Faith

It's so weird when God actually preps you for news you weren't expecting.

I woke up today with my alarm blaring a message from Charles Stanley.
His baritone voice echoed in my head as I pressed the off button,
"God WILL fulfill His promises!"
That is all I heard of Charles' carefully prepped sermon.

I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and stumbled to the bathroom.
I repeated it in a hushed whisper to myself.
I let it soak in during my shower.
I repeated it to myself in the mirror while I applied my last bit of mascara.
Then I got in my car.

A beautiful worship song about how God loves us,
despite what our circumstances say,
played on the radio.

I laughed.
He was really trying to talk to me this morning.
I better listen.

I kept repeating Charles' words and prayed
that God would help me to believe.
That my faith would remain.

I clung to a verse about faith
that the Lord had given me in church the day before.
(Of course, He did!)

That is what I needed to have today.
Faith.
Despite what Dr.'s said.
Despite what my circumstances said.
Despite what lies the Devil would try to throw at me
in my lonely places.

When the news came and wasn't the good news I had expected,
I repeated Charles' carefully spoken words.
I hummed a few measures of the song I had heard.
I emphasized the verse in my head to soothe my disappointed heart.

After I was home for awhile and had let everything settle,
I looked at the verse in Hebrews 11.
That chapter is the start of the "Heroes of Faith" chapter.
People in the Bible who did amazing acts of Faith and who
trusted God in crazy circumstances.

It begins out:

"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the confidence of things not seen."

That was my verse I needed yesterday.
But the next one is what I needed today.

"This is what the ancients were commended for."

Waaaaaittt ... hold up!
They weren't commended for their acts of valor and courage?
They weren't commended for defeating armies and conquering enemies of God?

Nope!
Having an assurance of things hoped for and a confidence in things not seen -
THIS was their faith commendation.
THIS is MY faith commendation.
THIS is OUR faith commendation!

How humbling. How freeing. How unexpected.
What amazing news!!