33. A COMEBACK – BETTER THAN BEFORE – Regal Daughters of God

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I’ve developed a bit of a fascination with the country of Dominica, after coincidentally seeing some pictures posted to someone’s Facebook Page, of a new hotel which was recently opened there.

This fascination started about a month ago and was only intensified when I then came across a video of a native videographer, showcasing the beauty of the country’s natural landscape.

Tonight, I went in search of pictures of other Caribbean countries but found myself once again gravitating to pictures of Dominica. It had such a unique, rustic, romantic sort of beauty, that I found it to be a stand-out when compared to other Caribbean countries. I also clicked on some YouTube videos about the country and learned a lot about its history, as far back as Christopher Columbus’ time and slavery.

As if the country’s history was not interesting enough, I was reminded in one of the YouTube videos of the hurricane that hit Dominica three years ago and updated on what had been taking place since that time. I had forgotten and had never really paid anything but fleeting attention to the story but the footage of the immediate aftermath of Dominica and a speech given by the Prime Minister at a UN Assembly a few days later to appeal for help, made me tearful.

This is Dominica BEFORE (in 2017 when the hurricane hit) and Dominica AFTER (today).

In 2017, a level 5 hurricane (Maria) pummeled the country, leaving a wake of destruction, desolation, death and despair. News Reports conveyed that 95% of buildings were damaged or destroyed and the country’s vegetation was completely destroyed, rendering its agricultural sector upon which it mainly relied, dead.

In the words of the country’s Prime Minister, Dominica was reduced to “worse than a war zone”. Indeed, the extent of the damage was so “mind-boggling”, that one person commented, “It feels like Dominica is finished.”

“These are chilling words and no doubt, there were those who believed them. For, as one News Article noted:

“When Hurricane Maria struck, Dominica was still recovering from tropical storm Erika, which pummeled the island in August 2015. That disaster caused $483m of damage there, according to the World Bank, equivalent to 90% of its GDP. Estimates suggest Maria wrought far greater devastation.”

Another international writer wrote, in his Article entitled: ‘After Maria’s Devastation, Can Dominica Be a Destination Again?’:

“On the evening of Sept. 18, 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Dominica with 160-mile-per-hour winds, damaging or destroying the roofs of an estimated 90 percent of buildings (including the prime minister’s residence) and toppling not only power lines but some of the thickest, strongest, oldest trees in the forests. Maria’s rains triggered landslides and transformed the island’s 365 rivers into raging tendrils that washed away bridges and crops and slashed deep cuts along what had been well-laid roads. At least 31 people were killed, and thousands more left homeless. Everything lay in shambles.”

“Everything lay in shambles.” Surely, this did not sound very optimistic. Dominica’s prognosis looked grim and its future lay in the balance. Everyone wanted to know (and many most likely doubted), would it ever be able to bounce back?

YET, by the grace of God, through the resolve of that country’s Prime Minister and the grit of the people, three years and approximately three months later, the country has amazingly been able to get back on its feet, determined to build a Dominica that was BETTER and more BEAUTIFUL than ever before.

By 2019, the country was well on its way toward this goal, determined to meaningfully diversify from just agriculture, into the tourism industry. So beautiful were the emerging results, that the natives now call Dominica, the New Dominica. Thus far, (although they may have had some set-backs due to covid), people are beginning to discover this well-kept secret, interest is rising, tourism has really taken off and the country is blooming!

Dominica’s BEFORE (2017) and AFTER (today), reminds me of us human beings and our BEFORE and AFTER. Before Jesus Christ comes into our lives, like the hurricane that hit Dominica, sin does a good job of messing up our lives, leaving a wake of destruction in our path. As we survey the damage, like Dominica, the prognosis looks grim, many doubt whether we will ever be able to get back on our feet again and we must admit that everything lies in shambles.

Worse yet, as Dominica realized early on, when it humbled itself and asked other countries for financial and other help, we have not the power within ourselves to recover ourselves.

Yet, as Dominica learned when financial and other help began pouring in to help it rebuild, there is still hope, even for the seemingly hopeless. For, when upon our request, Jesus comes and intervenes, even when as Christians, we make wrong decisions, take wrong paths and end up in a sterile place but then humbly repent and return to Him, HE brings about beautiful transformation in our lives. For, he is the God of redemption and regeneration but also of restoration, reversal and rejuvenation.

He is the God of the resurrection and therefore has the power to transform any situation and to raise the dead back to life. No matter the prognosis therefore, even when everybody believes that there will never be a comeback for us because everything is in shambles, Jesus can bring it back. He can help any and every person who believes on Him and puts his trust in Him, to bounce back and more beautifully, than before.

With him, no situation is too difficult, too dismal, too late or too far gone. In John 11:25, he declared, before he performed a miracle and raised Lazarus from the dead:“…I AM THE RESURRECTION, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live…”

When juxtaposed with what existed before (even before the hurricane hit in 2017), the people of Dominica consider the beauty of the place they now live after all the effort was made to remove rubble, to clean and to rebuild, as the New Dominica. It is far more breathtakingly beautiful today than it has ever been before. New, more beautiful, sturdy buildings and other structures are being erected, to capitalize on the natural beauty of the country’s landscape and to promote tourism. In fact, so impressive has been the transformation thus far, that Dominica’s comeback is being referred to by some, as a rebirth.

Similarly but far more significantly, Jesus grants all of us, as human beings, the opportunity, free of charge, to be born again spiritually, by us believing on him and surrendering our lives to his Lordship and leading.

