Restoring Hope International-Lula's Legacy, P. O. Box 16832, Hattiesburg, MS (2026)

04/29/2026

28 Apr 26
Fragile: Handle With Care

Do you remember when God said, “Let us make man…”? He reached down and took the dust of the ground to use to make humankind.

Dust…dirt…clay.

I don’t know if you’ve ever made pottery or anything similar. But one of the first things you’ll find out about anything made from clay is that it is very fragile. When being shipped to you, they even stamp on the box: FRAGILE-HANDLE WITH CARE.

But we humans, though made of dirt or clay, did not come with a ‘FRAGILE’ stamp on us.

We came with the Word of God that tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and then to love our neighbor as we do ourselves.

Because when we love God and love ourselves, we will know how to love—how to handle -- the “pottery”, the “clay vessels” of humankind that we encounter every day.

But this assumes that we love ourselves. Many people don’t…hence the current shape of this world.

I have heard preachers preach, “You just love your lil’ … self!” And they would spit the words out as though that was something to be despised. But when you learned more about the preacher, you learned that they did not even know how to treat their own spouse.

So, it was obvious they did not love themselves.

We cannot love others without first learning how to love ourselves.
So, until a person learns to love themselves, they will never know how to love you—how to handle the delicate piece of pottery that you are.

And if you are in a relationship with someone who does not love themselves, you must decide whether or not you’re okay with that.
No one else can make that decision for you.

Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Matthew 22:37-39 (KJV)
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

04/14/2026

14 April 2026
MIRROR IMAGE

I was sharing in a recent message an account from when I was a child. One of my uncles showed me a picture that he had inside a round metal top. When he asked me who that was, I told him that it was me. He told me that it was not me.

I looked at the picture again and I told him that I was sure that it was me. I was staring at a picture of myself inside the top. He then told me that it was not me, it was actually one of my sisters when she was around my then age. I looked at the photograph again and I honestly could not tell us apart. It was as though I was looking in a mirror.

As I thought about that recently, I thought how the Bible likens the Word of God to a mirror.

When Jesus needed to know who He was, He looked in the mirror of God’s Word. He got His identity from who the Word of God said He was, not from any man.

And He became so one with the image He saw reflected back to Him from the Word, that when Philip asked Him to show them the Father, He was able to tell him, “…he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father…”

There are many identities the world may try to force upon you. But as children of God, we are instructed to be not conformed to the world. The world can only distort the image of who God created us to be.

We are supposed to look like the image we see reflected back to us from the Word of God. The more we look at the image of who God says we are, the more we become what we behold.

Until when people see us, we look so much like Him, they can’t help but see our Father in us.

Because we look like Him. We talk like Him. We walk like Him. We act like Him. We love like Him. Because we’ve become one with Him.

What picture do you see when you look in the mirror?

We should all find our true identity through looking in the mirror of the Word of God.

James 1:22-25 (KJV)
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

John 14: 8-9
8Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Romans 12:2 (KJV)
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

04/08/2026

8 Apr 26

Judging Him Faithful

Sarah.

How long was she waiting? Month after month. Year after year.
Hoping...Praying…that perhaps this would be the year she would have a child.

Enduring the disappointment…the ridicule…the whispers…the shame.

Until finally…she didn’t pray for it anymore. She dared not hope anymore. There was no point.

The time had passed.

Physically, it was now impossible. Her body was beyond the childbearing years. So she resigned herself to her duties as a wife.

But in her heart, the ache never left.
Not really.

Sometimes when she heard children laughing and playing outside, she would imagine what it might have been like. But she couldn’t daydream about that for too long. The daily chores still had to be done.

So she just learned to go on with her life.

And one day she heard the voice of a stranger outside talking to Abram…and promising him something that seemed to be impossible.

That in spite of what their situation looked like, his wife would bear him a son. His body was dead…her body was dead. But here was a promise offering life!

Can you feel the resurrection of hope? Out of their dead situation, life would come!

The Bible tells us that against hope, Abraham still yet hoped.
He had the promise. He had the word from the Lord. And he was determined to hold onto the promise against all doubt, all unbelief...against all odds.

He held on to the word of the God who cannot lie.
Unshakeable faith.

He staggered not at God’s promises.

Perhaps you have your own dead situation. Perhaps you have been waiting for something for a long time.

What promises have God made to you?

The Bible tells us that God is no respecter of persons. What He has done for one, He will do for another.

He is still the God who cannot lie.

He has placed His Word above His name (Psalm 138:2).

And He still has resurrection power!

It just might be that your resurrection time is here.

