VL - Issue 42 - January 2022

TRANSFORMED LIVES
PHOTO BY JIM WHITMER PHOTOGRAPHY
​TRUST AND OBEY:
IT’S NOT EASY
BUT IT’S WORTH IT
IF YOU READ THIS magazine
regularly, you know I was
recently released after having
served 31 years in the Florida
Department of Corrections. I’ll
tell you, I had lost hope of ever
getting out, but I still believed
that the God who had given me
eternal life knew what was best
for me, even if it wasn’t what I
wanted at the time.
Psalm 37:4 promises, “Take
delight in the Lord, and he will
give you the desires of your
heart.” The desire of my heart
was to get out of prison. I wanted
that more than anything
else, and I worked hard at it. I
filed multiple motions with the
court, trying (unsuccessfully)
to prove that I was not guilty of
the robbery charge against me.
God wanted me to trust Him
to get me out in His timing.
Proverbs 3:5–6 says, “Trust in
the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways
submit to him, and he will make
your paths straight” (NIV). I had
a lot of learning and changing
to do, but as I read and believed
God’s Word, He began to use me
for His purpose.
Gradually, the desires of my
heart changed and, as I aligned
myself with God’s plan for my
life, I began writing articles and
stories—hundreds of them. To
my amazement, God has used
those stories to reach people
all over the world and on both
sides of prison walls.
As I learned to trust Him, God
began blessing me in ways that
I never dreamed could happen.
He had already set me free from
a life of sin and bondage, but
then, when I least expected it,
He miraculously opened the
BY ROY A. BORGES
prison doors and allowed me
to walk out. And now, every day,
He shows me His will for my life
as the blessings continue.
God used circumstances to
teach me to trust and obey. Just
like a metalworker uses fire to
refine and purify a precious
metal, God used my circumstances
to refine and purify me.
Obeying God requires surrender
and trust, and it can
be hard to do, especially if it
means giving up something we
want. We shouldn’t expect our
obedience to God to be easy or
to come naturally, but how we
look at it can make a difference.
We can push back and complain,
or we can try to see how
God is using it to stretch us into
the people He wants us to be.
Genesis 22:1–19 gives us an
incredible story of obedience
and trust. There, God tested
Abraham by asking him to
hand over his only son, Isaac, as
a sacrifice! Most people would
consider this request over the
top, but Abraham had already
learned many tough lessons
about obeying God. Though
I’m sure he was shocked and in
agony at the command God had
given him, Abraham gave swift
obedience. Seeing his faithful
trust, God stopped Abraham
from completing the task and
spared Isaac’s life. After that,
God made and fulfilled many
promises for Abraham, all because
he was willing to trust
God and obey His commands.
I had to learn to trust God’s
timing and His ability to provide
too. God is in control of
everything. He changes the
hearts of people and the circumstances
that surround
them. Today, on the outside, I
can see how true that is, and I
watch and pray for God’s will to
be done in my life.
Committing everything
to Him means trusting that
He cares for me more than I
care for myself. I had to wait
31 years for God to open the
prison doors, but I know that
the long wait was for my ultimate
good. Many of the things
I want to do now take time and
patience, and I must trust God’s
timing to accomplish them—
but I know that He will make a
way for them to happen.
If you learn to obey Him, God
will use your life for something
good too.
ROY A. BORGES served 31
years in the Florida Department of
Corrections, where he realized his
need for a Savior. While incarcerated,
Roy ministered to others through his
writings, over 300 of which have been
published. He now lives in Tampa,
Florida, and is a member of the
Victorious Living writing team.
VICTORIOUSLIVINGMAGAZINE.COM
Issue 01 / 2022
27