You’ve been hard hit, My friend Louisiana.  You’ve been hard hit on every side.  However, the Lord will not forsake you.  He hearkens His voice toward you and listens to your every word.  He hears what you mutter on the sidewalk and the secrets you reveal in your sleep.  He is ever listening to the cries of His people. 

You think this word will be harsh.  That once again the sins of this state will be brought to light, but I feel the Lord desires to point out the good that He sees in your eyes.  The way that you try, and try, and try again.  The way you never say “quit.”  Your resiliency will get you through.  You’ll see.

Some would say this isn’t a word from the Lord at all.  After all, it speaks of the will of a people and not the will of a God, but I would say to you that the will of the people comes from the will of their God.  He has given a part of Himself to this state, and that part of His nature refuses to quit.  When it is hard, when it looks tough, and when there seems to be no hope, the God of Hope arises in your midst and turns your lives around.

The God of Hope is preparing this land as He did with Egypt long ago.  It looked there, too, as if there was no hope.  Full of idols and lost in sin, the worst was yet to come.  Famine in the land.  No hope for food.  No hope for agriculture, for harvest, for business.  Even political and religious pursuits screech to a halt when a land is hungry.

But My people will not be hungry, says the Lord, for I have provided.  I have sent a deliverer, and I have provided food for the hungry and hope for the hopeless. 

I have sent a deliverer, and he will bring you forth out of your bondage, and he will restore your fortunes to you, just as in the days of old.

What could have been a worldwide economic disaster starting in the land of many gods turned out to be salvation from the hands of a loving and merciful God.

“Louisiana, I am not through with you yet,” I hear the Lord declare.  “Louisiana, your best days are ahead.  You don’t have to believe Me.  Just watch and see.  For I placed a resiliency in you that is as tough as the swamps in your land.  The swamps are resilient, tough, and not for the faint of heart.  That’s why I have placed you there.  A people who will not quit.

Seek after Me.  Hearken to My word.  Pray.  Do what you know to be right in My sight.  But above all else, do not quit nor lose hope, for your deliverance is nigh you.

Your best days are ahead.  Look for the Joseph who will turn your disaster into power, the one who will turn your heartache into gold.  For I have spoken, says the Lord.”