Don't Fly Backwards

By Shirley McClinton

Put God first in your daily lives. He is always bigger than any problem we face, and hold onto your hope and faith, never give up no matter what the situation or circumstance may be.

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us" (Psalm 67:1).

Don't fly backwards-walk with God.

You can live a life beyond blessed. It is not necessarily about materialistic things or always money. Whatever finances God gives you, don't waste it. Put God first by tithing and keeping a personal relationship with God. Don't try to keep up with the Joneses. It can very easily and very quickly decrease your finances. Tithing 10 percent is a requirement of God returning to him what he has gifted you with.

Even being able to wake up to see another day.

My book Don't Fly Backwards is my life that I have rewritten. No one can tell my story that I have to rewrite but me and my God.

Thank you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098011543

Book preview

Preface

My name is Shirley Mcclinton. I am 63 years old and reside in Modesto, California. I am originally from Little Rock, AR. Throughout my years, I have learned and identified with God, who has done miracles in my life which are so powerful in my heart that I want to share them with the world. This book is about the many miracles of life that I have received, and it will provide a forever legacy of my written words of the goodness of God and his grace. I wish to share his grace and goodness with the world, leading them even closer to God, concerning any and every circumstance and situation they may face. I used to get up every morning writing thank-you notes to God to give him gratitude. Now, I am writing about God, his truth, and his word. I was taught about God throughout my life as a young girl regularly attending St. Peter’s Rock Church in Little Rock for decades. I now attend and am a member of the House Church here in Modesto with Pastors Glen and Debbie Berteau. My message is to never give up trust, hope, faith, and love in God.

Move Forward with God

Thank you, Lord!

Read Psalm 139:7-16.

I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well (Psalm 139:14).

The beauty of creation gives us reason to sing God’s praise! God created whales, sharks, orioles, loons, and hummingbirds to fly backwards. God’s work of creating is done; our work of praising has just begun. Cling to God and his words!

The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of The Almighty gives me life (Job 33:4).

We don’t know how many breaths we have left-we can rest in the knowledge that he does. From our first breath to our last, we are in God’s care.

We can fly and move forward if we choose to walk with God, who keeps us on a straight, narrow, and righteous path, which leads to blessings and success. We all have many reasons to worship and honor God!

Gifts from God

Thank you, Jesus!

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise (Jeremiah 17:14).

In 2003, I was walking around and working for the ex-mayor here in Modesto, not knowing I had Ovarian Cancer. One day, I fell out after working and was rushed to the emergency room where I had to have an immediate major surgery. I had eight different procedures and was hospitalized for an entire month. My surgeons and doctors told my family I was not going to make it, and they suggested for them to go ahead and prepare for funeral arrangements. I got up and was walking immediately after an eight-hour surgery. My surgeon looked at me as if he were hallucinating. He could not believe it but warned me that the cancer would return. A few years later I was diagnosed with colon cancer, but it is now gone as well. I remember it like it were yesterday. God’s grace and goodness brought me through. They gave me five years to live, and it has been seventeen years! I’m still here…living my life with God!

I was inspired to write about God’s miracles after moving here permanently in 2008. I became critically ill and homeless at the same time in 2015-2016 and 2017. It drew me closer to God.

In 2016, here comes the first heart failure…OMG-Cardiac Arrest. I actually drove myself to the hospital that day. I was put on life support in ICU, which resulted in me being in a coma for two days. I was put to sleep, incubated. During that time, pneumonia in both of my lungs set up sepsis and I was diagnosed with having a pulmonary embolism. I was living in a senior citizen community, and my home there was drafty, moldy, and had a rodent problem; and I had not realized the effects this could have on my health, since my immune system is very weak due to prior illnesses. I awoke from the coma the third day looking at my family, which were angels surrounding me. I remember holding Shonta’s finger, then I began to see my loved ones - my children standing there. I did not know I had been asleep for 2 ½ days. I finally came home with all types of medical equipment, such as a life vest for my heart and breathing machines. I also had to learn how to stand and walk again. I was afraid, but through it all, I had to have faith, love, and trust in God. Thank God! I made it once again with his grace and goodness, and I consider these miracles as gifts from God!

I finally moved and I had a nagging headache all day, one day. I am a very active senior citizen, and I was driving picking up medication one day when my pharmacist asked me was I o.k.? I had not realized that I was looking sickly and ill. As I was driving on the way home, it got so bad that I pulled over to the nearest hospital where I was admitted right away. I was in a diabetic coma not even realizing that I was full blown diabetic. I thought I was only pre-diabetic. God’s angels were still looking after me and as always God. I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, requiring two types of insulin three times a day, diabetic pills, and hospitalized for two weeks.

One night, I was sitting watching T.V., and my brother was visiting who was also sick at the time. We had been talking and going about our lives eating dinner. I found myself unable to speak or move. My brother called an ambulance, and I could hear them saying, She is not going to make it to the Doctor’s Hospital. She doesn’t have six minutes to live, which was how long it would have taken the ambulance to transport me. All I could remember was my brother standing at the door of the ambulance staring at me in shock. He was God’s angel and helper that dreadful night, who was sent to help me when he was sick himself. I could not even talk or move, and without his help, I could have died. I had encountered the second complete heart failure! After experiencing so many healings through God, I made it my point to start writing about him, every day of my life. God had given me life again!

