Overcoming Obstacles

My wife and I have been joking that God must have big plans for my dissertation. The enemy has thrown just about everything at me to keep me from getting it done, but I'm slowly but surely moving forward. Since I started writing it this this summer, our newly finished basement was flooded with backed up sewer water... twice, there has been a lot of shootings and drama in my neighborhood where I have had to engage pastorally at hours that I would normally be writing, we've unexpectedly started the initial stages of planning an urban transformation center in Homewood, one of my biggest prayer warriors, Juanita Martin, had a stroke and passed away, and freak things like a 104.5 degree temperature this past Sunday from an unexpected illness have served to take me out for short periods of time. I could go on and on about the many distractions I've had to deal with that seem to happen daily, but I don't want to give the enemy any more credit than he deserves. Jesus is victorious in all things, and my life, especially including this project, is completely yielded over the Christ. My research belongs to the Lord... I am just a steward of the information that God directs me to. My hope is that many people will be blessed and encouraged by the amazing power that faith-based mentoring has to transform the lives of at-risk urban youth (the topic of my disertation). God is moving in America and around the world through mentoring, and I can't wait to see how God uses this project to advance his mission to reach people in need.