Even the Joseph in the pit, Daniel with the lions, and three boys in the fire moments, are prime times for the fourth Man to step into the fray and lift you to places you never before imagined possible.

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Well, I’m excited to be back in the saddle here on the podcast again, it’s been a little longer than I anticipated. I have actually moved house three times in the past several weeks, moved my family, moved my daughter to a new job that she’s taken on with Burnham Row Ballet, and moved my son to a new place up in London, where he’s studying his third year in drama school. So having done three moves, I’m ready to kind of just settle in for a short while. And of course, me and my family.

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And so here we are in our new property.

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I’ve set up my office and I’m finally getting back into a bit of a rhythm. But it made me think about what happens when we do fall off the horse, proverb the proverbial horse, or when all of those well intentioned and passionate pronouncement of how we believe things are going to be go belly up. Like, our recent move was completely unexpected and came totally out of the blue. We were renting a property here in the UK, and the owners of the house decided that they wanted to move back in in time for their daughter to start at a school that was local to us.

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And so our entire summer was thrown into an unexpected disarray.

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So what happens when things like this crop up? What happens when unexpected occurrences, unexpected circumstances, just throw your rhythm and perhaps even lead you to a place of despondency or disappointment, where things don’t just work out the way that you’d hoped maybe they would. And really, in these kind of situations, there are two options. We can stay in the dust and spend our days eating dirt. Or, of course, we can stand up, brush ourselves down and take another step.

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And, you know, even when the breezes of disappointment sting as we take that step, another step, really, honestly, is the only and the best way forward. You know, because life isn’t linear. Life is not just kind of cupcakes on a plate, you know, where we just breeze through without challenges that we are privileged to be allowed to overcome. You know, we don’t see the beginning from the end. And sometimes the lurches that life take seem like diversions.

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And, you know, we can feel quite befuddled. They can challenge our reasoning. But history shows that even the Joseph in the Pit, Daniel with the Lions and the three guys in the fire moments prime times for the fourth man, Jesus to step into the fray and lift us to places that we never imagined possible. I know, certainly, for me, one of the phrases that I coined in my recent book, Faithful Creative, was two thirds of your wow is how and that’s so true sometimes, isn’t it the the way that we are thrust into situations where we have to discover solutions that previously we would never have had to before can sometimes be the very thing that is that pivotal moment that brings us into destiny.

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And so, you know, and of course, it’s easy to say that when we’re out of the lion’s den or when we’re finally sat on the throne of Egypt.

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But these men, you know, Joseph, Daniel, and many others in the scriptures, they had to walk through things that were stingingly difficult and due in that journey to their outcome. They did not necessarily know that they were going to come out of the other side of these circumstances. Unscathed. It made me think as well of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She accepted this high call to carry God’s Son, but really not with stars in her eyes.

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She fully understood that she may well be branded a loose lady. She may end up single like she may even lose the unsay. And yet she accepts, walked in, embraced and carried that call, even though she knew that there was going to be difficulty involved in the process. You know, the scriptures even talk about her, how her heart would be pierced. She was warned and yet still embraced the journey.

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And I believe that we need to do the same whatever creative journey you’re on, whatever journey you are to discover your worth and share it with the world. There are going to be some challenges that stand in your way sometimes. And so we don’t want to look with rose tinted glasses. And we don’t want to even look at the pioneering fathers and mothers that have gone before us and just see the peaks. We need to understand that sometimes the Valley is the place that we learn some of the richest lessons.

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I don’t want to speak this into existence, but there will be days when you will be singing and rejoicing in the overt goodness of God, whooping it up and declaring how great God is and how faithfully is, and just celebrating the manifest goodness of Jesus Christ in your life and all that the gospel has brought to your life and all that is now yours as a result of His sacrifice and as a result of the leading of His Holy Spirit in whatever realm of life you are operating in and on and again.

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I don’t want to speak this into being, but I’m just going to be very real with you there be other days when you’ll feel like you are being dragged through the dirt and may well feel like giving up. I just want to say one thing. Don’t give up, don’t give up, don’t give up.

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As I was raised as a word of face man, you know, and it chokes me to even say that there will be days where you feel like giving up, but they are bound to come. But don’t worry about them. You know, it certainly irks me that I can’t sustain this life of living on the peaks. But as I say, I’ve got to admit, I’ve learned just as much, if not more in the valleys. And looking back in my history, I would not trade those valleys for anything I’m reminded of Joseph Lee mentioned him earlier.

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His brothers, Lee, stood before him. Joseph was second in charge over Egypt. I mean, this dude was heavy duty, and his brothers are terrified for their lives. But Joseph, in retrospect, looks back and says everything that has happened to me happened for my good and the good of all of these people that I’ve been able to sustain and to save. And that included the very ones that he threw him into the pits.

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You know, whatever you’re facing, whatever circumstances are standing before you right now, you know, sometimes, and I hope that they’re good. I hope that you’re doing well. I hope that you are prospering and abounding to every in every way into every good work. But even if you feel as though you’re in the depths right now, you know, sometimes the depths where we learn to dig the deepest and we discover God in ways that would would never have chosen to explore if we’ve not actually been, I say led there more like forced.

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There a lot of the time, you know, those are things that I’ve gone through that I would not have chosen, not in a million years.

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And yet, as I look back, I can say with Joseph, Joseph, God used that to bring me to the place that I am today. You know, whatever test you face, your King is able whatever the day brings, he is with you to carry you through to ultimate victory. You know, you may not see the end of Fulfilment the Celestia. It somewhere over the brow of the Hill, or maybe even over a mountain range, it seems. But he does.

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He knows the end from your begin. He knows your end from your beginning and bless God. He has purpose and plans to prosper you to give you a hope and to give you a future. I encourage you as I jump back in and begin to just share my heart and share my thoughts here on the podcast and on my blog. To Lee, courage, fill your heart today, take your next courageous step.

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I promise you Jesus is faithful and he will not let you down. I’d also love to encourage you to cheque out my new book. I just wrote a book called Faithful Creation. If you jump over a jump on your web in your browser and just drop in faithful Creative Book dot. Com and you can cheque that out.

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It’s selling at just $4.99 at this moment in time. That may change and you’ll get the digital book plus a whole host of other cool stuff as well. Just a book that is designed to encourage you in your creative work and your creative work, especially if you are a follower and a believer in Jesus. Hey, God bless you. Jump over Faithful Creative Book.

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Com cheque that out and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. It’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website. DavidLeeMartin.Com have a great day.