After returning home, once again, my brother who is a disabled marine veteran was there with me, and he decided we needed to test for mold. We took a mold test in the home and mailed it to a laboratory. The laboratory studied it for thirty days, and it resulted in the home having toxic black mold. My doctors told me I had to leave my home that day until it was removed. I ended up homeless, in my car, living from motel to motel – living in hotels for at least six months. I was totally displaced at fifty-nine years of age. I lost everything I had in my home, because I was afraid everything was contaminated due to cross contamination. I could clearly see after a while that mold was everywhere and on every single thing. But through all these trials and tribulations, I was gifted with healings from God, and he led me through the storms.

Living Miracle

Thank you, Jesus!

A book of faith is Hebrews.

Hebrews 9:27 says, Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement.

I died three times, and God, our Lord Jesus Christ, brought me back to life each time. People say they saw angels, Jesus himself, or a bright light. I never saw any of these things. I was complete dead, on life support, comatose and do not remember being dead at all.

I do know God is real and breathed life in me each time. I look forward to writing about him each and every day in order to share with others my testimonies and gratitude of being a living miracle. My heart functioning was twenty-six for months, and it is now over sixty. I went from requiring heart procedures to no heart procedure needed. I am getting stronger by the day and taking very little medication now. I’m battling two total knee replacements. However, I’m back walking from being unable to sit or walk. My doctors all tell me I am a living miracle, and I always say, "It is God and his helpers – angels. I never looked sick/ill, and I don’t like pity or people feeling sorry for me. Each day of my life I work hard not to look or act sick. I am a very blessed woman! When God healed me of colon cancer, this enabled me to be with my brother, Bernard, and support him throughout is procedure/surgery for colon cancer at the V.A. hospital in Palo Alto. With the help of God, my brother’s cancer was taken out and is gone too!

I still have lupus, rheumatoid and osteo arthritis, no pancreas from having type II diabetes -requiring little or hardly any insulin, and two total knee replacements. I actually live each day of my life as if none of these critical illnesses ever happened. I know that all my healings are miracles from God because I never gave up and held onto faith, love, and trust in him!

GPS

Thank you, Jesus!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Don’t live your life frustrated, because there’s going to be times you don’t understand, and it will look like you’re going in wrong direction. But God has a GPS navigation system that is already directing every step of the way. This is what faith is all about. When you’re praying for increase and steady seeing decrease, just keep moving forward and trust God. We can never see the map that God has planned for us. That is why you must trust in God to lead you the right way and he will. God will always work for us and not against us. God knows what he’s doing. He is a strategic God. One day down the road you may get an unexpected phone call, and God’s favor will be right there in your life. I’ve witnessed this happen to me. It’s logical to go from A to B and then to C. That’s how we see it, but not God. He does things strategically. Sometimes, he might want to take us from A to Z and back down to B, but never will he lead us the wrong way. There may be curves, stepping- stones, detours, u turns, and shortcuts; and the road may never seem straight although God knows what he is doing in your life. We don’t know the way, but we must trust his GPS to guide us and navigate us through life’s journeys. He will use his very own strategy to direct our steps, as well as our entire life. God always has a plan. You can be on top of the mountain, and God will bring you down into the valley, taking you into the opposite direction of your goal, but his plans always have a purpose, so stay in faith! We all want to go to a higher level and see God’s favor, and sometimes you must come off the mountain that you’re on and go down into the valley. We don’t have to stay in the valley, but we may have to experience being there so we can climb to higher heights of the mountain top in the end. God always has something bigger and better, and it may be something you’ve never imagined that God has in store for you. God is alive! Don’t get discouraged. One day you may look back at all your life struggles and know that God was helping you to climb the mountain all the way to the top all along. Joseph’s brothers sold him, and he was a slave who ended up a king. He eventually was able to spread God’s love and compassion by helping the same brothers who sold him, because he kept honoring God and being his best throughout it all. Use God’s Positioning System (GPS) to guide you into the right direction.

The Devil Might Have a Hammer, But He Doesn’t Have Any Nails!

Thank you, God!

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Step into the Light

They word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105)

What do you think every day? Pure thinking builds Godly character. God knows what we’re thinking 24-7.

The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity (Psalm 94:11).

We can hide our thoughts from others, but we can’t hide them from God. We need to give our thoughts careful attention, not only because God knows them, but also because our thoughts determine our character.

Occupy Until Jesus Comes-Make the Devil Stand Down

The word occupy is a military term, which means to hold possession and control of conquered troops and territory. I enjoy talking to my brother, Bernard about military things, and I’ve learned a lot through him, who is a military veteran. If we do it the right way, we must change our attitudes, recognizing that Jesus has already won the victory. Satan is already defeated. He was whipped at calvary,