Over the last 40 years the Lord has carried me through countless storms where it appeared by all outward circumstances that I was going under. Fear would try to overtake me, along with doubt, and apprehension, but I always knew He was there, and I could trust Him.
Some days it’s that you’re just tired and worn out, but the Lord will be faithful to give us strength when we are weak. I’ve also witnessed how the Lord has delivered and empowered so many of the incredible men and women of God I’ve been honored to get to know over my years of ministry.
Yet, it hasn’t always been easy. I mean, who starts a Christian TV station with no money in a place like Montgomery? How do you raise a family? I mean honestly, it had better be God because otherwise it would be crazy.
One time, a well-known, world-wide, minister with a television ministry visited our fledgling station. Later he said in public, “That couple doesn’t know what they are doing, and that TV station will never get on the air!” Did we really hear from God? The theme of our lives seemed to be, “Marcus, Joni, take My hand. Trust Me as we walk through this.” We did and He has been faithful every time.
Most people have a concept of Daystar based on what they see today. They haven’t seen the many years of leanness and struggle that God brought us through to get here. Living, walking thru difficult situations, trusting God for daily manna for the station but also for our personal lives. If God didn’t come through daily, we were dead meat. Now that we are here, walking in our destiny, we are able to help others.
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Consider the life of Joseph. When God finally brought him out and into his ultimate destiny, it was then Joseph could help his family, preserve God’s plan of growing a people, and even preserve Pharaoh and Egypt.
You can be in the midst of a storm and still be moving in your destiny. The presence of storms and pain doesn’t mean you are out of the will of God. It doesn’t mean He is absent. In fact, you might be right in the middle of the will of God during your most violent storm. It’s not necessarily the most popular thing, but it is the truth and I’m going to be real with you.
God uses storms to refine us, and also to get us where He wants us to ultimately be. We struggle to believe that. And not only that, but that He is guiding. When the Lord prompts us to do things, He is outside of time. He knows the end and the beginning. He has a divine plan but to us it is revealed as we take the journey step by step like that falling snowflake being perfectly formed.
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Joni Lamb is the president of Daystar Television Network, co-founded with her late husband, Marcus Lamb. The network reaches over 110 million homes in the U.S. and over 5 billion people worldwide. She is executive producer and host of her daily talk show, Joni Table Talk, which has earned 10 Telly Awards, three Lone Star Emmy Awards and five Daytime Emmy nominations. Lamb also co-hosts Daystar’s daily, live flagship broadcast Ministry Now with her husband, Dr. Doug Weiss. Her new book Through the Storm is out now.
