Walking By Faith

You may have noticed that it has been awhile since I submitted my last blog entry. Two months to the day, in fact. There's a reason for that.

I was laid off from my job.

And it threw me for a loop.

It actually happened July 11th, 2011, but the month leading up to that date was full of insecurity and instability, two words that rock my world. I thrive in order, trust and stability. And even though I have not questioned God during the last two months, I haven't exactly felt very "social". I haven't wanted to share my experience, even if my meager experience could bless another. Let's face it, in this time of economical chaos, I am not the only one to lose a job, and I could probably identify with others who are going through the same turmoil. But I haven't wanted to. I have just wanted to go into a cave and wait it out. With a smile on my face the entire time.

Because that is what I do. That's walking by faith, right? You praise Him in the storm, right? You smile and say "I know He has a plan. I know He loves me. I trust Him. I can already see blessings from this crisis." I have said all of these things, and they are all true. But I have come to realize that, for me, there is one more step involved to truly walk by faith.

I have a dear friend who is walking by faith in a situation in her life. She and I have had many deep, profound talks based on Biblical truths and are a source of encouragement for each other. I thank God for her. She and I both have Pandora bracelets, and I suggested to her two months ago that when her situation is resolved and mine is resolved, we should go buy a charm that would serve as a remembrance, our personal altar if you will, of God's providence in our lives. We clung to Hebrews 12:7-13, in fact, I have blogged about that verse in an earlier post, and that post was inspired through the conversation with my friend, and we told ourselves that, once the situations in our life were resolved, we would know the answers to why we were allowed to endure these hardships. We talked about how we knew that God had a great plan, and that we would remain strong in Him, even though times got difficult.

Two months later, we still wait in anticipation for the resolution of these earthly "light and momentary" problems.

This past week I thought about the fact that I was intentionally not blogging on this site or on the Women's PowerWALK site, even though I felt the spiritual prompting to do so. I just wanted to hide in my cave and wait for this situation to pass me by, similar to waiting for a thunderstorm to pass by a house. I wanted to remain in the safety of my mental cave, and not face the giant that was standing outside the cave, daring me to confront it. My personal Goliath, if you will. I wanted to wait for the resolution of my earthly concern, and then blog about how God had provided, but I didn't want to blog during it. I didn't want to exert the mental effort and put myself out there at that level.

Last Saturday I could no longer ignore the Holy Spirit's guidance. I felt strongly the voice that speaks in our minds say to me "walking by faith isn't waiting the storm out, it's riding the waves with confidence." What does it mean to praise Him in the storm? It doesn't mean to praise Him when the storm is over. It means to be sure that our Father, who is also our King, who answers to no one, who has many names, one of which is Jehovah Jirah, has gone on before us and laid out the steps to His plan for us. The storm may be scary, may be difficult to bear, but it will not overcome us. After all, didn't Jesus own disciples say of Him "Who is this man, that even the winds and the water obey Him?"

An interesting side note- I was typing this entry during a thunderstorm. As I am finishing the post, the storm has subsided and the sun is shining. Praise be to God for visual illustrations of His presence, even in a little blog entry!

Grace and peace to you all!