If you haven't already, you will come to a point in your life where you will be forced to ask some hard questions. Life is full of those kinds of questions – choices, really. "Will I wear this today? Will I eat this healthy carrot stick or this delicious ice cream bar? Should I turn on Aurora or take I-5?" Everyday, you are faced with the questions that make life what it is.
But the thing is, when you truly break it down, it is what you DO that reveals what you believe about God, regardless of what you say. When God reveals what He is purposing to do, you face a crisis – a decision time. God and the world can tell from your response what you believe about God. Your trust in God will determine what you do and how you live. (thank you, Henry Blackabee)
I came to this crisis of belief moment several months ago when I found out I would be losing my job within the next year. Fortunately, God had been using many experiences and 'smaller' crisis of belief moments to lead me to a place of confidence to finally match up my 'DO' with my words. See, true faith requires action, and I struggled a lot with this when I was first tossing up the idea of doing The World Race. I did NOT have a lightning bolt moment. I did NOT 'feel peace about it.' I did NOT feel confident, but I did not feel confident because my focus was on the great risk itself, and not on the experience of faith I was about to be blessed with.
Over the weeks as I began really seriously praying, I realized something very clear about how God works. When God told the Israelites to walk across the river, they had to take the first steps into the deep current before God parted the water. This hit me hard as I began the process of sharing the news & beginning to fundraise. I must trust that if I take the first steps with humble confidence, that God will part the water. And He has. Oh, He has! In such incredible ways!!
For example, this past Sunday my friend Alicia gave me a sealed envelope, "from someone who comes into my store," she said. I opened the envelope and a card read; "thank you for doing God's work, from a brother in Christ.." with 6 crisp $20 bills inside. Ok, another one – I came home the other night, and had an anonymous package from somewhere near Winona, MN with an incredible book inside. "Called" – a missions journal to encourage and build me up. I put about 15 things on my REI gift registry for the race, and guess what, every single one of them has been fulfilled!
It's things like this that just remind me, an encounter with God requires faith – those crisis of belief moments where we choose to lay it on the line are so difficult, but the adjustments are WELL WORTH the reward of experiencing God at work. If you have not come to the place in your life where you have surrendered it all to God, decide today to do it. Follow him, it is worth the cost.
