The Runner

One day, I asked the Lord why I was struggling in a certain area of my life. No matter what I did to avoid the situation, it was to no avail. I got upset, and I decided to pray about it and ask God for a reason.

Then that night, I had a dream where I saw myself running a race with quite a number of other athletes. Many were running so fast, but I noticed that I couldn’t run very fast even though I wanted to. I wondered why. Then I looked at myself and discovered that I was wearing heavy clothes. The shoes I was wearing were not meant for running- they were a pair of very heavy metal like boots. No matter how I tried to increase my speed, I just couldn’t do it. And besides that, I kept on looking backwards to see my starting point. By the time I would look forward again, the runners were way ahead of me. I looked at the other runners and I noticed that they were wearing light sports attires and looked very free in them.

As I was figuring out a solution, I suddenly woke up from my dream in much perplexity. I knew it carried a message, so I asked Father for interpretation via prayer and study of the Word. Then Father gave me these words:

‘’Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win’’ 1 Corinthians 9:24

‘’ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,’’Hebrews 12:1

I asked Father again ‘‘what sin am I committing?’’ and He clearly told me it was the sin of UNFORGIVENESS and gave me yet another scripture (Believe me God cherishes His word)

‘’Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’’ Philippians 3:13-14

Then Father said ‘You keep looking back at your past failures and pains. You have not allowed the blood that my son shed to completely wipe out the sin that easily ensnares people. You are clothed with a lot of anger towards the person/people that hurt you. Unforgiveness is a burden and it wears you out. Don’t you know that you had to go through this pain so that you can be made stronger? You have allowed your past pains to be as heavy clothes on you, instead of putting on the whole armor of God- which is light.The work that my Son did on the cross was a complete work. Allow it to fully manifest in you. Forgive those who have wronged you and move forward. I am ready to set you free ‘’

I fell down on my knees and cried because God’sword was sharper than a sword in my heart. It pierced to my soul and joints and marrows. I wept and asked for forgiveness. I confessed openly before him that I had forgiven and was willing to let go. Then I asked him to show me if my prayer was answered.

After a few days, I had the same dream, but this time around I was wearing light attire, with very comfortable shoes. I saw myself running like an antelope, in fact to a point where I was almost flying.I was so happy, I felt a kind of joy I could not explain. And when I woke up, I realized that the Lord had answered me. From that day, I started experiencing a great change in that particular situation. A great door opened and I walked through it with ease.

I do hope this encourages someone out there.Forgiveness is for your own good. The Lord bless you all

With love,

Jennipher Tambadou Duru

The Painter

One day in 2011, I was in the sitting room watching TV and a program came up that was showing a painter with his tools, trying to paint something. I was almost switching channels because I wasn’t in the mood of watching anything that had to do with art, when the Lord, through an inner voice stopped me.

 I was wondering why the Lord wanted me to be glued to this particular program. But I simply obeyed Him. The painter had a brush in His hands with a white board in front of him and some color paints near him. I was thinking he would just paint something out quickly. But he splashed some blue paint on the board, then some green, red and even black. It really didn’t make sense to me. It was so messy that I thought he wasn’t a professional painter. I thought he would realize that he was just making mistakes and decide to start all over again. But our dear painter continued to add more ‘mess’ to the painting. He was so patient, in fact he was even whistling while doing his ‘unclear job’. But all of a sudden, I started seeing some sense in his painting. In fact I started having an idea of what he was trying to paint. He continued and at the end, I realized that he knew exactly what he was doing. My dear readers, that ‘messy’ painting ended up to be a beautiful painting of the sea at dawn, portraying nature around it. It was so captivating that I would have loved to shake his hands.

Then the inner voice spoke again ‘You see, my daughter, I (God) can be likened to this painter. Before I created you, I knew you and I knew what you would eventually become. I had good plans for you even before your birth. Then I brought you into this world, never forgetting my plans for you. I started ‘painting you’. At times you thought I didn’t know what I was doing because of the mess around your life. You thought I had made a mistake by making you feel so messed up by certain situations that you have had to go through. But during all those times, I knew what I was doing. Even now, I still know what I am doing. I have a good plan for you and no matter the mess around you, one day you will soon understand. Yes a day is coming when I will the make the picture of your life look so complete and so beautiful and you will give me glory’

 I was simply amazed. God can never be wrong. Be strong and trust in Him always. I hope this also helps you.

Jennipher Tambadou Duru