FROM BROKENESS TO BLESSING
	When you and I make our own plans or run to other people instead of trusting in the Lord, we leave a weak spot in our wall of Divine protection. At a time when we least expect it, the enemy will break through that weak spot. When that happens, we will indeed be like the "broken section of a high wall" mentioned in Isaiah 30:13 - "Therefore this iniquity and guilt will be to you like a broken section of a high wall, bulging out and ready [at some distant day] to fall, whose crash will [then] come suddenly and swiftly." God does not want us to have weak spots in our lives. He wants us to rely on Him and be obedient to Him so our "walls" will remain strong and thick and our lives will be blessed and full. The more we depend on God, the more He can do through us. But sometimes we go through brokenness before we enter His blessings. Once, for about a year and a half, I thought I might be going mad. All day long I walked around in my house, praying, "Help me, Lord!" I did not even know what kind of help I needed, or why I needed it. Now as I look back on that experience, I know what was happening. God was breaking off my spirit of independence, and He was bringing me to the point where I knew I could do nothing apart from Him. I remember one night as I was getting ready to go to sleep, I picked up a little book and started reading it. Suddenly I had a visitation from God. For about forty-five minutes I sat there on the edge of my bed and wept. Finally, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Anything good you do has nothing to do with you. I am the One Who is good. When you see yourself doing anything good, it is only because I have wrestled with you to get your flesh under subjection long enough to allow My glory to shine through it." Sometimes before God can promote us, He has to remind us of our place. In my own case, my ministry was just about to experience a sudden growth spurt. God was preparing me in advance by telling me, "I'm going to do sometimes marvellous in your life and ministry, and when it happens you must remember that it is I and not you who is bringing it to pass." God was teaching me what He is teaching all of us today: He is the answer to all of our problems! [The Everyday Life Bible, Notes and Commentary by Joyce Meyer, Faith Words, 2006].