the journey of faith

Have you ever viewed your life in terms of “milestones” or “destinations“??

I used to think about my life like a timeline with markers indicating when I wanted certain events to happen. Have you ever thought the same?? As my life unfolded I quickly found out that things don’t turn out quite as I’d envisioned and I was left thinking “what now?”

About two years ago I was at a crossroads in my life, asking the Lord for wisdom and direction on which way to go. My natural instinct, when placed in a circumstance that involves risk, is to pick the safer, more comfortable option. The weight of walking into something that could end badly (or even good!) is sometimes too great a risk and I’d rather stay on comfortable & familiar ground.

But, when the Lord asks you to step out in faith, His call keeps tugging at your heart and the most important thing you can decide to do is obey, trust, and follow His voice.

So, regarding this particular crossroads, He gave me direction and peace to move forward, but didn’t tell me what the outcome would be. He just told me to take the first step and He would reveal the next step in His timing. So often, I want to know the next 20+ steps and what the destination will be. I want to be able to weigh the risk-to-benefit ratio and determine if it’s worth it.

But that’s not how faith works. . .

Faith is trusting God to lead, guide, and direct your steps – even when you can’t see where it’ll lead. Faith is resting in Jesus because HE knows the outcome, so I don’t have to.

What He has shown me, time and time again, is that He is more concerned with the PROCESS than the destination. When we follow the Lord and things don’t happen as we expected we can feel betrayed, lost, and confused. But it is often in those very situations of loss, sorrow, and pain that our faith grows the most and we learn to depend on Jesus more.

The act of trusting Jesus and walking by faith IS the goal. He desires everything we walk THRU to increase our faith and deepen our walk with Him. So, when my life starts to take on a different trajectory than I had envisioned, I can be expectant and hopeful — because He is in control of the story, not me. For a long-time I simply wanted to check things off the ” life bucket-list” that I had created in my mind, the list with: ☐ graduate college ☐ get my dream job ☐ get married ☐ travel ☐ buy a house ☐ have kids, etc. listed. In my mind I had created that list because I saw that people typically measure “success” by those achievements. So, when I didn’t accomplish those things when I had expected to, I was left feeling like I had failed and was missing out.

But I’ve come to learn that if God were to give us a “bucket-list,” I think it would simply read:

☐ walk by faith

So, no matter the job I have, whether or not I have a college degree, am married, have children, or travel — I can ask myself: “am I walking by faith and trusting God where I am today?” And, if walking by faith does lead to the things I had desired, then Jesus will also use those to mature and deepen my faith! Either way He’s is growing faith in me. My hope is no longer in an outcome and my faith is no longer reliant on getting what I want.

In the same way, when things come into our lives that we never would’ve asked for — heartbreak, unexpected tragedy, loss, betrayal, trials — we have the assurance that God is working amidst the pain to draw us closer to Himself, even if we can’t see it at first, or on this side of eternity; He does not waste our pain.

No matter where in life you find yourself; whether it’s where you wanted to be, or somewhere you never imagined you would be, may we desire God’s will (not our own!) for our lives. When we keep our eyes on Him and follow His leading, even if the situation ends differently than you would’ve hoped, He is glorified.

When the timeline of your life doesn’t follow what you had in mind, you can trust that God is working behind the scenes, writing a story so much better than you could’ve created yourself. And it’ll be so much better than the timeline you had for yourself.

I know it is h-a-r-d to let go of expectations and release certain desires to the Lord but we can rest knowing that He’s a much better Author than we’ll ever be.

It leaves me thinking: in the end, if I check everything off my “bucket-list” but have no faith to show for it, what will I have really accomplished of true value??

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
-Matthew 16:26 (NLT)

whom shall I fear?


With so much chaos and uncertainty in our world there is no shortage of fear and worry. Every day, with tragedies happening all around, we are faced with the reality that we do not know what tomorrow will bring and are reminded that: we are not in control and do not know what is ahead.

When fear seems like the only appropriate response, is it truly possible to know God’s peace that surpasses all understanding while terror is reigning??

