Just Wait it Out

A funny thing happened on the way home from work the other day: I got lost! Well, not so much funny as more like an out of body experience. Picture it: the interstate, Wednesday.... I was driving along when all of a sudden, the traffic came to a standstill (which in Memphis is not unusual). There is an accident, lanes are blocked. Normally, when there is an accident on the interstate, I trudge along and wait it out. Yet on this particular day, I just did not feel like it. So I got off on the upcoming exit and the plan was to avoid one major street to get to another. I had done it before so I knew it would save me some time. After driving for a while I thought to myself, "I should be there by now." Then things started looking unfamiliar. So me being the gets lost but doesn't panic/let's just see where this goes type of person that I am, kept driving. I figured eventually something would look familiar and I could get my bearings and make it home. Well thirty minutes later, I was still driving. Nothing looked familiar, I felt like I was in a different city. Hindsight, I remembered that there was a side street that I was supposed to turn on, it's name flashed across my mind. And wouldn't you know it? I ended up back where I started--the street  where I exited the interstate.

Isn't that how it is in our relationship with God? He gives us a set path to take. However, we will encounter something that may delay the journey, but the path is the correct one; and it will get us to where we're supposed to go. When we move away from where God directs us, not only do we prolong the arrival at our destination, but we have to return to our starting point. What looks like the easy way is not always the case. I knew God was teaching me something during my fantastic voyage across the city. He is telling me to stay put. He is telling me simply because the trip is taking longer than I expected, it does not mean that I won't get there. He is telling me to forget about my timeline and deadlines and anticipate my due season.

Earlier in the week while doing nothing in particular, I saw myself walking at what appeared to be the Grand Canyon. I was studying a map and not paying attention to where I was walking and soon I found myself right at the edge, dangerously close to falling over. I didn't really understand it until I was driving aimlessly around hoping something would get me back on track. 

Then it hit me: we must pay attention at the beginning, middle, and end of the journey. Getting caught up in the end result is the same as getting lost in the process. We will be tempted to get off the path to take our self made "short cuts." We will become distracted, impatient, discouraged. But the real test is how we handle it all. Don't let my physical experience become your Spiritual experience.

Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established (Proverbs 4:26 NKJV).

In other words, think about where you are going. Now allow God to make the way for you. It's the only way to arrive when and how you're supposed to.

Let's wait it out. Together. Let's run on, walk, skip, even crawl...to see what the end will be. It may take us a while, and we will encounter some problems along the way but the end result will be worth it.

Crazy? Faith!

We've heard it; we've quoted it; some of us live it and others doubt it. It is the faith scripture. You know the one I'm talking about: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen - Hebrews 11:1. I didn't even have to look it up, I know it by heart.

I will admit that my faith has been tested during my Christian walk and I'm going to be honest and admit that more times than not, I have failed. But this year...this year of my great growth...I decided to have a no-matter-what mind frame. In March, I asked God to help me depend totally and completely on Him. Now that I sit and take a minute to think, I realize that this year has been one big walk of faith. God prompted me to move out of my place of comfort (and complaceny) to go somewhere that was foreign to me. I was apprehensive, I was afraid, I felt like Abram when God told him to leave his native country (Genesis 12).

Let me paint a picture for you:
God: Go to that church
Me: pretends not to hear
God: It's time for you to leave this place. Go and join that church.
Me: (says to self) That's not God speaking, that's me feeling tired and overwhelmed. I'm burned out on church work. I think I'm going to remove myself from all of these ministries and just sit down next year.
God chastened, I cried. God said, "Move."

So I moved and from that time to this I have been nothing but blessed. I knew that God's decision was the best one for me but my mind, my flesh,  that Miller part of me resisted. I told God, I promised Him that I would trust Him. That's not to say I've been perfect in this. I have, again, faltered but I get up and always try again.

One of my greatest challenges of faith deals with my finances. Every month I create a budget for each pay period. My end of month check is the smallest and it's when the majority of my bills are due. Normally, I reserve funds from the middle of the month check to cover the lack for the end of the month. Well, this time around, because I was expecting some extra income for a project I was doing for a friend, I didn't follow my normal mode of behavior. And wouldn't you know it? I was a tank of gas short and I honestly didn't know where it would come from with $1.52 in my bank account. The day that gas light came on I looked at it and said, "Lord, I don't know how I'm going get this gas. But I'm going to believe You for it."

My sister is a firm believer of asking our parents for financial help. She thinks that I'm crazy when I don't have enough and I don't go to them for help. She asked, "Why didn't you ask Mama?" When I couldn't come up with an answer she shook her head in disdain. But I had an answer, I just didn't know how to articulate it...until now.

It's easy for me to go to my parents for help because I know that they will help me. This is nothing new to me; in the past I have hoped in God, believed Him for impossible things only to get fearful and go to my mother for financial help or dismiss something that to me seemed too far fetched. Where is the faith in that? What glory does God get in me taking the "sensible" way?

I guess if you really think about it, faith does look crazy. Abraham taking Issac up to the sacrifice without a sacrifice looked crazy. The woman with the issue of blood, walking bent over looked crazy. Mary, pregnant when she had never been touched by a man, looked crazy. Me, driving with no money and no gas, looked crazy. When we get to that point, we can start looking for God. I'm getting excited just thinking about how wonderful this God of mine is!. And do you know what God did, He used my sister, the one who thinks I am all the way off my rocker to give me what I needed.

Sunday's service confirmed it for me. August is our soul winning month and second Sunday was designated as a healing service. I was expecting the pastor to call those who were sick to come to the altar so that they could receive their healing. But it was nothing like that at all. It was a celebration of faith. God is about to move for those who have believed him for little things, who have worn the label "crazy" for faith's sake, who have held on despite how it seemed and looked and felt. 

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. (Psalm 37:5 NLT) That's it. Faith in a nutshell. Replace "everything you do" with something and wait. Here's mine: Commit [figuring out how to put gas in my car] to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. 

Am I crazy? Nah. I just have crazy faith.