Unlike the devil, which, though worse, can be likened to the destructive effects of a hurricane, Jesus wants to be in control of our lives so that he can make us better than before. In John 10:10, he himself stated of his mission: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

When Jesus transforms his children, he does such a beautiful work in us and in our lives, that when those children compare who they WERE with what they ARE NOW and how far they have come, in Jesus, they can’t help but rejoice. For, the Lord’s work in their lives has been nothing short of MARVELLOUS. They have been made anew and rebuilt for better.

The Bible states, “And such WERE some of you: but ye ARE washed, but ye ARE sanctified, but ye ARE justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Even as there is now (due to physical infrastructural upgrades and a new and better vision), a NEW Dominica, those who have handed the reins of control over to Jesus, realize that, due to Christ’s work spiritually in their lives, the rubble of sin has been removed, a work has been done in them and they are now, a NEW Creation. They have been born again, positionally sanctified or justified and like the NEW Dominica which is still being transformed daily, the spiritual work of sanctification in the Christian, which is progressive, continues!

In Philippians 1:6, Paul and Timothy told the Christians at Philippi:“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”

In Isaiah 43:16, 17-19, God told his children:

“Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;…Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a NEW thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 also states, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become NEW.”

The rate of progress in the country of Dominica has been so remarkable since 2017, that the country that was once thought of as finished and a write-off, due to the intensity of the storm and the level of damage sustained was referred to in an Article written by an international observer as: “Dominica – The New Wave of Projects and A Vision of Roseau 2025”.

What a thing! From doom and gloom to an inspiring vision for the future!

Can you imagine it? From sterility and stagnancy, to rejuvenation and restoration; From death and despair, to refreshment and resuscitation!

Today, the NEW Dominica (as it is fondly called by those who know the pain of what they’ve been through in the past and remember how far they’ve come) is truly a sight to behold.

Dear friends, so is it with the people that God has made a NEW creation, in Christ Jesus. When he intervenes in the life of a believer who has newly come to him in faith and therefore submitted to his Lordship or the believer that has been rebellious but has repentantly admitted his wrong and returned wholeheartedly to him, the Lord Jesus is able to take his life and make it something that is truly A SIGHT TO BEHOLD.

In outlining the extent to which he had personally intervened to transform the people of Judah, in the Old Testament, God recounted how he had taken them from NOTHING and made them into SOMETHING. They were such a beautiful sight to behold when he was finished, that they attracted the attention of even the heathen (unbelievers).

God reminded Judah of where he brought them from, through his Prophet in Ezekiel 16 and of how, him being THE RESURRECTION and THE LIFE, he infused life into their seemingly hopeless situation. When, like the country of Dominica, they seemed without hope and in shambles, when they couldn’t help themselves and were forgotten and forlorn, in his mercy and love, he took them, cleaned them up and rebuilt something that was truly beautiful to behold. He told them:

“And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, LIVE; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, LIVE.

I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.

Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.AND THY RENOWN WENT FORTH AMONG THE HEATHEN FOR THY BEAUTY: for it was perfect through MY comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.“

No matter who you are therefore or what your past has been, if you surrender your heart to the Lord Jesus and wholeheartedly submit to his Lordship, if you stop rebelling against him and repentantly return from whatever wrong path you have taken, he can intervene to bring about such a transformation in your life, that, like the New Dominica and the people of Judah, you will be BETTER than before. For, it is God that makes us honourable. He takes us as wretches and clothes us in HIS dignity.

What will your decision be? Will you remain in SIN’S SHAMBLES or allow Jesus to intervene, so as to make you into a true SUCCESS STORY?

(Written on 8th January, 2022)

ADDENDUM

Today, two days after I had written the above Article, a phrase in the scriptures came to my mind as I was having my morning devotions and so I went online to search for it, as I often do. The phrase was about the Lord stating his plans to rebuild and restore waste places, as only he can do and it reminded me of the Article that I wrote on Dominica.

I found the phrase in the book of Ezekiel and after reading the entire chapter in which it was contained, I found it to be so in keeping with the above Article, that I had to include portions of it here, in an Addendum.

In Ezekiel 36:2-4, 8-11 and 33-36, God told the people of Israel, whose nation was in shambles due to their sins, of his plans heal them, cleanse, build and restore them again, BETTER than before. Despite their present forlorn circumstances and how they lay helplessly in desolation, to the utter ridicule, infamy (shame) and exploitation of their enemies round about, through his Prophet, God stated:

“Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about…ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded:And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do BETTER unto you than at your BEGINNINGS: and ye shall KNOW that I am the Lord…

In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.And THEY SHALL SAY, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall KNOW that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.“

Isn’t it amazing how God makes even your enemies, to have no choice but to change what they SAY about you? When Israel lay in desolation, its enemies had a lot to say about its shameful and pathetic situation BUT WHEN GOD PURPOSES to REBUILD and to RESTORE, those very enemies would change their tune. They would have no choice because of the extent of the miracle that God would work and the beauty of what their eyes would behold, which they themselves would not be able to deny.

When God was finished rebuilding, they would have no choice but to liken the nation of Israel, the subject of their past ridicule and scorn, to the garden of Eden!

Only God could wrought such a change. Only HE can bring such beauty out of ashes, that those who have had much to say about our utter helplessness, marvel at what their eyes behold.

All who rejoiced at Israel’s demise mistakenly thought that they had a HOPELESS END but God was saying in advance, that when HE was done rebuilding this nation, the heathen would realize without a shadow of a doubt, that because HE was God, those who belonged to him and therefore, who he took responsibility for, had an ENDLESS HOPE.

God’s people may have been DOWN and out yes but they were not DEAD because the God they were in covenant with was THE RESURRECTION and THE LIFE.

(Addendum written on 10th January, 2022)

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