This morning I woke up with the words of Psalm 27:1 on my heart:

“The Lord is my light & my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?“

It’s a familiar Psalm but today those two questions struck my heart differently.

I paused, sat with those two questions, and asked myself: “If I truly believe that God is who He says He is (my light, my salvation, and my strength) — then what am I afraid of? Is there a good reason for me to be worried? Should I be fearful?“

Sometimes we are so focused on what is causing us fear that we forget who God is and forget to live in the promises He has given us.

We forget that fear is ultimately a choice and we don’t have to be afraid.

In this verse it’s like David is reasoning with his soul, saying: “is there a good reason for you to be afraid?” Instead of magnifying the fear, David is exalting God above his fear, asking himself:

“Since God is my light — should I fear the darkness?”
“Since God is my salvation — is there a situation He cannot rescue me from?”
“Since God is my strength — should I be afraid of being weak?”

There is no darkness that can quench God’s light!
There is no situation that is so hopeless that God cannot rescue!
There is no weakness that He is unable to overcome!

So I began to bring the things that I fear before the Lord, one by one, it’s like He was lovingly asking me: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” In Mark 4 Jesus speaks those words to His disciples when they are stuck in the middle of the sea during a storm. It’s not that the storm was not scary but they forgot who was in control of the storm. If they had remembered that Jesus was in control they would have had no reason to fear. They would’ve called out to Jesus instead of relying on their own strength.

When we fix our eyes on Jesus, our fear shrinks in comparison. We have a gracious Heavenly Father, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who is fighting for us; He is our light, our salvation, and our strength — all we need is in Him.

There will never be a shortage of storms in our lives. In times when life is completely uncertain fear can feel crippling. When we don’t know what the outcome of a circumstance will be, we can have confidence that Jesus can either calm the storm or calm His child in the storm, and either way He is in control.

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.”
– Psalm 34:4

There will always be something tempting us to doubt God and choose fear. Sometimes we choose fear so quickly that we forget there was even a second option! But we are faced with a choice — just like FEAR is a choice, so is FAITH. We cannot live in faith and fear at the same time; we must choose.

When we compare our fear with the greatness and goodness of our God, the One who never changes and holds our days in His loving hands, our fear and the things that worried us will melt away in the light of His presence. Your situation may not change, but your perspective can.

My heart is heavy as I pray for for those in Afghanistan living under the terror of extremists and those in Haiti suffering after another tragic earthquake. I pray that God would work mightily and supernaturally in the midst of such evil and pain. I plead for those who are mourning and suffering in circumstances I may never face. I walk out my front door; realizing that girls across the ocean are unable to do the same. I open my Bible, worship out loud, and gather at church with my brothers and sisters in Christ; remembering that many do not have that freedom. I pray that Jesus would cover them in an unexplainable peace in the midst of such sorrow.

We have no control over life’s circumstances that evoke fear and worry in our hearts, but we do have a choice to trust God and walk in His promises or allow the situation to overwhelm us and extinguish our faith.

In these uncertain days may we choose to walk by faith and not by sight, fixing our eyes on Jesus: the Author and Finisher of our faith, whatever may come (Hebrews 12:2).

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
-Hebrews 11:6

courage & bravery

“wait on the Lord;
be of good courage,
& He shall strengthen your heart;
wait, I say, on the Lord!”

– Psalm 27:14

would you agree that it takes equal amounts of strength and bravery to wait patiently for something as it does to “go and conquer”????

the bravery and courage required to trust in the Lord through seasons of waiting is often underestimated or undervalued.

you never know what prayers those around you are persistently praying.
what battles they are quietly fighting.
what wounds they carry.
what wars they silently wage.
what they wrestle against every morning just to put their feet on the ground.

Exodus 14:14 says: “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Surrendering our battles (and their outcomes!) to the Lord is frequently the hardest part. The greatest victory comes when we hold our hands up in worship, proclaiming: “Lord! This is Your battle to fight! It’s not mine. I am going to trust You and obey Your command to be still.”

It takes true courage to be still while the battle rages on; a courage that only the Lord can give.

