you are not only barren but as useless as garbage. The stone that the devil and your enemies throw at you is a confirmation that God has deposited something ripped in you and so valuable and costly that attracts stones and sticks from people, including your very household.
Don’t cry. Don’t throw it back. Rather, let the stone become a ladder for your success. Pick the stone that the devil and your enemies have thrown at you to build a castle. Challenge AIDS and Malaria in Africa (CHAMA) is a castle built unto God from the stones that the enemies threw at us. The devil hit us with a stone of death. He snatched our precious daughter, Goodness through malaria when she was just 16 months.
We didn’t waste time chasing the devil. God graced us to use the stones thrown at us a ladder to climb into the pit to pull other “Goddesses” that the devil has been snared with malaria and other poverty diseases. The Bible says that “The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. (Ps. 9:15).
What stone has the devil thrown at you? Is it the stone of disappointments? Near success syndrome? Sickness? Barrenness? Bad luck? Is it the stone retrogression? Setbacks? Don’t cry. Don’t panic. Never despair. Just like Joseph, in the end, you will proudly say, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen 50:20).
Let the stones keep coming and you shall keep finding Diamonds in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. As long as your hands are clean, those who beat the drum of shame for you shall dance to it themselves.
To learn more about CHAMA, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu_piq5FLnw
www.chamamission.ca
