Trials To Triumph

THE TEAM

06 Falling But Not Failing

Valtinique Tufi Mag Monday Host

08 The God Ahead Of The Storm

Gilberta Thompson Faith Writer 10

Gia D. Fitness Journey

APOSTLE ALEX ARCHER Surviving Hurricane Dorian

Teja Jospeh

18

Fashion Writer

Reasons For Storms

Keithra Morley Family Writer

Garnitra Pinder Contributing Photographer

21 How You Can Donate To The Cause

Hello Faith Over Fear Fam, This issue takes on a more somber tone but is designed to encourage you beyond your current state. In September of this year The Bahamas experienced a category five hurricane, one of the worst that this hemisphere has seen in decades. Though hurricane Dorian only slammed into two of the islands in the archipelago of islands the entire island nation shock, trembled and felt the crashing of waves.

Our brothers and sisters on Abaco and Grand Bahama not only lost their homes and materi-

al possessions but some tragically lost their lives. With the death toll at 70 and climbing many are still grappling for the words to express the turmoil they’re experiencing inside.

Our writers have tried to pen encouraging words not just for those who have experienced a physical storm but for those who are in or recovering from financial, emotional, mental or other types of storms.

I pray that this issue helps you to push past the struggles of 2019 into the bright future that awaits you.

Happy Holidays -Jill

Do you realize how close we are to the end of the year? This journey has been filled with so many ups and downs. I am sure that you can identify with the times when you are super focused and ready to take on the world, eat right, exercise, exfoliate and breathe AND those times when you want to eat what you want, drink what you want and NOT exercise if you want. I have certainly experienced all of those feelings in this year. I've fallen off and even drowned a little and because of this. I haven't hit every single one of my goals but you know what, the year is not over! I have come to realize that the journey of being healthy, is like a roller coaster. I have had to fight through special events, parties, date nights and just life in general. Sometimes I got

through those things with my healthy way of eating intact and other times I indulged but with every single situation that arose I learned more about myself, my self control and my relationship with food.

Hey guys!

If you are at the place where you are feeling overwhelmed because of how your journey has gone this year, I encourage you to take a moment to take stock and think back on the reason you wanted to lose weight. What can you do today to get you back on track. The journey to weight loss is not a destination, it is a lifestyle so you have to give yourself the allowances for falling off sometimes... You are not a failure and it is not too late to recommit to the journey of weight loss. Let's finish this year strong. Get back on track!

T

here are times in our lives when the unpredictable happens.

The unexpected bills, the loss of a loved one, or a storm. A few months ago, many persons living in the Bahamas experienced all of these. They fell victim to the monster storm Hurricane Dorian. Almost instantly, thousands of Bahamians have found themselves wrapped in the middle of the unpredictability of life. Yes, they have survived the storm, but in the aftermath of every storm, there is one thing that will always be under attack....

faith!

During these perilous times and constant attacks, now more than ever it is so important to protect your faith. This can look different for each person affected. For some, protecting your faith requires creating boundaries. For others this may require refocusing. For most, it is reminding yourself that God is ahead of the storm.

As Dorian hovered over the Bahamas, it was evident how united our nation truly stood. Many prayed, risked their lives, and assisted in every way possible. Not only did we share in relief efforts, but we shared in our pain. The horror stories seemed to bombard the air waves. At points, it felt unbearable. Yes, Dorian surprised us all, but it did not surprise God. He was ahead of the storm.

God being ahead of the storm means that we can rest our troubled hearts. It means that even before the slightest image of a storm appeared on our meters, God was creating avenues to restore. God was already touching the hearts of nations concerning the Bahamas. It also means that even in the ruins, God still has a plan. A plan for every individual and a plan for our beautiful nation.

The truth is, the aftermath of any storm is heartbreaking. While our human hearts are stifled with grief, our faith must stand. Faith is the constant that will give us strength to rebuild. Faith will pull us back when we are on the Faith opens the door to the brink of giving up.

comfort of knowing we are not alone because God lives in the aftermath.

