Faith Journey: Chapter 3

Propelled

So I ended one of my last entries by stating,

"So here I am on my personal faith journey. I continue to plead and argue with God as he is leading me to the place where he wants me to go. I guess it's slowly happening, so like Abraham, I am beginning to understand that when the Main Dude speaks, he will do what he said he'll do. Period. I guess it's slowly happening, but like Abraham I want to be propelled to that level where I can live confidently knowing that regardless of the situation, circumstance, obstacle, whatever, I can not only say, not only believe, but trust and know that God will provide, that God has already provided."

I can confidently say that I have reached the beginning stages of this type of faith. I know there are deeper levels that I have yet to explore, but with what God has been showing me thus far, I can only say one thing: God IS good!

As a matter of fact, I can say another thing: I serve a LIVING God! The tomb IS empty!

Check it

I have made it a priority to allow God to use me as he wishes. I am the instrument; he is the Maestro, so who am I not to allow him to use me how he sees fit? In doing so, he has challenged me to challenge him. You see, when God tells me to trust in him; to be dependent on him; to rely on him; not to worry because he will provide; to seek the Kingdom of God first, he is indirectly telling me to challenge him directly...

I understand that. So, since he tells me to, I challenged him.

"The Lord will provide", I remember telling my mom when she asked me how I was going to get the money I needed. I needed money in order to move to the place where God would eventually lead me to. And I'm not talking about chump-change: $400-$600 in a matter of days! Sisters, mother, friends, one question: how are you getting the money?

Things were so bad during that week I received a phone call from a loan lending place. They were calling not to lend me money, but for me to repay or make a payment on money I borrowed for school. And I spoke honestly with the young lady, "I'm sorry, but I'm broke! And I doubt you guys want me to do something very illegal to get the money just to make a payment..." It was so silent on the phone you could hear crickets.

As the days were cruising by, my time for getting that amount of money was getting shorter and shorter. Still, I held tightly to the fact - I said fact - that indeed, the Lord would provide. So without money, I began packing my bags. I began making all the arrangements to make this huge move, to the place where God was leading me to.

Eventually my bags were packed and I had no more arrangements; still, no money. And it was a few days before my departure date. A part of me began to say, "Maybe God is trying to tell you something. Maybe you should push your departure date back until you do get the money." And I was right! God was trying to tell me something, but not that. He told me this:

I AM never early

I AM never late

I AM always on time

I AM...

He told me this while I was talking with my older sister one of my last evenings spent at home. I was telling her about the experience of an individual who chose to live his life trusting God entirely. As I was recounting the story, my mother stretches her arms towards me and hands me something. "God must really love you," she said, "here are $600."

I could not continue on with the story I was telling my sister. I had to worship my God with the tears that poured out of my eyes. I could not believe it.. I believed he would provide and God provided long before I even needed him to provide!

You see, the money came from my mother's car that had problems. Had her car not have any problems; had she not taken it to a garage to be sold; I would not have gotten my $600 - in that manner. I'm sure God would have still provided in another manner, but just to show that before we know what we want, before we ask for what we want, God has already given it to us in his way!

Before I left home, my older sister tells me, "...the change I've seen in your life has impacted me." My mother added, "...God is really doing wonderful things with you."

I am amazed because my simple act of faith... simply trusting that God had my back... he gave me $600 at the time I needed it! To further show me how amazingly powerful he is, he touched the heart of another to add $100 to the amount he'd already given me.

Do you see it?

$700 - SEVEN - God's perfection revealed numerically, in the hundreds..

I have been propelled to that level.

I serve a LIVING God, and yes! the tomb IS empty!

This song goes out to anyone who is going through rough times - personal, spiritual, financial, emotional, or in any other way.

Help Is On The Way - by Michael W. Smith