Living Faith

Living Faith

It’s a new year and most of us have already laid down plans for new year's resolutions and probably already forgotten them. On the top of my list of resolutions for 2016 is continuing to grow in my faith. I have this little card that I keep stuck to my fridge at eye level. It says Living Faith and then it has the word TRUST running down the left side with a scripture linked to each letter.

Take one day at a time - from Matthew 6:34

Remember, all thing work together for good. - Romans 8:28

Under no circumstances should you worry. - Philippians 4:6

Start every day with prayer and Thanksgiving. - Thessalonians 5:17

The Lord will never forsake you, Don’t ever forget that! - Hebrews 13:5

Trust is a hard thing to practice, isn’t it? Recently, it has become clear to me that Trusting in God is the antidote for fear and chronic worry.This world is filled with so many fearful things and people to be afraid of. One of my biggest fears is of sharks! I know, it sounds silly compared to the infiltration of Isis or the fact that 1 out 3 of us will be diagnosed with some form of cancer at some point in our lives. You see though, this fear of sharks wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t come from a family of surfers who I feel pressure from to paddle out into the unpredictable and wild ocean on a regular basis. My boys wanted to go surfing a while back and there had just been a shark attack reported. I don’t want them growing up being fraidy cats (like me), so I thought of every way I could minimize the risk. I decided to drive them up to the Cocoa beach pier. Here the water is shallow, there is a lifeguard on duty, there are typically lots of people in the water and it’s only 10 minutes from Cape Canaveral hospital - just in case we need it. I stood there in the knee deep water watching both of them like a hawk as they fooled around on their soft-techs in the white water. In the event they were attacked, I had a whole scenerio planned out in my head to save them and spare their limbs. Neither of them had any idea I was on guard and would do whatever it took to keep them safe - because it’s a given that I will protect them. This is how much I love them as any good parent does. They are so precious to me!  I thought to myself on that day how being a parent is a wonderful and highly responsible position. Those two boys trust me with their well being, safety, security, nourishment, education and the list goes on...and then it hit me! Why haven’t I fully trusted God with my wellbeing, safety, security, etc. In the flesh, I am incapable of loving anyone or anything in the way that God loves me as his daughter. His love is an agape love, a supernatural love, a kind of love that humans have no comprehension of! We can love deeply and do love deeply, but our way of love is no match for our Creator. His love is extravagant! What in our world is extravagant? By definition, extravagant means lacking restraint; exceeding what is reasonable; absurd! God’s love is so crazy for us that it is absurd! It’s absurd for us to imagine sacrificing one of our beloved children for the greater good, but that’s what God did for us! He sent his son, Christ Jesus, to carry the punishment of our sin so that he could continue to love us and we could be with him eternally! What kind of love is that?? A mind blowing kind of love. Impossible for us to even wrap our heads around! With this kind of love, why do I worry so much about my own well being, safety, security and everything else I worry about? Why am I even afraid when I know what I will do to keep my kids safe? Why wouldn’t my God, my Creator, take every precaution and keep a watchful eye to keep me safe? And what I have discovered is that when I do put my full trust in God, knowing that He will guide and protect me, life is so much better!! It is lighter and joyful and there is less stress and less angst and even when I suffer...and I do, we all do. We all experience trials and tribulations of the flesh, but still He comforts me and guides me and instead of always looking down at the ground where there is dirt and garbage and filth, he gently lifts my head up to look at the vastness of the bright blue sky and this gives me a sense of clarity. It clears my head to realize that all of these trials and sufferings in life are just a blip on the radar compared to the beauty of living in Christ Jesus.