Well, the due diligence time period expired yesterday on that plot of land I had under contract. I cancelled the contract. I didn't want to have to go the hard money route which would have required more than 30,000 out of my pocket and upwards of two years for the construction so I decided that was the best way to go. I've come to realize in my walk with God that I give thanks for the open doors as well as the closed ones. Perhaps the answer is not necessarily no, but not now. That's how I view everything through my spiritual lens. As a matter of fact, the day I signed the cancellation agreement I got a call from my realtor in NJ about an opportunity to purchase a property where the owner is going through a bankruptcy. This is a great off market deal with tremendous potential upside and very little money out of my pocket. Again, I say, stay in faith and believe God's promises and His truth that tells us in Romans 8:28 ... all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. But as I walk in His plans and His purpose, I must believe His truth. And 'truth' isn't something that changes depending on what we want to BE true or what happens to or doesn't happen to work for us. I was speaking with my sister about a show I saw where a prominent politician was caught in a hotel room, naked and passed out in his own vomit with a male "friend" that was a known male escort. Now this man is married and has children and when asked about how he felt about this troubling expose, his biggest issue or the issue that made him think about taking his own life was that he was accused of living a lie with his wife and family! That was your biggest problem- is that the world accused you of being dishonest with your wife and children? Hello. Anybody home? And then having the temerity to use the term 'covenant' when referring to his relationship with his wife; the same wife who said she knew that he "identified" as being bi-sexual when she married him! The shocking part to me, although I should probably say mystifying, is that not one person- from the interviewer, to the supposed relationship expert or any of the virtual participants on the show -saw anything wrong about the obvious 'lie' he and his wife have embraced as truth. He wasn't expressing a desire to seek the Lord in asking for forgiveness, no. There wasn't an admittance of the many sins and open rebellion to God's word and a need for repentance, no. It was more like a justification for his actions- an explanation for his sins and putting a stamp of approval on ungodly, bad behavior. My pastor calls sin 'a spell from hell that makes you feel well'. So why does it appear as if justifying bad behavior is the new norm these days? For me the answer was illuminated in a sermon my pastor preached on: Having a Love for the Truth. God's word is truth. I have always said that the devil is busy, and certainly he is, but there's another truth in the scriptures that explains why it is that we have become so complacent with everything antithetical to the truth of God. 2Thessalonians 2 9:12 says"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all ways that deceive those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful DELUSION so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness".
Not everything that happens is the devil's doing y'all. I don't know about you, but for me, it just doesn't get any plainer than that. Until next week...