Being a believer is a life-long adventure. And it’s a journey that we are supposed to absolutely enjoy.
A New Year is always the time for dreams and resolutions
Let’s make this year’s resolution ‘to live by faith’.
When you live by faith you will start to see your dreams becoming a reality.
Too many believers choose to live in safe ‘comfort’, playing out the perfect Christian life, but never getting on with the adventure that our souls were created for – a life that’s based on faith.
Faith doesn’t start out big.
It is learned and grown through life.
It is usually through the messy, unpredictable everyday events, when we stumble or fall, that we realise our desperate need for God.
But, what we really need to do, is get to a place where we are aware of what God is doing in our normal, daily lives.
Because if we live our lives without seeing God at work in the small things, we will probably be unaware of His presence in the big things too.
We need to look and see how God’s hand is moving around us every day.
And as we see this, we will be filled with a fresh excitement and a renewed trust that God has a wonderful plan for our lives. We will start walking towards the amazing places that God wants to take us.
Here is a perfect example of God at work in the small things.
My family and I have been enjoying our holidays in Hermanus with is a small town just outside our home town, Cape Town.
It gets extremely busy at this time of year and we so wanted to go to Moggs, which is our very favorite restaurant and real treat, but when I called for a reservation almost a week before, they said that they were fully booked until the end of the year. My heart sank. They did however offer to take my name down and call me if there were any cancellations. Of course, I jumped at this opportunity.
The day before, we had still heard nothing so out of desperation, my mom and I took a drive up the Hemel and Aarde valley, going from restaurant to restaurant trying to get a booking for the five of us, but it was no use. They were all fully booked – every single one of them!
So, filled with dejection, we headed home.
The next day, Moggs called to say they had in fact received a cancellation and they could accommodate us inside. This positioning was not ideal but certainly better than nothing. So, we took our picnic blanket along, expecting to enjoy a glass of wine on the lawn before eating inside. When we arrived, they had set up a table in the gardens, under a huge gum tree. It was the most perfect table in the whole restaurant. Away from all the noise, wonderfully shaded and closest to the kids play area. I just felt God smiling at us and saying ‘This is my favour for you.’ We felt so blessed. What a perfect day!
That is being aware of Gods hand in the small things! It could have gone by unnoticed, but we thanked God for this simple yet wonderful blessing.
Matthew 17:20 says “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Sometimes God will move the mountain all at once.
Other times, the greater act of faith is not praying for the mountain to move instantly but praying and watching to see how God moves it bit by bit.
Don’t try to make your whole dream come true at once.
Just fulfil the small part of the mission that He is asking you to do today.
I am reading book that I was given for my birthday called ‘What happens when woman walk in faith.’
Below, I have included an incredible testimony from the author Lysa Terkeurst about how they came to adopt their two sons, Jackson and Mark.
Liberia is a war torn country with more than 25 000 orphans being cared for. Pastor Kofi was sent by God to work amongst these children. He asked he eldest son to help him by forming a cappella boys choir. The intention was for these boys to travel around Liberia to gain awareness and support for all these orphans. 12 boys chose to join the choir and after much practicing, they embarked on the adventure of traveling around the country and bringing joy and encouragement to others through song.
A woman from the American Embassy attended one of these performances and her heart was so stirred that she determined to get the boys paperwork sorted out so that they could travel to the United States for a concert tour.
God worked so many miracles through these boys and their singing – miracles that even the boys would never have asked for or imagined. He brought a businessman forward who managed the choir and scheduled them to sing in 130 churches in the southeast of America.
Through these concerts, they raised awareness and prayer support for their country as well as enough money to care for many children in the orphanages for that entire year.
But that was just the start. By the end of the tour, each one of those 12 boys had been adopted by American families and another 22 kids (siblings and friends of the boys) were adopted by families in Lysa’s very own church.
Lysa and her husband Art, had three girls, very busy lives and no intention of growing their little family, but God had chosen two of those boys that He wanted to be a part of their family. God whispered this into their hearts and after much prayer (and wrestling with God) they stepped out in faith and adopted Mark and Jackson. What an incredible blessing both for those boys and for their family.
Most incredible of all is that when those 12 boys signed up for the choir, they had no idea of the glorious miracles that would come to pass but they all prayed and trusted in God that he would make a way where there seems to be no way. Gods story is always so much bigger than our story, we just need to have the faith to get on board the journey.