While nothing can take away the sting of what was buried and destroyed in our beautiful shores, our faith does not rest in human wisdom but in the God ahead of the storm. Together we rebuild.

The day the storm hit For over fifty years Abaco has been my home. I was born and raised in the island, established a church here, a thriving one, and for twenty three years pastored a congregation of almost 200 members. My wife, three sons and one granddaughter all resided in the peaceful settlement of Central Pines Estate, but soon that peaceful settlement would be turned into something I could barely recognize.

On Friday, August 30th, 2019, after watching the weather channel, and confirming that Abaco was in the direct path of the oncoming hurricane Dorian, that would hit Abaco as a category four, possibly five, I spent the next two days preparing to secure my home, the home of my two sons, (one of which was just newly constructed and not yet occupied), the church, two church apartment buildings, and with the assistance of male parishioners, the home of members that needed assistance. Food, along with the other necessary items that we needed were purchased by Saturday evening, and by early Sunday morning, I checked in with church members via WhatsApp on our church chat group, offered prayers and confirmed that everyone was ready to ride out this storm, like we had done so many others.

Sunday morning at around 10:30am as my wife is preparing dinner, we were made aware that this storm would be different, as the first shutter was ripped from our upstairs landing window, the glass was broken, and rainwater began pouring in. As I summoned my sons to assist in trying to fix this problem, the railings from around my back porch, were ripped off, shutters came of my bedroom window, and from there everything went downhill, the house was now compromised, we knew it was no longer safe there. While waiting for a break for the winds, that would now be at least two hundred miles per hour, to subside we are joined by my parents and seven other family members that lived less than five minutes away from us, that came to us for refuge after losing the roof off their home.

Battling Dorian We kicked into survival mode, and thought our best course of action would be to make a dash to our church building for shelter which was less than a mile from our home. With twelve persons in one van, and five family members in another vehicle we made our way to the church and a drive that would take us five minutes, took at least twenty five minutes (which seemed like an eternity), through the street filled with poles, mangled wires and debris, we made it to the church and discovered that this building too had already felt the force of mother nature as it had already lost its front window, door, and portions of our upstairs administration area roof.

We thought where else could we find a secure shelter on the island, if our church was damaged, surely everywhere else was damaged, so we made a plan to settle in the area that was not yet compromised.

By now it’s about two pm on Sunday afternoon, and we had already gone through this nightmare of an experience, we tried as best to settle, thinking, in a few hours, this would be over, not knowing that the worse was yet to come. Fast forward a few hours later, we were in a do or die situation as the tail end of the storm rips through our building, taking out the back concrete wall, a side door, and our sanctuary roof. As we ran for cover, my son

was sucked out of the building by the strong wind, and for about two hours we thought we might have lost him, but found out he had taken refuge on the back of a truck that was parked at the entrance of the church. By this time we had about two hundred persons that had came to the church to seek refuge after loosing the roof at the school building. For two nights I along with six family members spent our time in a small room in our church lobby, with rain leaking in, the water around our ankles, and the tormenting sound of steel and metal banging, threatening to bring down this last portion of roof over our heads. By Gods grace this small portion of roof held up, and on Tuesday, I moved my family to our leaking garage where we spent another two nights before being evacuated into Nassau.

This experience that we never expected, nor could of been prepared for, left our Island desecrated, and has been most traumatizing for the people of Abaco. Even though the physical storm is over, there is the aftermath of emotional turbulence of fear, anxiety, hopelessness, grief, and uncertainty that we have to deal with, especially in the capacity of a leader, who must take on the added burdens of his parishioners. I pray for others, encourage others, even though I need prayer and encouraging because I have lost all my earthly possessions and investments, and all I had and continue to have is my faith in the word of God that He’s able to do it again.