Hebrews 11:11
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Rom 4:18, 20
Who against hope believed in hope…
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

03/30/2026

Hidden, Yet Held
In Exodus chapter 2, we see a mother facing an impossible situation. Pharaoh had issued a command that every Hebrew baby boy be thrown into the Nile. Yet when Moses was born, his mother, Jochebed, saw something different—she saw purpose. She recognized that her child was not ordinary, and by faith, she chose to act.

For three months, she hid him.

Imagine the fear and tension of those days—every cry a risk, every moment filled with uncertainty. She could not change Pharaoh’s decree. She could not control the danger surrounding her. But she could trust God enough to do what was in her hands.

And when she could no longer hide him, she did something even more powerful—she released him into God’s care.

She placed him in a basket and set him among the reeds of the Nile.

From the outside, it may have looked like surrender. But in truth, it was strategy guided by faith.

What she released, God preserved. What she could not control, God orchestrated.

Pharaoh’s own daughter found Moses, had compassion on him, and unknowingly positioned him to be raised and protected—even returning him to his own mother for a season.

What a reminder: God’s plan does not bow to your circumstances.
There are seasons when life feels like hiding—when you are doing all you can just to protect what God has placed in you.

Dreams may feel concealed. Purpose may seem delayed.

Fear may whisper that what God promised cannot survive what you’re facing.

But just like Moses, what God has ordained cannot be destroyed by what surrounds you.

Jochebed teaches us that faith is not always loud or public. Sometimes, it looks like quiet obedience in difficult conditions. It looks like trusting God in the tension.

It looks like releasing what you love most into His hands and believing He will do what only He can do.

Remember today: Your purpose is not fragile. It is not at the mercy of your environment, your past, or even the threats against you.

What God has spoken over your life will stand.

Even when hidden—God is working.
Even when uncertain—God is moving.
Even when it feels risky—God is faithful.

The very thing you are trying to protect, God is preparing.

And in His perfect timing, what was hidden will be revealed, preserved, and positioned for His glory.

Trust Him in the hiding.

Psalms 27:5 (KJV)
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

03/12/2026

12 Mar 2026

PASSING THE SNIFF TEST… (A MATTER OF THE HEART)

Remember when Jacob deceived his father by pretending to be Esau (Genesis 27)? Isaac even asked Jacob to come closer so he could kiss and smell him (v. 26-27) because, though Jacob said he was Esau, his voice still sounded like Jacob (v. 22).

But because Jacob was wearing Esau’s clothing, he smelled like Esau…and thus he received the blessing that by birth would have gone to Esau as the firstborn.

I thought about that this morning as I recalled hearing someone speaking about what someone wore to attend a church service…Improper shoes.

I’ve known many people who teach you should dress a certain way…men should wear suits, ties, and dress shoes and women should wear skirt suits, dresses, heels, hair done just right, etc., etc., etc. And I get it.

But I guess after seeing so many perfectly dressed wolves in sheep’s clothing come into the house of God and lay waste to the sheep, I think differently.

The metaphor of the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ gives the idea that the wolf knew it could not come into the sheepfold dressed like a wolf. The sheep would immediately recognize it as a danger. So, it dressed the part of a sheep---so it could blend in…and operate from the inside out. And by the time the sheep recognized it as a threat, it was too late.

I’ve seen finely dressed and suited men and women who looked the part…sharp as a tack…dressed to the 9’s… but the damage they did to God’s sheep, either by their words or their actions, is incalculable. But they passed the sniff test.

And I’ve seen men with tattoos down the length of their arm, and a ponytail, wearing t-shirt and jeans, or men wearing overalls and a button-down shirt minister and the Spirit of the Lord rode out on their words as they ministered the life God had placed in them.

And women just teaching or preaching what God had laid on their heart—wearing pants and blouse--and God used them to pray and raise a baby from the dead, and a husband received to life again the dead wife being carried to the altar in his arms.

Yes, I believe that dressing appropriately—modestly, as the Bible prescribes—is important.

But I also believe we have gotten so far away from what really matters.

Jesus told the Pharisees and scribes that, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, they had made the Word of God of none effect through their traditions.

Of a long time, too many churches have had the commandments of men - traditions…but no power.

I Sam 16:7 says that man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

The reason the wolf could come in and destroy the sheep, even though he was dressed like one of them, is because in his heart of hearts, he was still a wolf.

It is a matter of the heart.

The Lord is really more concerned with what is in our heart.

I Sam 16:7
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Rom 8:5
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

03/04/2026

4 March 2026
Amazing Grace

Do you remember the woman at the well? You can find her beginning at John 4:7.

The Bible tells us she was from Samaria.

