Acacia Slaton

John the Baptist boldly proclaimed, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” And he also preached in the wilderness of Judaea, saying, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:3).

Then much later while imprisoned John sent word by his disciples and said to Him (Jesus), “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?" Matthew 11:3)

What happened? The same John who proclaimed and rejoiced at His coming is now questioning rather or not He’s who He said He was. What’s different? John’s in prison. This is the Jesus who’s supposed to set the prisoners free, yet John’s in prison.

You’ll notice that Jesus didn’t answer John directly instead he replied, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.… (Matthew 11:4-6)

In essence Jesus is saying, “John, look at what I’m doing and don’t focus on what I’m not doing.”

(This message I’m sharing came from the insight of Bill Johnson. I’d encourage you to listen to his videos on Youtube).

This is a reminder for us to not get so caught up in what we’re going though that we fail to bring into mind what’s God already done. A friend of mine who’s a nurse said, “Acacia, you don’t know how blessed you are. I commend your husband for being openly gay and leaving you.” She went on to say, “I recently treated a patient with pneumonia. We all knew he had Aids but we weren’t allowed to disclose his condition to his wife.” Sadly, this woman was unknowingly sleeping with a man who was HIV positive and she did not know!

“Acacia, your husband did you a favor by leaving you. One day you’ll personally thank him for leaving your life!” I could easily look at my circumstances and bitterly say, “My husband of six years left me and our daughters to be with a man or I can thank God that my daughters and I are healthy and disease free. I choose to focus on the latter. My oldest daughter’s name (Jana) means the Lord is gracious. And my youngest daughter’s name (Jaci) means protection. In the midst of my hurt and pain the Lord said to me, “I have loved you with an everlasting love and I have been gracious and protected you during the course of your marriage. What a mighty God we serve; He is worthy to be praised!