So Grateful!

It's 20 degrees outside (and dropping) and 59 degrees in our little efficiency.


They gave us a nice space heater and it normally keeps this place perfectly warm and cozy; unfortunately, tonight seems to be a little different.

I have lost the feeling in my big toes. I just keep rubbing them hoping the friction will keep them from becoming frost-bitten. The boys went to sleep with long-sleeved shirts on.

What a night!

I find myself feeling like referring people to my blog for information about how we became homeless and what my plans are. I'm growing weary of my story. It gnaws away at me like an annoying flea and drains me like an over-grown tick. I know I will make it. I know I'm victorious, but I don't always feel that way and I know that's okay. I'm human.

I know all of the "victory" scriptures and I am a woman of faith, yet I feel myself dragging. Every now and then I feel myself and then my feeling fades. Just a moment alone is all I need, but that's nearly impossible. During my planning period, I leave the school just to feel the heat from my jeep and I try to recall a time when I was in a different place. Happy memories are sparse. It seems that I have always been going through something. Some of you feel that way too. I want you to know that it's temporary, but it is real!

Enduring Until the Our Change Comes

I know it doesn't seem fair. Some of us have been through so much and it seems that, when it comes to suffering and tribulations, some of us have been through so much more than others. At times it feels endless, like a deep dark chasm, and, if we rely on our flesh to dictate our mood, based on our situations, we would buckle and fall apart. Jesus gave us some hope: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Although none of us are perfect, when afflictions come, we can always find something good we've done and say "Maybe I'm exempt from struggle because I've done so much good." Some people even believe that, if someone is going through tribulations, they must have done something wrong. "That's right, you reap what you sow." Though the law of reciprocity is real, we have to be careful not to judge others as we take our shortcomings into consideration: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matthew 1:1-2

Each day I do all that I can to quiet the excessive noise that accompanies my current trials. I try to find the good and great in everything and everyone as I attempt to eliminate the negative thoughts and words that are either generated in my own mind or spued out by individuals who are more concerned about their own opinions rather than being sensitive to someone who may endure such a debilitating plight.



I try to understand that some people have no idea what it feels to be a homeless single parent (or even homeless for that matter). They may not know what it feels like to struggle to make something of yourself as you fight the enemy within yourself who repeats every pernicious word life had already hurled at you. The things you heard from people you thought should have loved you. So, as I sit here, cold and hopeful, I leave you with all of the inspiration that I can muster up:

If you're going though anything today, or, if you've been enduring a long-term struggle, I encourage you to stand on these biblical truths with me. We are enduring together:

If we endure, not only will we make it, we will come out of it with polished character.

"I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all." Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NIV)

"And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:3-5 (NAS)

We shall live and not die.

"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD." Psalms 118:17 (KJV)

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. His works are wonderful and we KNOW THIS!

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalms 139:14 (NIV)

God knows how many hairs we have on our heads!

"And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." 10:30 (NIV)

God cares about what we’re thinking. He knows our thoughts.

"You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar." Psalms 139:4 (NIV)

He knows our names and gave us our purpose.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

He longs to give us the desires of our hearts.

"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart" Psalms 37:4 (NIV)

He has plans for us and His thoughts concerning us are good!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

He has promised us abundant life.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Last but NOT least, God has not forgotten us; He knows our names:

He hath given meat [food] unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.

Psalm 111:5

Surely he [the righteous man that fears the Lord] shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.

Psalm 112:6

But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Isaiah 49:14-16

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:6, 7

For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

Psalm 94:14

...I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Joshua 1:5

I have said it once and I will say it until December 31, 2010: "This is our year!"

Like always, if you need me to stand with you in prayer for anything, please feel free to e-mail me at: yolandawhitted@msn.com Don't neglect your place in the Kingdom of God! Go forth, divide and conquer!