Damage to Latter Rain Ministries

Flattened Apartments

Damage to Apostle’s house

Looking to the future...

Moving forward personally, and for the ministry, the plan is to rebuild. Better, Wiser, and Stronger. Not only to rebuild our Island and personal possessions, but to build people and strengthen relationships, with God and each other.

Today I reflect on the bible passage in James 4:14 “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears that for a little time, then vanisheth away”.

This experience has made me even more aware that every soul needs a Savior. I continue to live in His will, and His will is that none should perish, but that all shall have eternal life. My mandate is even more urgent in presenting Jesus to the masses.

To those that have survived this storm, know that you survived for the purpose of God for your life to be completed in the earth. You made it out of the storm, you can make it after the storm.

Let’s “reset our mind”. Two most powerful things that impact our lives is our thoughts, (the way we think), and our words (what we say). The Apostle Paul challenges us at the beginning of Romans 12 to not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. If we reset our minds and believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, then we are already halfway there. Marcus Aurelius declared that “the happiness of our life’s depends on the quality of our thoughts” Don’t think on the

negative, think on the positive. Secondly, let’s “create our world with our words”. Proverbs 18:2021 it reads, “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it (speaking death or life), shall eat the fruit thereof”. You choose, and in choosing I pray that you choose “LIFE”; the abundant one that God wants us all to live.

Ever since Hurricane Dorian ripped through my home country of the Bahamas leaving two of our islands completely devastated with the loss of life, property, jobs and for some even hope we have been in crisis mode and have a long journey ahead of us. I have not blogged in a while but the teacher and writer in me can not sit by and just let a lot of the rhetoric and hearsay go unchecked. Now it is important to note that The Bahamas is a self proclaim Christian nation and is very religious so most people will view things with this lens. This is sometimes both good and bad. God because there is a notion to honor and reverence God and bad because somethings that are natural people tend to over-spiritualize or sometimes spread their misinformed or misguided views of biblical insight. So in true Bahamian fashion since the storm subsided there has been a ma -triad of reasons and conclusions that have filled our social media, pulpits and civic fo-

rums. I have heard doom and gloom messages, the blaming of witchcraft, messages of hope, the blaming of larger nations with capabilities to manipulate storms, and climate change. So let me exclude myself as the weather or prophetic expert now by saying I do not know the reason for Hurricane Dorian. To be honest I do not think most others do either but that does not stop them from spreading misguided notions. So to help us all out I did a bit of studying and pulled some out six reasons and references as to why storms happen both naturally and spiritually.

1. To Build Faith We all remember the story of Jesus sleeping on the boat when a great storm arose. The disciples awoke Him in hear of their life for Him to get up in what seems to be a grudging state to rebuke the winds and the waves.

The very next line, He scolded them for their lack of faith.

The important thing to note here in this text besides the fact that Jesus performed a miracle was that it was not His intention to do so. He was sound asleep trying to catch up some z's for peace's sake.

This brings me to the conclusion that in every storm it is not always God's intention to calm the storm but rather to calm His children. Jesus' posture was directly correlated to His belief that His Father was able to keep Him. Being a Christian does not exempt us from adversity but rather gives us a higher source of strength than ourselves in the times of storms.

Speaking with and hearing the testimonies of believers who survived Dorian made this point very clear to me. In the time of a spiritual or natural storm, the root of where faith is planted will be tested.

Matthew 8:23-27 23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!

We are perishing!"

26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" 2. Disobedient & Sinful People

The story of the prophet who tried to run from God's instruction and it landed him in the belly of a whale is a Sunday school favorite. Outside of being inside of the whale for three days most never take the time to note what happens next. Jonah finally makes his way to Nineveh where God has intentions of destroying the place because of the wickedness of the people and started to declare God's plans as he walks about the city.

