In The End
Written By Michael Herbert
About five years ago the Lord laid on my heart a group of shut-ins and Christians who had gone through a sorrowful church break up. Off and on since 1992 I had written devotions, running them for a few years then ending them. Today, marks my last devotion for this season of my life unless the Lord were to spark my heart to write a specific topic. I learned a long time ago never to say never except to sin. On the surface, my heart aches because I’ve gotten such a thrill of sharing the Bible with you, but like all things, there is a season in which God has graciously allowed me to write these past 5 years.
The people I set out to initially reach out too were young and old, they were rich and they were poor and in between. The devotion grew to 500 hits a month as I saw countries come online to read the devotion. We had certain followers from Russia, China and England follow the weekly devotion. Later, one of my boys purchased a website, we titled Herbert ministries which still runs. We added video’s and other Christian links and saw people had utilized them. It was my passion to create a website where people can be fed. My son Anthony coined the praise a place where God can feed you. A good call. God has set in motion seasons for each of us. Times all of us have a purpose, plan and when that season or plan has ended God moves us on to our new adventure.He prepares us for our new season while we are yet ending our current one. Desires begin to shift to other areas of ministry where the passion existed in the one area, it now is made real in this new season, although we may not know the full existence of the new. Each season, however, requires us to walk in faith. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6. This new season may be radically different from the current, but it is the same Holy Spirit who leads us through each. If he has called you to the old season he has called you to the new. He will show you and will guide us in each if its his will. The one thing I know is God has an incredible imagination and spares no expense to make it come to pass. The other thing I’ve noticed is the new season requires more faith and prayer to accomplish. The difficulty becomes more evident and new challenges become increasingly more reliant on God to figure out.
Finally, To those who have helped me along the way I owe a debt of gratitude. I couldn’t have made this last all these years without your help. I have a long list of contributors and those who edited and those who supplied photographs for the devotion, but also there are a few who from time to time wrote back and were touched by what was written or just wanted to encourage me to continue on. Every season requires some kind of support from others to make it happen. Without support, you never can gauge what your writing is touching anyone or not. Support is a pulse of your work if you will know you hit a nerve or not. There are many times I knew by writing what God laid on my heart that I would lose readers. Some don’t want to hear the truth but choose to live in la-la land instead. The devotion was intended to set people free and encourage those who have their backs up against the wall. Also, the prayer weeks were designed to reach God’s throne with an impossible prayer in order for the Lord to answer. The question is, was the devotion a success or not?I would have to look back and see where people were 5 years ago and where they are now to gage. Absolutely, I would say it was. Although there are many people who write devotions, I was placed by God to cover my little niche in the lives of others within my sphere of influence.
Now that Christmas season has ended and the cold reality of January is upon us. It is my sincere desire that all who are reading this will be richly blessed of the Lord a 100 fold for believing in me that I could offer something to a community that was beneficial. I now move on to a new season of my life not knowing the extent of what God has planned for me. The book of Psalms says Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalms 119:105. If God were to light the entire path we would run for fear that we could not accomplish the task. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit to show and lead. I leave now knowing God has been good and always supplied me with a subject to write about. It is for the glory of God that the devotion was started and it is for the glory of God that it has now ended. I have no regrets about anything I’ve written, but only hope and pray I wrote something along life’s journey that touched your heart. Amen.