Faith Stories

I love to read. I love stories.  I love to read stories of people. I love to read stories of how God works in people.

A number of years ago Mrs. Lou Ardrey gave us the book FAITHPointes written by her friend Barbara Barker and Denise Hamilton. I enjoyed that book so much that I read it at least twice then passed it along to a friend.  In the book Barbara writes about so many situations of what we might call faith stories.  Of the many lessons I read, one stands out to me the most. Denise wrote something to the effect: Barbara, you love telling these faith stories, but you don’t like living them. Those times when God gives difficulty and the only way through it is to trust Him. It makes me think of the prayer meeting devotional that Mark gave last week on I Peter 5: 6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” We must cast our cares on the Lord because our cares are his cares. We have had ample opportunity to practice this verse this week, and the men who were at prayer meeting have reminded us of this as we share our anxieties over not yet having our visas for China.

In Sunday school Mark taught about God’s call on Moses’ life in Exodus 2:11-4:31 using The Gospel Story Bible: Discovering Jesus in the Old and New Testaments. Chapter 2 of Exodus ends with these words regarding the Israelites in Egypt: “²⁴And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  ²⁵ God saw the people of Israel--and God knew.” See the four verbs in these verses: 1) “God heard their groaning” therefore God hears our groaning, 2) “God remembered his covenant” therefore God remembers his promises to us, 3) “God saw the people” therefore God sees us & our needs, 4) “God knew.” Notice no object here.  God just knew. The God who later identifies himself as “I AM WHO I AM” is the One who hears, remembers, sees, and knows.  I am thankful that is my God.  I can trust Him.  Sometimes I, like Barbara Barker, don’t like living the faith stories because they are hard. They require patience, trust, and lack of control, at least on my part. I am thankful we have a sovereign God who not only created all things and fills all things but also knows all things.  He knows exactly when we need our visas; He knows exactly where they are.

So pray that we will continue to live faith stories in ways that bring honor and glory to Him.  Oh, and pray with us that we receive our visas Monday.

~Cheryl