Jonah 3:4

And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s

walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Important to note that God always sends a warning and gives a chance before destruction. It is His will that none may perish. Take not of what happens when we drop down to verse 10. The city was spared due to their repentance Jonah 3:10- 10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

In the story of Noah, we see a different outcome.

When Noah told the people that God was going to destroy the earth, they mocked him.

Genesis 5:5-13 – God saw the wickedness and violence on the earth and decided to destroy. (God used the storm to cleansed the earth physically and spiritually) We may not always understand or agree with men and women of God but it is important to heed because there is always a warning before any type of destruction.

3.Disobedient Leaders You have heard the saying before the innocent suffer for the guilty. History will show that so many times biblically and in more modern times that poor leadership causes the demise of nations. To this point, I want to draw your attention to two leaders who caused their nation's victory or defeat.

Pharaoh, who was the leader of Egypt in the time of Moses, did not want to let the Israelites go and as a result, the whole nation suffered plagues because of the hardness of Pharaoh's heart. His disobedience caused an economic downturn, national inconvenience, and discomfort to a nation that was wealthy, death and the country's military to be wiped out in the read sea.

Poor leadership causes a variety of hardships in the countries they govern.

In 2 Chronicles 20, we see the opposite with King Jehoshaphat. When the opposing armies came up against Jehoshaphat he asked the Lord what to do.

He submitted himself to a higher source. In turn,

the Lord took the battle away from him and caused his enemies to turn on each other. His humility and plea to God saved his nation destruction. This is why as a country we ought to pray for our leaders because what they do directly affects us.

4. Man’s Stewardship of the Earth One of the most popular opinions I heard from the storm was climate change. I can agree that this could have also been a factor for the unprecedented storm we seen with Hurricane Dorian.

Through science, we have a better understanding of how the world works and there are tons of articles you can read and videos you can watch to get a better understanding of this. The key thing is we understand that what happens here on earth is due to cause and effect. God created the earth and everything that is in it perfect. Man was created and place here to be the manager of everything God had made. He told Adam to have dominion and the subdue the earth. In other words, man became responsible for this domain and given charge to put anything in place that gets out of order. When it comes to the issue of the environment, that falls all on mankind because of the responsibility we have been given.

5. A Test for the Righteous Some storms are unavoidable because it is God's way of testing the righteous. We all know the story of Job. A God-fearing man who was living on a righteous path. In spite of this, he still went through one of the most trying accounts of personal tribulation we have recorded in literature.

The strange thing is Satan did go after him until God brought his name up and God permitted him to. Some storms are unavoidable and come to test the very elect. This can be personally or nationally. Spirituality is not an escape from life's troubles. We were promised trials and tribulations. So when you see a person going through any type of storm or hardship that does not necessarily mean they have done some evil to deserve it.

Job 1:8-12 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” 9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”

6. For His Glory John 9:1-3 Afterward, as Jesus walked down the street, he noticed a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this guy’s blindness, his own, or the sin of his parents?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither. It happened to him so that you could watch him experience God’s miracle.

Now, this is the part where I get excited about the goodness of God. While some are trying to argue about who or what caused the storm, they remind of the disciples trying to figure the reason when there is a bigger picture in view. God has put us on the world stage so they can experience our miracle. Now more than ever before the world is marking the manner of our bearing. I believe more than ever before God is going to use this as an opportunity to cause men to sow into us. I believe the best is yet to come. Just as Jesus used the dirt to give the blind man the miracle of site, He is going to use the ashes to give us the wonder of redemption. Hope is far from lost. Never mind the bad that seems to be lurking and understand this one thing. There will be glory after this!

Selah

When tragedy hits we sometimes struggle to find the words to say and often don’t know how to help those experiencing the tragedy.

Though we are in the festive season many struggle to find joy. You can be apart of spreading joy by volunteering at feeding stations, shelters, and other non-profit organizations. You can also help by donating to non -profits and hurricane relief efforts. Whichever method you choose just remember to spread love and joy this season.