Faith

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. -Heb. 11:1

My walk with God is currently full of things I am unable to fully see right now. Honestly, sometimes I am not completely certain and sure of the unseen things that I hope for such as raising 100% of my support. Yet, despite my doubts and unbelieving heart, God has so much grace and blesses me when I least expect it. The past few days I had been filled with anxiety over support raising and doubts that God could make things happen. As I look back, I was silly for believing my circumstances were out of God's control. But God knew I needed encouragement and assurance that He is always working things together for good--even if I do not see it at the moment. He brought my support up a significant amount last night, even in my state of unbelief. Not because of anything I had done to deserve it, but because it brought Him so much glory! Let me tell you when I recieved that support pledge I was literally jumping and yelling all around the house. It was great to experience such joy for that blessing. God totally knew what He was doing. I think sometimes we need the hard times so that we will slow down and look to God instead of ourselves. If things were always going well in our lives, then we would have no realization that God is the One who is in control. It's from Him that we recieve all good things...not ourselves. It was humbling and awesome to experience God's faithfulness to provide. At the same time, I realized how weak my faith is. I had trouble being certain of what I could not see. When I got the tangible confirmation of a support pledge, it was easy to praise the Lord and acknowledge how good and faithful He is. But, really we are called to have faith in that same fact whether we can see it then or not.

The book of Hebrews recounts the faith of the Old Testament persons--their faith was conpletely based off of what they could not and would not see.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not recieve the things they promised; they only saw them and welcomed then from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. -Heb. 11:13

I don't realize sometimes that since we are not "at home" on earth, God's promises to us are sometimes fulfilled on the other side of this life. This is the type of faith the people of the OT had--faith that God fulfills all promises, yet since we are not at our final destination or home we look to heaven. That which we do not see right now, we can have faith we will see after death. At times of stress and frustration with my sin and the things in this world, I am so happy to claim my citizenship in heaven. I embrace the fact that I am here for only a short time to fulfill my own purpose of bringing God glory in this life and then returning home to my Father in heaven.