Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for downloading our podcast. We enjoy spending this time with you. I hope you'll leave inspired.

Make sure you subscribe to get new messages every week. We appreciate your support. It helps keep the ministry going. Enjoy the message.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Every time he said praise the Lord, the horse took off running. When he said, whoa, it would quickly stop. One day he was out riding the horse got spooked and took off straight toward the cliff running full speed.

In the panic, he couldn't remember what he trained the horse to respond to. He said, bless God, glory, amen, nothing happened. At the last second, he shouted, Hallelujah.

The horse came to a screeching halt just inches before the edge of the cliff. He breathed the sigh of relief and said, praise the Lord.

Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about blessed in the dark places. We all go through situations in life that we don't understand.

The company was downsizing and we got laid off. A friend walked out of her relationship. Now we're having to start all over.

A young lady I met last week. She had been pregnant for five months with her first child. She was so excited, already decorated the baby's room.

But something went wrong and she had a miscarriage. She looked like she was numb. No expression. A dark place.

In 1981, my family thought we'd be celebrating the Christmas holidays. Looking forward to fun and fellowship. Instead, we learned that my mother was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.

It's a very sombre Christmas. All of us at some time will go through dark places. A loss, a sickness, a divorce, a child that broke your heart. It's easy to get discouraged, give up on your dreams and just settle there.

But God uses the dark places. They are all a part of His divine plan. Think of it like a seed. A seed cannot germinate in the light.

As long as the seed stays up on the shelf, it will never become what it was created to be. You have to plant the seed in the soil, in the dark place, so that what's on the inside will come to life.

In the same way, there are seeds in you, dreams, goals, talent, potential that will only come to life in a dark place.

If you study the scripture, every person that did something significant went through one of these dark places. Moses made a mistake and killed a man.

He spent 40 years on the backside of the desert, alone feeling like he had blown it. But in that dark place, something was happening on the inside. It was getting him prepared.

He was developing patience, humility, confidence. Without the dark place, he would have never held up the rod and parted the red sea.

The dark place is a prerequisite to stepping into the fullness of your destiny. Esther was an orphan, a young lady that had lost both of her parents.

...