By Courtney D. Ambers

Everyone has a story of ups, downs and trials in life. Not knowing each other’s story, unless it’s shared by a testimony. We’ve gone through many obstacles in life that only makes us stronger through our journey. This journey keeps us pressing on to be more like Christ. We understand that we are not perfect and weren’t born to be perfect. Only Jesus, who was God incarnate, was perfect. Jesus set a divine example of how we should live. We can be more like him through the way we live our lives and spread the gospel of his word to others.

For most of my life I struggled with low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and doubt. None of these issues came from God. For a long time I didn’t know my purpose in life. I finally realized my purpose is to just be me. My purpose is serving others by demonstrating the love of Christ, having compassion and helping others. All of us have a purpose; we are a gift from God. He wants us to go out and share our gifts with one another.

We all need to know who we are in Christ. Psalms 139:13-14, says; “For You formed my inward parts: You covered me in my mother’s womb, I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. We are Joint heirs of the highest King. Jesus Christ our Lord and savior.

I want to encourage us to keep our eyes above the waves and have faith. I want us to absorb the love and joy from Christ Jesus, which gives us strength. We take our medicine from the doctor to clear our minds. We also take our medicine from the Great physician who is Jesus Christ. The combination of some pills and God is the best medication that you could ever ask for. Thank God for medicine, thank God.

There is hope for all of us. God loves us more than we could ever comprehend. God is with us, he said in his word; He will never leave us nor forsake us. So when we feel alone and empty the Holy Spirit is all around you. The Holy Spirit is in our hearts, just let him in. When the spirit of the Lord is in you, there is no greater Joy. We can be strong. We can have confidence and we can have that peace that surpasses all understanding. I hope that we continue encouraging one another through the love of Christ. Have faith. We can overcome, I believe it. I hope you believe it too.

Courtney D. Ambers can be reached at editorial@orangeleader.com