The wonderful facts of Christianity raise us from nobody to somebody, from simple to wise, from weak to courageous. These unmatched facts become living realities in a person when that person hears and chooses to believe them. What makes us like God and not like robots, is our ability to choose!

We can choose to see wonderful days ahead. We can choose to expect good favor coming our way. We can choose to anticipate everything lining up in our lives as we rejoice in our Maker.

The alternative is to live in fear. We can choose to fear that the economy will go down and take us with it. We can choose to fear that the doctor’s reports of cancer, heart disease, or a thousand other diagnoses are the final word. We can choose to fear tomorrow and fold up.

Or, we can spread our wings of faith and exclaim that everything will work out! The facts of our faith put us in the realm of God. Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).

One night in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, as we drove into a field teeming with hurting people ready to begin that night’s outreach, I looked out the window of my car at an elderly man laying on a makeshift cloth pallet. When I saw him, immediately my heart jumped; and just like Jesus in the bible, I was moved with compassion. Something inside me said he needed just a little encouragement to know that tonight was his night for healing.

I had quite a struggle getting my chauffer and interpreter to pull over. They said, “Mama Leslie, don’t you see this crowd? You can’t pull over you, will be mobbed!” I remember as a last resort opening my door as the vehicle was moving, edging closer to the door until finally they stopped the car.

There on the mat was a man who looked much older than his years. When I spoke to him of the love of God and the power to save him from his sickness, his eyes perked up and he sat up and began to move.

Later that night as I stood on the platform my interpreter ran over to tell me, “Mama Leslie! Mama Leslie, look! There’s the man you spoke to who was about to die! LOOK! He’s the first one to testify and he’s walking! It’s a miracle!”

This man who lay on that simple mat wrapped in a long piece of multi-colored African fabric an hour or two earlier had looked like a mere skeleton with no life. He had been the picture of death, yet, God saw something else.

Remember, Jesus is never too busy to come to you. Two thousand years ago He paid the price for you!

My husband tells an interesting story. Two weeks before his conversion to Christ, he was given a special silver ring by the athletic department. The ring turned black when he put it on his hand.  Several attempts to polish it, have a jeweler clean it, and even place a special coating on the ring could not keep it from tarnishing.

Right after Kevin invited Jesus into his heart, something amazing happened; he noticed the ring had returned to its natural color.

He often tells this story because it is a vivid picture of the internal change that took place in his heart, and the new life that came into his physical body.

When the life of Christ comes into you, something changes in your chemical make up! New life now inhabits your body; eternal life co-habits with mortal flesh. Christ replaces the stain of sin in your life. Peace now dwells in your heart (Colossians 3:15), and the Spirit of God dwelling in you gives life to your mortal body (Romans 8:11).

I remember the story of Zhanna, a young Muslim woman who suffered with terrible asthma. Her parents had taken her to every doctor in Kazakhstan and had even made the great expense of traveling across the vast tundra to Moscow to consult with specialists. Nothing helped this young woman. She suffered terribly, barely able to breathe, facing daily the life-threatening effects of severe asthmatic attacks.

Her parents, who were Muslim in their faith, were invited to one of our meetings. Someone had told them about a Festival of Music and Miracles being conducted in their city. Moved by what they heard in the meeting, the entire family decided to invite Jesus into their hearts.

Suddenly, an amazing thing happened. Zhanna began to take deep breaths! Something had lifted off her chest, and the weight that had bound her was gone! Peace had entered her body and she was breathing freely.

They had sought healing from all the experts in the best hospitals of that part of the world with no results. Yet, in just one simple prayer they asked Jesus into their hearts, and in that moment all signs of this debilitating sickness disappeared!

I was raised in church. For 22 years I attended the services and heard the words, but no transforming personal experience ever happened. Then one day under a maple tree on the Michigan State University campus, I spoke out of my heart and asked Jesus to come into my life.

Suddenly my spiritual eyes were opened! I felt the cleaning agent of the Holy Spirit, like a scrub brush, wash away my sin and remove my guilt. I saw my past as forgiven. Then I sensed heaven open up, and for the first time I knew I was going there. My hope was transformed into a knowing.

Everybody I knew growing up hoped they were going to heaven, but for the first time, I knew! It happened when my words and my heart hooked up with the truth that God wanted me to know.

Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

God’s Word is the true source of an image of a righteous man or woman. Slave owners in America in the early 1800s knew that people would not be slaves if they could read for themselves what God said about them, so they passed laws forbidding slaves to be taught to read and write.

Learning to read was the first step toward grasping President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It was also the first step toward knowing God’s proclamation of a new position in Christ! James 1:23–24 (NLT 1996) says, “If you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.”

I remember traveling on a train across Russia several years ago. Laying in my bed, tremendous symptoms of sickness began to attack my body. I knew this was not the place to get ill, and I had many hours to travel on this train. My berth felt either too hot or too cold, and I could barely move about in the room I shared with other passengers.

I remember opening my bible to Isaiah 53:1, “Who has believed our report?  And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Suddenly it dawned on me, did I understand what Christ had done for me? Could I believe in the midst of this dark, cold, dreary Siberian landscape that two thousand years ago this Jesus was wounded for me?

As I laid there I considered the tremendous price paid for me, and realized that I had ignorantly overlooked Isaiah’s report. My bible slipped from my hand and I started to fall asleep. At that moment I remember the strength of God infusing my soul and I KNEW that I was healed. The next morning every ache, chill and pain had vanished from my body. Total healing had returned by no power of my own, but by simply believing the report!

There is no time like the present for worldwide reflection on what the future will hold for us as we peek over the edge into the New Year. Some are holding on in fear and trembling, many are afraid to predict anything good as the media pundits continue their barrage of bad news.

I can with confidence, however, predict that we are more than conquerors in every situation as the scripture declares. That is not written for fair weather economies, but for all time.

Why do people fear if they believe that the Creator of the universe lives inside of them?

Why do people expect the worst when all things are possible to those who believe, as Jesus has spoken?

Why do people think it will be a time of isolation, when Jesus said I will never leave you nor forsake you?

Our greatest days are right ahead of us as we navigate the waters in these rapids of the river of life. Every river has a little rough water but no concern. The boat was designed for the rapids. This is when it performs its best!

Relax in God’s boat. Jesus is in the boat with you, so enjoy the ride as it takes you through some twists and turns this coming year. You will be the better for it!

The story is told of a man who purchased passage on a cruise liner for himself and his family, paying the full fare for their grand adventure across the ocean.

Each day he and his family huddled in their quiet little berth consuming the sparse provisions they had packed for their trip. One day a steward noticed their emaciated faces and asked them why they were not enjoying the banquet with the other passengers. The father told him that he had only purchased passage on the ship but not the meals.

The steward explained to the man that his ticket covered passage and meals for his entire family. After dining on mere morsels for days, the family joyfully sat down to enjoy what had belonged to them all along.

David tells us in Psalm 103:2-3, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”

Here are 7 things that will help you bring your dreams to pass:

1. Know you are not alone. How can you know your dream is in agreement with God? When it produces peace and brings out the best in you. Ask yourself these three questions: Is it good for God? Is it good for people? Is it good for me? If the answers are yes, then go for it!

2. Speak your dream to yourself. You are your best prophet. You know the future because you speak the future. If you don’t believe in yourself, then how can you expect others to believe in you? Use your words to bring up what is in your heart. Your words are signposts pointing to where you are going.

3. Find out what it will cost for your dream to come to pass. In Luke 14:28, Jesus told us to consider the cost before we build. Enthusiasm can carry you for a while, but accuracy in details is what carries you across the finish line of your dream. Study, preparation, and continued focus are necessary parts of the picture of your dream. Facts can change, and new ways of doing things may need to be discovered.

4. Find someone to agree with you. No load is too heavy when you have a friend to help you carry it. You don’t need a whole audience to cheer you on. One friend clapping is better than a gallon of water on a walk through the desert!

5. Don’t discuss your dream with those who could kill it. More dreams have died at the doorstep of a skeptical friend than in front of an army of enemies!

6. Discover the best role models who have succeeded in that field. Revelation can be caught quickly when the eye is imprinted. It is true that one picture is more valuable than a thousand words. Find someone doing what you want to do and look at them, and you will build your life on the shoulders of success.

7. Let time be your friend, not your enemy. Deal with time by not considering the past at all, and not thinking about the things you have no control over. Use your time to focus on what you want to have happen and what steps you can take today in that direction. God brings about our future and forgets our past!