Faith Stretch
Here is a guest post by Beck Gambill. Beck is an author, mentor, wife, mother, and Christ-follower. I have enjoyed following Beck on her blog for the past month, and she graciously agreed to share her thoughts and talents with us today. Her writing is inspired and beautiful, and I love what she shares below and how she says it. Please chime in on her questions, and don’t forget to get connected with Beck. Besides her blog, you can follow her on Twitter.
(If you’re interested in guest posting on my blog, please drop me a comment. I’d love to connect with you.)
Lately the very fibers and sinews of my heart are being pulled tight in a deep faith stretch. Three months ago my husband, Chris, and I took a risky step of faith. After serving as worship pastor for four years in a Wyoming church, due to some difficult circumstances and God’s leading, we left our place of ministry trusting God had a plan. My human assumption was that the plan would be revealed quickly and before long we would be serving in a new place of ministry. I was wrong.
We are thankful for dear friends who have graciously opened their home providing a place for us to stay while we wait. Yet I’ve learned it’s not good for a man to live without fulfilling work or a woman to be without a home. God knows this.
There are moments in the waiting that fear and hurt swell, choking off my breath. There are also moments of deep joy. The difference, I find, lies in the abiding. A tenacious sitting at Jesus feet decides if I will sink in despair or soar on wings of faith. Time in the word of God fills my heart with life-sustaining truth that counteracts the lies I would otherwise believe. Lies that say; God doesn’t see you, he has abandoned you, you’re not good enough, you have failed, you will never know fulfillment.
Daily I come, I press on, my spiritual muscles stretched and strengthened. As I come Jesus is always faithful to meet me. He recently revived my heart with the words of Psalm 18. Are you weary from the journey of life, stretched by your limitations or circumstances? Let me share some of those verses with you.
But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry to him reached his ears…
He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.
He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him
and rained down hail and burning coals.
The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded
amid the hail and burning coals…
He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters…
He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
Can you see the God of heaven leap to his feet at the sound of your voice crying out in need. Imagine him take flight on the wings of an angel, thundering his approach, reaching down his mighty hand to rescue you! Like a mother stalking across the playground, determined eyes focused, set to rescue her child from the bully, so is our God with his own children. In a purely physical sense we may not see God on the move but we can be sure when we call out in need he hears and acts.
In the midst of messy circumstances God is stretching my heart to trust him. He challenges me to show up daily to sit at his feet to be fed. As I obey, my heart is comforted that God sees me, he rescues me and it’s his delight to do so.
Are you being stretched through difficult circumstances? How has God reminded you of his care?