Believe in a Breakthrough!

I had to make a choice that would change the course of my life—and my attorney only presented me with two options: I could take a plea deal and potentially go home in three and a half years with good behavior, or I could risk spending ten years behind bars. There was no third choice. My attorney offered no possibility of vindication despite his bold pre-hire promises.

After experiencing the horrors of confinement for nearly three weeks—and after experiencing salvation that promised eternal life—I decided a plea deal was my only option. I was about to sign the papers when my grandma fired my high-dollar lawyer and swept in with a freedom-fighting attorney.

With a paperback small print Bible in hand, I started eating the Word. (Lord knows I wasn’t eating anything else. I traded my food every day for protection from jail-house bullies.) As I read the Word, the Holy Spirit began speaking to me. He showed me through Scripture and later spoke to my heart that I would be released in forty days.

Being a new convert, I had no idea that the number forty was a symbol of testing and trial, but every time I opened my Bible, I randomly landed on passages about Moses’ forty years in Egypt or the Israelites’ forty years in the desert or the forty-day flood Noah endured or Jesus’ forty days of temptation in the wilderness. Of course, it wasn’t random at all.

After several days of this supernatural guidance through the Word, the Holy Spirit made God’s will clear—and I told everyone I would go home on the fortieth day. Nobody believed me. It seemed impossible, considering the judge had refused to allow me out on bail three times. And how could it happen with the judge on vacation well after the fortieth day of my captivity?

All I can say is, “But God.” On the fortieth day, I was called into a holding cell with other inmates to face a new judge on the case, but the judge—Jesus Christ—is not a man that He should lie. I never stood before an earthly judge to hear my case. I was never tried or convicted by my accusers. I was released on the fortieth day, just like the Holy Spirit told me I would be. I was vindicated.

With that as my foundation story in Christ, I’ve never struggled to believe God to vindicate me. In fact, I’ve come to the place where—at least most of the time—I can lay aside the flood of emotions and sincerely rejoice when someone wrongs me because I know vindication and payback are coming. I’ve experienced vindication far too many times for the enemy to talk me out of my faith for justice and restoration in the wake of the enemy’s brute force attacks.

To learn more about Jennifer LeClaire’s latest book, Vindicated, visit MyCharismaShop.com