Never underestimate the bravery required to trust, wait, surrender, and be still.
Wait on Him and remain faithful where He has placed you today.

“Watch, 
stand fast in the faith,
be brave, 
be strong.
Let all that you do
be done with love.”

– 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

He sees, He knows



Psalm 31:

7 I will rejoice and be glad in Your steadfast love,
      because You have seen my affliction;
     You have known the distress of my soul . . .

14 I trust in You, O Lord;
     I say, “You are my God.”
15a  My times are in Your hand . . .

22b You heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
     when I cried to You for help.

24b Be strong, & let your heart take courage,
     all you who wait for the Lord!

I love Psalm 31; the whole chapter is so encouraging, but for the sake of this post I’ve only highlighted the verses above.

In verse 7 David proclaims that he will rejoice, NOT because God has delivered him OUT OF his affliction or his distress (although He is certainly able to!) — but because God has seen his affliction and God knows his distress. No matter what you are walking through, the suffering you quietly carry everyday, the pain you cannot ignore, the hurt you haven’t moved on from, or the questions you silently bear — we can take take heart knowing that: God sees. God knows. “You have seen my affliction; You have known the distress of my soul.” Just because He hasn’t responded like you expected doesn’t mean He is unaware. You are not alone in your pain. We can still rejoice in the midst of great suffering and uncertainty because His steadfast love will never change.

Then, there’s a simple prayer of faith in verses 14 & 15:

“I trust in You, O Lord,” I say,
“You are my God.
My times are in Your hand . . .”

In a recent message at church we talked about the prayer that Jesus prayed to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane: “Father, let this cup pass from Me — nevertheless, not My will but THY will be done.“ In our prayers we are frequently focused on what we want to change or what we want to pass. But, if we never come to the “nevertheless” in our prayer, we will never share Christ’s heart. Until we come to the place where we can sincerely pray: “not my will, but THY will be done,” we’ll never reach the place of trust and surrender, like David says “My times are in Your hand.”

We may never have an answer to the “why” He didn’t allow the cup to pass, stop the affliction or end the distress — but we can trust His heart.

I’ll never forget hearing a dear sister in Christ share about her husband’s sudden passing. She shared a quote from Spurgeon that read: “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”

How many times have you walked though something & questioned: “God, do you see what is happening to me?!” “Why aren’t You answering or moving like I had asked?!” When the reality is, God has always been aware, He sees, and He knows — but He also doesn’t always respond how we expected. In the midst of the uncertainty we can trust His character — He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and when we can’t determine what His hands are doing, we can trust His heart.

Then, in verse 22, David says: “You heard the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cried to You for help.” When God’s response to our prayer is not as we expected, it’s not because He didn’t hear us, but because He has a greater purpose to fulfill that we are most likely unaware of. Sometimes all we can see is the loss, pain, hurt, and ache but this Psalm assures us that God hears our every cry. On this side of eternity we may never know how He is accomplishing a greater purpose through the pain, but He promises to give us the mercy we need to walk through the unexpected, and His mercies are new every morning.

Lastly, David declares: “Be strong, & let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” I believe there will never be a point in our lives when we are not waiting for something. . . God knows the things we long and pray for but there have been times where the Lord has shown me that I am not waiting for HIM but for what HE can DO; there’s a big difference. At times it’s easy for the two to become blurred, especially when you’re waiting and praying for something this is good and something you believe He desires for you. But in this verse David encourages us to be strong and take courage. Why? Because waiting can cause us to grow weak and discouraged in our faith; but in the waiting we also learn that only God can fill the longing we have and only His living water can quench the thirst of our souls. I read this the other day & it was such an encouragement to my soul: “If we are so focused on what God isn’t doing — we will miss out on what He IS doing.” How true is that?! Don’t allow what God is not doing to make you miss out on all that He is doing!

As you wait, dear friend, don’t forget: God sees, He knows, He hears. Trust Him, surrender your future to Him, wait on Him today, and walk in the new mercies He has for you day-by-day. Be strong and take courage, He is near.

“Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”
– Isaiah 40:28-31

“Perhaps maybe for a
reason you cannot see,
God wants you to wait”