A faith that God can move through

Here is the promised post that I have been talking about. I so badly wanted to get it to you all yesterday, and then life happened. You know what I mean? This past weekend was one of my faith being tested and time running out, and yet I walked away from it all with an even greater assurance that my God remains seated on His throne, and He is my provider.

Therefore, whom or what shall I fear?

I love how the Lord works (usually), especially when I can look back and see the pieces fit together. That was this past weekend. My husband and I had some time away to rest and retreat, and we did just that. In the midst of one of the busiest seasons of both of our lives, these days of rest were cherished. I laid in the hammock under the pine trees and finally dug into that book that has been collecting dust on my shelf. The one that has been at the top of my reading list for months that, for the life of me, I just haven’t been able to find time for. But then, God gave me this past weekend, challenges and all. It was so good and such a page turner that I could hardly put it down, and in just a day, I read through the first half of it.

It’s a book about faith and purpose and trusting God to take the next step into what He is calling you to even when you can’t see steps 2, 3, and 4. It challenged me to my core. Parts of it were so riveting that when I put it down, I walked away with an unshakable confidence in who God is and what I am capable of doing in and through His strength.

And then the next day happened.

A day when everything seemed to go unplanned and a day where everything was outside of my control. Ever had one of those? My heart began to race as I slowly realized that there was literally NOTHING I could do to fix the situation we found ourselves in. (No need to worry; we are completely OK.)

So, we began to pray.

Funny, because I had just spent nearly the entire weekend basking in the presence of God and being refreshed by the bold reminders of truth I had been reading, and yet in the moment of trial and uncertainty, I found myself defaulting to stress and fear instead of faith.

So, we continued to pray.

We began to boldly ask God for BIG things, for Him to move the mountains that remained in front of us.

And He did. Mountains were moved. Miracles occurred. And we both stood in awe.

And then, there was this:

“Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:19-20 NIV)

Faith the size of a mustard seed. That’s it. Do you know how small that is? It’s tiny. Still, it’s all that God requires. A faith that believes God to be who He says He is in His Word. That is a faith that God can move through.

However, what I’ve seen more frequently within God’s people is the very same thing I saw in myself this past weekend. A default to fear instead of faith. A default to trying to control the situation instead of assuming that God is already in control.

When we confine God to our comfort zones and our 5-mile radius in which we’re willing to serve Him or see Him work, we quench His Holy Spirit who is always after immeasurably more than we could ever dream.

God is not pleased nor is He delighted in us when we offer Him the blueprints for our lives which we have drawn up apart from His, asking Him to place His stamp of approval on them. He already has a plan, and His Word tells us that His plan is good, far better than ours could ever be. And when we have everything figured out for our own lives, how is that faith? When we only come to Jesus with the small things because we exhaust ourselves to ensure that we have all of the big things under control, how is that trusting Him?

The God of Heaven and Earth is after a faith that He can move through. A faith that gives Him room to be God in our seemingly impossible situations. A faith the size of a mustard seed that can move any mountain that stands in our way.