God provided a year of favour in the Jubilee or fiftieth year.

God gives a second chance:  he even gives three, four, five and more chances. God cares about mankind and he knew they would get into trouble.   God will make a way when there is no way.  

When the Queen of England was reigning for fifty years she celebrated her Jubilee year.  When a couple are married for fifty years their anniversary is called their Jubilee year.

For the Jews the year of Jubilee was celebrated to give restoration and freedom or the Year of The Lord’s favour.  

When Jesus started his ministry he declared he had come to proclaim the “Year of the Lord’s favour.”  He went about healing all those who were slaves to sickness or poverty, or oppressed mentally.  He forgave sins and gave people new beginnings, a new start in life.  Jesus brought Jubilee.

The year 2000 was a year of Jubilee for me.  I was coming up to my fiftieth birthday.  I really came to understand what Jubilee meant and that God cared for me.  

In the previous years I was praying for a bigger house for my growing family.  I wanted more space.  The house we lived in then was great but I knew as my children turned teenagers it would be too small.

God saw my heart’s desire was to help my family.  We had a limited income.  Certainly not enough to buy a bigger home.  If God gave land according to the size of their tribes of Israel, I thought it would be no problem for him to provide a bigger home.  I was his child and his Word says he is my Father.  Matthew 6 v 9.  Would a Father not give good things to his child?

He knows life throws up its hardships and misfortunes.  Rearing children is hard work!  When the children were young I could put them to bed at night and know where they were.  What would they get up to when they became teenagers?  

God promises to give a way of escape.  I needed a new beginning.  

In the year 2000 God provided a new home in a smaller town.  Not only that but God brought me back to near where I was born.  He brought me back to my father’s land like the children of Israel whom God promised to restore them to their father’s land.  Jer  27 v 22. 
I was nearer extended family.  My children were able to get to know them.
It was like moving back in time ten years.   Restoration.  

Football provided activity for my growing boys.  There were no night clubs.  There was less drink and drugs available.  My children made new friends and their parents welcomed them to visit after school.  They were being supervised.  God gave me new friends as well.  I celebrated my fiftieth birthday in my new home.  What a birthday present from The Lord.

Do you feel you are coming to a dead end?  Look up to The Lord.  He will raise you up to a higher plateau and give you a new start.