March 25, 2021 – Click here to listen
From a very young age I was made fun of and was the main focus of derision in my family and later by others in a position of authority. I was often told that I would never amount to anything and I was a black sheep and an anomaly to the good Williamson name. Anything positive I did was glossed over, while the negative was magnified.
This phenomenon had a tremendous effect on my life. In part I attribute my upbringing to resulting in me becoming a bitter homeless drug addict/alcoholic who was full of rage and violence and devoid of all hope. And in fact I did my best to fulfill the prophecies against my life that I was the “bad seed” that I had been labeled, and would never succeed in life.
In my early twenties I discovered the love of Jesus Christ by reading the Bible and after that tremendous experience, things changed for me. I became confident in myself and my abilities, and I listened to Jesus instead of the naysayers that surrounded me. As a result, Jesus blessed me and I became very successful.
To date I have raised a tremendous God loving family, founded 19 companies, built buildings, written and published some 20 books, created a popular magazine, established a church and a global ministry.
I was thinking this morning how God uses bad to accomplish good. If my family and others in my life had not been so determined to ridicule me and pooh-pooh my ideas and chances of ever becoming successful, then odds are that I would never have worked so-o-o-o-o hard in an effort to prove them wrong and end up wildly succeeding.
At the inception of every single thing I have done I encountered those who told me I would fail and was warned not to try it.
Incredibly it still happens today!
My suggestion to those of you who want to do something, but are being told by others that you cannot succeed is to quit listening to them and start listening to Jesus.
Phil. 4:13
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”