As a Samaritan, she was used to being looked down upon, being considered less than, being rejected by the Jews.

Most likely, she’d become accustomed to being looked through, as though she were invisible…as though she didn’t exist.

And…she was a woman. Living in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Suffice it to say that she was accustomed to being despised and mistreated.

On this day, she had gone to draw water when she encountered Jesus at the well. He asked her for a drink of water. This request from Him was most unexpected to her.

Some sources say at this time, it was considered improper for men to speak alone with women in public places.

Add to this the aforementioned strikes against her…and you can understand her surprise.

But Jesus did not allow Himself to be bound by the culture of the day. He did not allow the man-made low status placement of women in that society to affect how He dealt with her.

He saw her. He acknowledged her. He spoke to her.

He shared with her spiritual truths.

He revealed Himself to her as the Messiah.

He saw her in her low estate.

And rather than kicking her while she was down, He chose to lift her up.

That is just like God!

How do I know?

Because Jesus said He only did what He saw His Father do.

And that if we have seen Him, we have seen His Father.

Therefore, He refused to allow His treatment of her to be dictated by the societal norms.

The same grace that has accepted us accepted her that day. What an amazing grace!

We can learn a lot from Jesus.

And we should.

John 14:9
…he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father…

John 8:29
…the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.

John 5:19
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Ephesians 1:6
To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.

02/17/2026

17 Feb 26

God’s Kind of Love

Do you know the difference between God’s love toward you, according to the Bible’s description, and what people are passing off as God’s love for you?

Recently, I was reading a book in which the author was sharing about the inward battle she was fighting as a disease was ravaging something in her body…something that was seemingly taking away from her very essence as a woman.

In the throes of her own private battle, she fell into depression. While enduring this internal struggle, and though she really just wanted to stay home, she decided to go on to her church service.

Shortly after arriving, the ‘pastor’ began openly rebuking, ridiculing, demeaning, and insulting her from the pulpit for not being at the service on time.

He then began to verbally attack her (still from the pulpit!) in the very area where the enemy was already trying to destroy her…where the physical effects of the disease had become outwardly obvious on her body.

She was crushed… devastated…as the congregation began to look at her and laugh. Stunned, she sat there.

Because this was her church family. This was her church…and she felt she had no other option but to sit there and endure the abuse. And abuse it was.

I knew the person to whom she was referring. I recall hearing members of his congregation quote him as saying he does his “counseling from the pulpit.”

What he actually did was take the things members discussed with him in private, because they were seeking spiritual counsel, and use those things publicly from the pulpit to ridicule, humiliate, and embarrass, in front of everyone, those who had come to him for counsel.

That is no leader. And, certainly, no pastor after God’s heart.

Jesus said that all men would know those who are His disciples by the love they have toward one another.

Not by their big title…not by the miraculous gifts of the Spirit they manifest…but by their “love one to another.”

And what this leader did was not love.

The Bible says that love is kind…not cruel.

Love works no ill to his neighbor.

Love seeks to cover our faults…not reveal them for others to look upon and laugh.

When we don’t know and understand God’s love, we may tolerate this type of abuse thinking it is what God would have us to do.

But, is it?

I encourage you to compare what the Bible says about God’s love to what you are experiencing and perceiving as love (perhaps in your own church or in your relationships).

And you decide which one is real love.

John 13:35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

I Cor 13:4
Charity suffereth long, and is kind…

Romans 13:10
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour…

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…

02/13/2026

12 Feb 26

“The show must go on!”

You have probably heard that phrase before.

According to Google and AI (which, of course, knows Everything!), that phrase “originated in the 19th-century circus industry, where ringmasters used it to prevent audience panic during accidents, animal escapes, or performer injuries.”

It was their way of saying that the show had to go on regardless of what had taken place. They just had to deal with it and move on.
In Joshua chapter 1, it seems that God had this same way of dealing with the situation.

Moses had died. God didn’t tell Joshua that he couldn’t mourn for him. But God didn’t allow Joshua to live in that valley of despair.
Instead, God told Joshua that the death of Moses could not stop the plan that God had for His people getting to the land that He had for them.

And since Moses would not be able to carry the people over the Jordan, now it was up to Joshua to carry on in his place.

The show must go on.

How many times have you heard of or known people who essentially died when their ‘Moses’ died.

Someone they loved died or left them. Or they experienced some tragic event in their life. Then they stopped forward progression…became stagnated…they simply stopped living.

And whenever you speak to them, they are still living-or rather, existing- in the same spot where the death took place.

But God told Joshua, yes, I know Moses has died. But you are still alive. There are still things I have for you to do.

You must now arise.

Perhaps you have experienced a loss of your own.

