Some major highlights worldwide in 2018

In 2018 many people around the world lost their lives to natural disasters.

The first major earthquake shook Papua New Guinea in February 2018. The earthquake registered 7.5 on the Richter Scales causing landslides. Approximately 30 people died and 300 injured. (Reliefweb/disasters).

Nigeria experienced severe flooding in September causing damages to more than 13,000 homes and affected 2 million people. (floodlist.com) About 108 people died and 192 injured.

The monsoon flooding in India killed more than 300 people and over 200,000 people were homeless.

Closer to home in the Caribbean was the major flooding in Trinidad and Tobago on October 18th – 19th, where 80% of the country was affected by the flood and over 100,000 people, were affected (reliefweb).

Towards the end of the year, December 22, 2018, there was a major tsunami in Java Indonesia which killed 430 people. This country also previously had a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and a 20-foot tsunami in September.

Hundreds of people including celebrities lost their homes due to a wildfire in California which affected part of Malibu November 12, 2018.

You can read more about natural disasters around the world on this website.

But, there were also some good news worldwide in 2018.

Germany reported that more than 30,000 refugees have found new jobs (DW.com).

South Africa reported a 44% decline in new HIV infections since 2012 (Telegraph).

Controversial news that is of concerns to the Christian community.

Scotland is the first country to introduce in their school curriculum homosexual and transgender rights (The Scotsman).

Pakistan passed laws in guaranteeing basic rights for transgender (Aljazeera).

Read more news of 2018 at Goodnewsnetwork and CNN.com.

Becomingtheoilandwine 2018 year in review.

(You can review the readers’ favorite posts by clicking on the highlighted links).

The year 2018 started on a platform of recovery and development for this blog and the country where I reside.

In 2017 we were hit by two catastrophic category five hurricanes which devastated the country.

Every single one of us who lived on these devastated islands was affected by the hurricanes.

Many people lost their jobs or homes while others lost both their jobs and homes.

There was a mass migration of thousands of people during the aftermath of the hurricanes.

Many of us who remained on the islands to clean up the rubble left by the hurricanes cried out to God to have mercy and spare us.

The Lord is gracious and merciful and did not allow the enemy to get a foothold in our homes nor in our churches.

As the Islands slowly recovered, the beginning of 2018 saw most of the residents returning to their homeland to recover and restore their homes and businesses.

I was among the majority of people who remained on the Island to rebuild.

However, I had to relocate twice to a different apartment in 2018 after my home was destroyed by the hurricanes.

Thanks be to God I am now settled in a lovely apartment where I am comfortable and enjoying God’s blessings.

My writing, on the other hand, was slower to recover. I cannot write when I am unsettled and my mind is not at peace.

Consequently, for the entire 2018, I did not adhere to the format of my blogging theme. I could only write a simple Daily Thanksgiving Devotion every morning.

These devotions help to encourage and strengthen me.

In spite of these challenges, my blog stat slowly increased during the year from a low of ten (10) viewers in January to a high of two hundred and fifty-eight (258) viewers in December 2018.

Then it soared to a high of three hundred and fifteen (315) viewers in the first week of January 2019. I have much to give God thanks and praise for.

At the beginning of 2018, the Lord gave me a dream/vision to encourage me that my first published book, Harm Not The Oil And Wine will always remain alive.

This word has motivated me to continue to advertise the book even though the sale is slow.

This blog teaches us to become the oil and wine while the book tells you about the benefits of being the oil and wine.

These benefits transcend from the beginning of time to your present life until the end of this world when Christ returns.

You can help to support this blog by purchasing your copy here.

God is merciful and His love covers a multitude of sins. God hates sin and it is not His desire that any of us perish in our sinful state.

Thus, He sent His beloved Son to be the Passover Lamb. You can run to Him and be filled with contentment.

When you choose Christ to dwell in your heart, He will always remain with you.

God has never forsaken anyone nor has He ever being missing.

Receiving Christ as your Saviour is like having a new birth in God’s image and likeness.

You will shine with the joy of the Lord. God will fill you with contentment and renew your blessings every morning.

As a child of God, you can always stand up for what you know is right and lift your banner high.

However, you will need to be wise and know your enemies because your enemy can be in your home or even in the church that you attend.

Unfortunately, the devil will plant bad seeds in churches such as greed, and subtle deception.

But, the Lord will one day judge His people to separate the wheat from the tares and also to differentiate between the wheat and barley from the oil and wine.

Nothing is too hard for the Lord

Even though in 2018 we did not follow the usual theme, we still focus on the mothers during the month of May by giving them fifteen blessings.

Actually, I wanted to write 66 blessings, one for each book of the Bible but I did not want to bore my readers with such a lengthy post.

Truthfully speaking it was difficult for me to write such a long post so I reduced it to fifteen blessings, which I am sure were beneficial to the mothers.

In fact, I believe that every single person was encouraged by all of the posts in 2018.

For the first time on this blog, we dedicated a post to teach anyone who desires to know the Lord the simple steps to salvation by asking yourself six questions.

We emphasized that it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done you are important to God.

The simple reason why you are important to God is that He loves you. This may sound like another cliche but it is a fact because God is the embodiment of love.

God will receive you if you just acknowledge Him. If you are stuck in the wilderness, God will take you out.

If you have unclean lips the Lord will teach you to hold your tongue so that it can be tamed.

If you are lonely and afraid, the Lord will replace the fear with love and He will also shelter and protect you. The Lord will also lead you on the right path because He is always by your side.

God is indeed holy and powerful and there is nothing too hard for Him to accomplish. He knows everything about you.

Watch and be sober

As we enter into the 2018 hurricane season, which began in June and ends November, all of us who live in the Caribbean became apprehensive because we did not want a repeat of 2017.

Many people fasted and prayed while others repented on behalf of their country. Most of us remained sober and watchful during the entire season until it passed without a single storm only heavy rains during October and November.

It was a September to remember! Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! Oh, what an amazing God we serve!

In spite of all that we have been through in September 2017, we did not lose hope because there is power at the cross. I believe with all of my heart that we will have a successful 2019.

The future is in the hands of God, but I trust Him completely and I placed my life in His hands.

2019 is a year of prayer and one of my primary focus is to pray earnestly for the young people because many of them are being led astray to the extent where it appears as if technology has become a god in their lives. We reverse this in the name of Jesus.

Help me pray for our youth’s salvation.

Thank you for reading and for sticking with this blog.

I love you and I am praying for you.