PART TWO

THE TENACITY TO ASK.
At first, my mother was very afraid that her husband, my father, would be angry with her. To
both of our surprise, he did not even say anything negative about it, nor did he ask us to stop
praying. So we knew that the devil and the spirit of fear had been defeated in our lives without
any drama. I must admit that my father still has a bit of work to do in terms of the Lord and the
pursuit of salvation. My mother, on the other hand, became a strong, devoted member of the
Body of Christ and passed away on November 20, 2005, while I was living in Orlando, Florida.
As a Christian and believer in the Word of God, I am always at peace when I read the book,
Number 23:19 "God is not a man, that he should lie; nor the son of man, that he should change
his mind. Has he said something, and he will not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not
perform it?" I do not know about you, but these words are profound and very comforting to me.
I have made this my watchword and have acted on it with all consistency.
One thing I know about this God from everything He has done in my life and in the lives of
people past and present: When he says yes to something, there is no one who can overturn it.
God has granted. Sometimes we may have doubts and question the mathematical or scientific
ways God will fix it. I would advise you to leave God alone to work it out for you; he is the God
of David who gave David victory over Goliath. In the Gospel of Luke 18:27, Jesus says, "What
is impossible for man is possible for God." I have overcome various obstacles in my life, but one
thing that has always kept me going is my faith and the fact that God has always provided for
me. He may not do it in my time or your time, but in God's appointed time. Allow me to share
one of my personal stories with you today; how impossibility was made possible for me. How an
impossible path became a fast track for me and God delivered me from the impossible.
I remember a time when I was in New York praying for my residency papers to be approved.
Most people who are foreigners or students waiting for a response from immigration can relate
to this story. Anyway, I had been praying, reading the Bible, and thanking God for granting me
my residency papers, even though I did not have them in hand yet. I was persistent in prayer. I
refused to allow negative people who were around me at the time to affect my positive
connection with God and my perseverance. A few days earlier, I had gone to see immigration
officials. Some people came back crying and were really very negative, saying things like,
"They will not approve anyone anymore; they said there is no more immigration help for these
kinds of cases," etc.
However, a few days before my immigration appointment, which was about my application, I
heard an immigration official tell another official that a certain immigration judge would not be
present for a few days. He said that a guest judge would decide the cases until that supposedly
difficult judge returned.
Now some of you may say, that is not God that was just a simple coincidence. I know you
probably have your doubts, but remember God does not come down from heaven to help you in
your time of need, He always sends someone through someone else to help you and give you
what you have asked of Him. I think we can agree that God has the power to do whatever he
wants with Pharaoh, but instead he sent Moses to him as the one to fulfill his heart's desire for
the Israelites who, according to the Bible, were being held captive in Egypt at that time.
The same God who sent Moses to Pharaoh is still alive today; in fact, God once told Moses in
Exodus 3:14, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to
you.' This is very interesting in that Pharaoh was considered a very powerful ruler and strong
king at that time. As powerful and fearsome as Pharaoh was to the Egyptian people and the
Israelites at that time, the
Bible reminds us that Almighty God was not afraid of him and his mighty armies. My message
to you today is this: if God is not afraid of the most powerful man of that time when his people
were held captive by Pharaoh, do you really think God is afraid of putting an end to the
problems in your life today?
The same God who delivered the Israelites from Egypt parted the Red Sea and defeated many
enemies of His people. The same God is alive today and always will be. He once said, "I do not change." I do not know about you, but there are not many people in the world who can say that
they "do not change." I know that sometimes when we go through something in our lives, it
seems like the problem never ends. Let us not forget that people, including great men of God,
have also gone through their own challenges and obstacles in life. The most important thing
we should always remember when these moments come into our lives and there seems to be no
end in sight is to praise God and continue to thank Him for His love and mercy. We must not
give up because the Scriptures tell us that we will overcome!
"I have told you this so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have difficulties.
But be of good cheer! I have overcome the world."
John 16:33.
Note: At the beginning of my petitions, which of course I did not know were called prayers, I
firmly believed that there was a powerful being responsible for the creation of the universe.
This belief has strengthened my persistence in asking for evidence of this powerful being, and I
have not stopped persistently asking for a day. If this works for me, I am sure it will be
beneficial for you as well. Regardless of our gender, we have the will and grace to persistently
ask for something, and it will be given to us because we asked for it.


CHAPTER TWO

ARE YOU SINGLE, MARRIED OR FACING DIVORCE?
irst, I want anyone reading this to know that I am not a marriage expert, because I
have had my share of marriage problems in the past. I have been married several
times, but all my efforts to stay married "till death do us part" were an exercise in
futility at the time.
In my first marriage, I was a bit young and naive. It was all about me and what I wanted, and I
was not as caring as I should have been at the time. My first husband was kind, nice, and really
had a lot of positive desires for our family. Some of the things that some of us have neglected in
married life are a lack of consideration for our partner, honesty, 100% truthfulness, selflessness
toward our partner, lack of feelings, stubbornness, sloppy health and mental habits, and a lack
of communication. Genesis 2:24 says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and
cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. In my opinion, some people do not
understand what the Scriptures say about marriage in this case, or they miss the message
inadvertently and through no fault of their own. We are all imperfect human beings and as such
have our own weaknesses. The most important thing about this word is that we hold on to our
loved one and not allow anyone to come between us and our marriage. Leaving home to unite
with our spouse is one of the steps required in a marriage. In some cases, we allow outside
forces to interfere in our marriage instead of working out our differences with each other in
open, honest dialogue. We may have moved away from home to literally reunite with our loved
one, but our minds are still on the times when everyone told us what to do and how to do it in
terms of crisis management.
For some of us who are in a relationship, it is sometimes difficult to speak up. In some cases, we
would rather "air out" the dirty laundry of our marriage in front of our best friends, parents
and other family members. When you involve too many people in your marital problems, you
tend to get too much advice and counter-advice.
One thing I strongly recommend is to pray unceasingly and persistently and entrust all marital
problems to God - I have done that, and guess what? I have done that, and guess what? But do
not stop talking to your partner about some things that would improve your relationship and
strengthen your marriage. John 10:10 says, "The thief does not come to steal and kill and
destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. Knowing this, we
must protect our personal property, in this case our marriage. Let us not forget that none of us
is immune to the tricks and possible attacks of the devil. We must remember that if the devil
could try to trick Jesus Christ and get him to the top of the mountain - how much more you
and me.
Satan will stop at nothing to thwart this agreement. We as human beings should also
persistently seek God's guidance and counsel.

To be continued…