Great Big Faith

Providential:  –adjective

1. of, pertaining to, or resulting from divine providence: providential care.

2. opportune, fortunate, or lucky: a providential event.

 

Sometimes things happen to you and you know God's hand is in it.  That has been happening to me this past few weeks.  And what is God saying to me through all of this?  He's been asking me a question.

 

Kathie, where is your faith?

 

Little by little, this question is burning off the fog in my mind created by incessant worry and fear. This fog has been a problem for a long time now. As it clears, I'm beginning to see things I haven't seen for some time now. How did this happen?  I don't know. It crept up on me slowly, a little bit here, a little bit there. You know how it goes - bit of concern here a dash of fretting there.  Surgery, poor health, a demanding job and a busy family life. Add to this recipe caring for a aging mother and nursing her through her passing. Things happen and we all react differently.

This past week I was working on an assignment for the course I'm taking and I was challenged by the story of Daniel.  Today in my sermon I shared about Daniel's Great Big Faith and how I long to have the kind of faith Daniel had. As I encouraged our congregation to have faith, I was encouraging myself as well.  It was like the fog cleared completely and I realized that I had to have faith as well. As that realization hit, a peace came over me. But God wasn't finished yet - you know how He can be about these things.  He makes sure there is no question - a providential online chat confirmed what I was realizing. I need to have more faith.

 

Faith for what?

 

For everything. For all the everyday little things I worry over. And a Great Big Faith about where God will take us in our ministry...and that was an emotional one. Just over eighteen years ago we signed a covenant to serve God and minister in His name through The Salvation Army. We promised to go wherever we were sent and believed that God would only take us where He wanted us to be. In that place we would find perfect peace and rest for our souls. I lost sight of that in the last few years. But now the fog has cleared again.

 

We have been so blessed on this journey. I know He'll continue to bless us again and again.

 

So, after thirteen years in our current appointment, we leap into the big unknown. But we leap in faith that God is at the other end to catch us.

 

grace....kathie