Journey of Faith Part 1
Standing at the bottom of the tall tower I found myself looking up the ladder debating whether or not this “fun thing” was a good idea. Through the gentle prods of my sweet friend behind me I hesitantly agreed to ascend the tower despite my better judgement. By the time I reached the platform above, I knew, by my pounding heart, that I had made a mistake in agreeing to do this. One of the rules was that if you ascended the ladder you had to jump! I moved closer to the edge and peered down to the dark waters below. I was encouraged that there were no rocks or things below that could break my bones. “Just do a pencil dive so the water doesn’t hurt” they said. “It’s easy,” I could hear several others saying. Then, the next course of action had to happen…my feet needed to step off the solid platform in order for me to “jump.” I couldn’t do it! I tried and tried to talk myself into just stepping off, closing my eyes, and hoping I didn’t splat face first to the cold water beneath. After what seemed like forever, I felt a hand on my back and a firm push sent me over the edge. I didn’t have time to think, but I tried to get my flailing body into a pencil position to avoid the hard smack of water.
After popping up from my not so gracious descent, everyone cheered and said, “Do it again!” Not on your life was my initial inner response. Why would I choose to do that again? There was no fun in it. The only good thing about it was that I could later say I had done it!😀😀
Lately, the Lord has been teaching me much about FAITH. I’ve grown up hearing about faith. But, never did I truly understand what faith was ’til Jesus called for me to do some seemingly impossible steps for Him. I was working through some studying and remembered the silly story above. For me, faith in that moment wasn’t my determining whether to jump from that solid footing of the platform. It started when I put my foot on the first wrung of the ladder. I had faith that the wrung would hold me and be the first thing to help me ascend to the next step eventually leading me to sure footing on the platform above.
Several months ago, while my husband and I were talking and praying the Lord made it clear that He wanted us to step onto a wrung that we were scared to death to step onto. Humanely speaking it appeared very un-sturdy and did not make much sense. I remember thinking there was no way little ‘ole me could survive this step. But, I was lovingly reminded through His Word that He was right there alongside me reaching His arms out to carry me through the unknowns. For weeks I prayed hard for Jesus to prepare me for what was ahead. I honestly felt like each day He was preparing me just a little at a time. I knew there was no way I could do it alone, and Jesus became ever dear to me as I sought His help for gracious responses and a willing heart in difficult situations.
Resigning day came, and to be completely transparent, the floodgates of faith building began almost immediately. There were so many questions, so many emotions, so many unknowns. And, lil ‘ole me, I had to…