Maybe the death of a loved one, a divorce, or break up.

Perhaps the death of a dream. A hope dashed.

Or a tragic event that left you feeling broken, shattered, or lost.

Don’t you know that God is able to be touched by the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15)?

He is not insensitive to our hurts or pains. But He knows that He gives us strength for the journey when we lean into Him. When we look unto Him.

If we don’t carry on, what is at stake?

If Joshua had not carried on, what would have been lost? Whose blessing--whose deliverance-- would have stagnated with him?
How many people’s blessing was he carrying in his obedience?

So, you see, there is too much at stake.

You have to go on. You cannot live in the valley.

You must now arise.

You are the bearer of hopes, dreams, destinies…all being carried in your obedience to God.

The show must go on.

Joshua 1:1-2
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,

Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

II Chronicles 15:7
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

02/02/2026

2 Feb 26

Honoring the Present; Looking to the Future

Do you have a vision of your tomorrow?

We just hosted a Vision Party this past weekend. It was heartwarming to hear what the attendees felt the Lord was speaking to them and to hear them share their many hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

To see the iron sharpen the iron…how one person’s looking forward to a brighter future can inspire others to dream of a brighter tomorrow for themselves and their families.

To hear people share their own past challenges to encourage those going through challenges in the present that there is hope.

To see people leave with a firmer conviction that God always has good plans for their lives.

As one attendee stated, “It doesn’t matter how you started…it matters how you finish.”

What we have before us is this moment in time.

We cannot change the past…how the days were spent…things that were not as we would have liked them to be. Things that we did or didn’t do; things that were done to us or that we did to others.

In the movie, Kung Fu Panda (😊), you hear the statement by Master Oogway, “Yesterday is history-tomorrow is a mystery-but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.”

We have the gift of today. And by trusting our today to God, we can decide what we want our tomorrow to be.

Proverbs 16:3
Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Habakkuk 2:3
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

01/22/2026

LORD, OPEN MY EYES…

In Genesis 21, Hagar, Sarah’s maid, had been forced to leave Abraham and Sarah’s home, along with Hagar’s son (also Abraham’s son), Ishmael. Wandering in the wilderness, they ran out of the water they had brought with them. In the depths of sorrow and believing her son would surely die, Hagar left him beneath a tree because she did not want to witness his death. Then she went “…a good way off…” and lifted her voice and wept. Loudly.

I find it very interesting that when “the angel of God” called to her from heaven, he asked her what was wrong with her.

Why?

Perhaps because from His viewpoint, God knew that this was not the end. This was just a bump in the road along their journey.

Perhaps because He already knew that He had a plan for Abraham and Ishmael that did not include Ishmael dying beneath a tree in the wilderness. But His plan did include making of Ishmael “a great nation.”

Then verse 19 states that, “… God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.”

Did you catch that?

God opened her eyes.

And I don’t believe that means that Hagar was crying so hard that her eyes were closed. I believe that means that through the emotional turmoil she was experiencing, she was not able to see what was right before her eyes.

So, when God opened her eyes, she was able to see that there was a well of water close enough for her to see it from her wailing spot.

The well was there all the time. But Hagar was so discouraged because of what she was going through, she couldn’t see it.

Is your well of water right there...but you are just not seeing it?

Sometimes in the midst of our situation, problems, circumstances, we need to ask God to open our eyes.

She thought she was facing the certain death of her only child. She felt hopeless. She was so lost in her own grief that, though the source of continued life was before her, she was unable to see it.
Today, perhaps you have a problem which has your emotions in an uproar.

God has a plan for your life that He set before the foundations of the world.

We may become discouraged along the journey…may sometimes feel that we’ve gotten lost along the way. May feel we are in our own wilderness…or a wilderness of our own making.

But take heart. He is looking down from Heaven…and He still has His promise to you in mind. It has not changed.

All of His promises to you are still yes, and still Amen.

Gen 21:17
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

v19
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

Joshua 1:9
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

II Cor 1:20
For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen’, unto the glory of God by us.

01/06/2026

6 Jan 26

AND GOD SAID…

In the book of Genesis, we see over and over, “And God said…and God said…and God said…”

And whatever God said became whatever He said.

God used His words wisely, creatively, thoughtfully, and purposefully. God did not “say” anything that He did not want to see in His creation. He only spoke what He wanted to see manifest.

If it wasn’t there and He wanted it to be there…”and God said…”.

He looked at a world that was dark and said, “Light Be!”

God calls those things that be not as though they were.

What are we “saying”?

Are we calling it what it is – and getting more of the same?

Or are we calling it what it should be?

Rom 4:17
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Prov 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

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