I believe; help my unbelief!

One of my favorite things about being home is the ability to sit at my kitchen table with a big cup of coffee in the morning overlooking our big, beautiful tree and pasture and mediate on God's truth through the devotional www.shereadstruth.com.

So. Good.

View from my kitchen from the winter time.

This morning's scripture was regarding faith and Hebrews 1:1-40 and Mark 9:24 were the focuses.

I will admit, there are times I read my bible, stare at the pages and think, "How is this possible? How could this be true?" Yet, time and time again, I reflect on the many times the unbelievable has happened in my life. The times when God has undeniably showed up. 

 Over the span of 9 years in Young Life, I have watched self-destructive, abandoned and angry kids with walls made of stone around their hearts transformed in the truth that there is a God who loves them and calls them by name. Walls come down, hearts are healed and their posture completely changes.

I have watched faithful Young Life leaders persist in the lives of kids incarnationally when confused bystanders wonder, "Do you have any friends your own age?" (they do). Yet as they persist in the lives of kids, those kids begin to see Jesus in the Young Life leader and realize there is also a God who is pursuing them and loves them.

I watched a boy come off the Princess named Andrew on my assignment a week or so ago, and he looked angry and closed off. I put my hand out to give him a high five and say, "Welcome to Malibu!" and he scowled at me and turned away, rejecting my welcome. I watched him that week, and slowly saw his posture beginning to soften and change. A few nights in, I received a call on my radio to be on the lookout for Andrew, a boy who was missing from his cabin. I began to pray for Andrew and whatever it was he may be dealing with -- not realizing it was this same boy as I didn't know his name at this point. I ran into and found Andrew and realized it was the same boy from boat day and asked him if he was ok. Tears welled up in his eyes as he told me, "No, everything is not ok, I'm just dealing with a lot right now and I don't know what to do." I asked Andrew if I could pray with him and he grabbed my arm tightly like someone does when they are scared or fearful and said, "Please, please do." I prayed for Andrew and as I did, his tears fell to the ground. After saying Amen, Andrew looked at me with his tearful eyes and said, thank you, and went on his way to his cabin. A few nights later, Andrew stood up confidently with a smile on his face at a night we call the say-so in Young Life and professed to his peers that he was coming home to Jesus. That night, I went up to him and gave him a high five, and he smiled and said, "What a great night!" Is Andrew's life perfect now? No, but through faith the walls and barriers around his heart came crashing down and the road to healing has begun. That, my friends, is the miracle of faith. 

There are countless other examples I could copy out from my journal -- perhaps the most tangible were the times when we were struggling financially and money would show up anonymously in our mailbox, on my desk at work, or on our doorstep. Or the times (yes, more than one) when we didn't have enough money at the end of the month for groceries and bags full of fresh, organic produce and meat showed up on our doorstep (are you kidding me, Lord...organic, too!?). No one know what we needed. They didn't leave a note. Miraculous.

When the Lord was leading me to perhaps one of the most significant and scary decisions of my life he literally spoke to me about it for a month leading up to it. Visions, dreams and words from others had a common thread and I wrote of it in my journal wondering, what in the world does this mean. Then, the day before it happened, I dreamed what happened was happening and wrote it down in my journal. When it happened, the Lord reminded me, look in your journal (I had almost forgotten the dream as you often do, but the Lord had prompted me to write down this particular dream even though I thought it was odd...) and as I did, tears rolled down my face. The Lord met me in a place of deep fear and unbelief and said, "I love you enough to prove to you this is My direction for your life." Profound, incredible Love, people. He is good. More on this another time.

If you are a person of faith, ask the Lord to help you have eyes to see the miraculous in your life. Write down examples of his provision in your everyday. Tell him often, "I believe, help my unbelief!" 

He will meet you in this sweet, vulnerable place again and again.