Surely Goodness And Mercy Shall Follow Me

By Toyi Mthembu

As a Christian...
- how do you cope when life is coming down on you very hard?
- when there seems to be no way out?
- when your relationship with God is being affected?
- what do you do when you are facing such obstacles?

You don’t have to go through someone else to get to God except through Jesus Christ. He dwells in your heart and you can learn to hear His voice. Trust in God, believe that He loves you, He has the power to help you, He wants to help you, and He will help you.

He formed us with great care and special attention, handpicked individual talents, individual gifts, each characteristic, until the combination was exactly the right potion so perfect according to His will. He then breathed to us the very breath of life. He is indeed our Shepherd!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Toyi Mthembu
• Release date: May 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311830401

Toyi Mthembu

Toyi Mthembu, author and spiritual therapist, is a founder & vision carer of Qhudeni Skills Development cc, established in 2009. She is an independent motivational speaker and an active candidate member of the Professional Speakers Association of SA since 2007.In 2010 she became a Phenomenal Soul Woman of the year finalist hosted by Soul Magazine and has written numerous articles for various mainstream SA magazines such as Bona and Drum. Toyi's future vision is to launch a community development project that addresses youth mentoring, life coaching and skills development for needy children in her hometown of Mpumalanga Township in Hammersdale near Durban.

Book preview

SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY SHALL FOLLOW ME

By Toyi (NTZ) Mthembu

Published by Mind Power Publications

www.mindpowerpublications.com

Copyright © 2016 by Toyi Mthembu

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DEDICATION

My Dedication for this book is firstly to God, Who is beyond what we can see with our own eyes and is bigger than the physical universe.

Secondly to both my parents. My dad never had a home. He was staying with his mother who was a domestic worker and lived in the servant’s quarters. In realising that his wish of being a teacher was not going to materialise, he decided to go to the block of flats; opposite to where my grand-mother used to work and asked for peace-jobs to do the washing. He was lucky to be offered that (His never ending mercies). He bought himself pegs and material, made small laundry bags for his laundry. He numbered them as per flat number. He would do his laundry, hang it according to the flat numbers to avoid mixing the clothes up. He studied and became a teacher (Goodness & Mercy) for a year and a School Principal all his life until he retired in 1995.

Long before us, my Mother and my Father were staying in a one room house. They used a curtain to divide the room so that my Grand-Mother would also have a private section for her to sleep. Together my parents brought us up to what we are today. My advice is to always choose what you take as you grow up. Take what is good for you and make a cocktail of your norms and values of life. Learn the lessons from your parents; different lessons indeed and use them as the steps of the ladder that will take you to higher and better places instead of blaming your up-bringing.

Mr Fana Frederick (Nqobangaye) Mthembu

DOB: 26/01/1930

Called to rest on the 6th October 2006

Mrs Metrina Bonakele Isabel Mthembu

DOB: 27/07/1936

Called to rest on the 30th July 2015

When God is ready to bless you; He becomes visible to you. Nondumiso Toyi Mthembu

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INTRODUCTION

For so many years I have been reciting Psalm 23 with little or no proper understanding. For God so loved the world, He revealed it to me in my sleep in January 2016. I have been going through a particularly difficult time in my life and I felt very much alone. How did this Psalm apply to my life at this particular time? I was in a valley with God, He was holding my hand and I was holding His hand as we were walking. He was very friendly and kind and I was very happy and content. We were climbing a hill out of a valley.

We were near the top, but not quite there yet. He looked at me with that wonderful, kind, smiling face. He then handed me a full script of The Lord is my Shepherd. I took it and I wept. He looked at me and slowly walked away. My first thought was that I was about to die which is human nature. As I sat down still crying, I took an invisible mirror; I looked back from where I am coming from; I then realised what God was reminding me of.

The path was long, very long; at the far end, which was still not the end, I could still see God. To me, God revealed Himself in a way; assuring me that No matter what, He has always been with me. Have had so many challenges and testing times but the assurance of God’s Goodness and Mercy has been announced to me and has been made very clear to me by God Himself; a personal encounter with God.

Going back to the day in the year 2000 when I was told that I would go blind. My left eye was the one which was giving me problems; it was said that both my eyes will get affected, was to undergo an operation after diagnosed with glaucoma and brain tumour and I refused. All I said was If I was meant to be blind at some stage of my life; let it be but I will never put myself through a brain operation.

John 9 Jesus Healed a Man Born Blind. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

In verse 6 we are told that after saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes and said to the man; Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

I was not worried about being blind as being unable to see but what came into my mind was the blindness whilst I was not blind.

Goodness and Mercy opened my eyes that my soul is not blind. Even if I underwent the operation that would not have saved my blindness of not seeing what is spiritually right.

My Aim for this book is to reach millions and millions of people, sharing my understanding on how true and faithful God is; the same way He was with Abraham, Moses, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac; just to name the few. He is still the same God to us and He does not change. All we need to do is to keep on keeping His word which always results in loyalty to His name. In Genesis 1: 26-30 we are being reminded that we were created to inhabit the earth.

The ultimate destiny of God is for us to occupy a new earth without any traces of sins. The plan for redemption makes it possible for God and us His people to participate in unlimited fellowship through eternity. What we need to know and understand is that His never ending Mercies to us is what we need to comprehend and understand our spiritual blindness towards the word of God which is more important than our physical blindness.

When we look back; very far; we can all clearly see Him carrying us which is exactly what was revealed to me; I saw Him carrying me now and then. All we need to do is to allow Him to show His Glory in and through our lives. Many times we mess up by creating many of our own problems because of our disbelief in God’s word and His promises.

We don’t wait for our blessings meant for us instead we try to meet God halfway; like Abraham did with Hagar out of desperation of having a child. Knowing and understanding God’s plans and purposes about our own existence, and also to know and understand that His thoughts differ and His time is His; we will learn to focus on His word and His word alone. In this book I bring the birth of Ishmael by Abraham and his servant Hagar. We all have been there in one way or another; and some of us are still caught up in a situation where we have to make a decision as we find ourselves in different dilemmas in life. Abraham wanted to be a father like any other man, his wish and want is normal for any human being; and that is what led to the birth of Ishmael; the efforts of the flesh.

How many of us have done things through the efforts of the flesh? If he knew that through faith, Isaac was yet to be born. We are sinners but when we choose the life of Christianity, we don’t need to re-patch our old life and pretend it never happened. Remember that as we sin, we separate ourselves from God; to come closer and bring ourselves closer to God, we need to be new; to be a new creation by the spirit of God. The life of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac gives us an in-depth understanding of how God is showing His love for us.

When we become thankful of our sufferings, that turns into a testimony as we acknowledge the power and work of God in and through our lives.

God found Daniel in a hole

Joseph in Prison

Daniel in a lion’s den

He shows up in the midst of trouble. He tends to recruit from the pit and seldom from the podium. Same with me, He recruited me from the gutter; the deep muddy gutter.

Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

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CHAPTERS

1 He is my Shepherd - Psalms 23

2 The Birth of Isaac - Genesis 21

3 Keeping Christ’s word

4 Let your light shine through the darkness

5 Until we take time to be

6 Trust in the Lord

7 Trusting God Can Transform Your Life

8 When trusting God, no need to fear

9 Moses and the Burning Bush

10 Crossing the river Jordan

11 The Lord instructs Joshua

12 How do we know we love God?

13 Spiritual Growth

14 Loving with All Our Heart

15 Keep on doing good

16 Wonderful change the Holy Spirit brings

17 What is a Heritage?

18 All I