Faith

I read something the other day, actually July 15, 2010 (my son's spiritual birthday!) that has had me thinking. It is from "Simple Faith" by Charles Swindoll:

"Once you decide to trust God in simple faith and allow Him complete freedom to carry out His plan and purpose in you as well as through you, you need only relax and count on Him to take care of things you once tried to keep under control."

There are so many good lessons here!

First of all, you have to decide to trust God....with simple faith! Like that simple childlike faith Turner showed last summer; just simply believe that God is who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do!

Second, "allow Him complete freedom to carry out His plan and purpose". Wow! That's BIG!! Its easy to say that you want God to have His plan carried out in your life, but its much harder to give Him complete freedom (like He really needs it, but He gives us the choice). And not just hard for Him to have complete freedom with His plan and purpose for us, but also for those we love. There have been a million times lately I've asked "why?" to several different situations in my life and in the lives of those dear to me. I do believe God is okay with us asking, as long as we are seeking Him for the answers. There are many things in my life I would not have chosen for myself, but looking back God always blessed where I followed Him and gave Him the freedom to fulfill His plan and purpose for my life. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Third, "and through you"....He has a plan for your life and the lives of those you come in contact with. When we are His, others are always watching for us to fail, and we never disappoint, do we? I know I don't. Perfection is not our goal, pointing others to Him through living a life worthy of imitation is our goal.

And lastly, "you need only relax and count on Him to take care of things you once tried to keep under control." Do you find sitting and just being still before Him as hard as I do? In this crazy fast paced, instant communication society we do NOT like to wait!! Even as I type this, I'm waiting, not patiently, for someone to return a text (I mean, I sent it 30 minutes ago, what is taking so long???!!!!!!!!!)...its like we pray to God and then we want an instant message telling us exactly His plans. We are control freaks! And honestly, do we really have control of anything? I can't even control my five year old!

Its all His. His world. His plans. His purpose. His people. His death. His burial. His ressurection. His throne. His return that we eagerly wait for. His Love. Its all His. And in simple faith, I release control and count on Him to take care of things....and tomorrow, or maybe within the next hour, I'll have to release control again and trust Him. Its not a one time thing, its daily, sometimes hourly, sometimes every minute of a day, but always trust Him.

Simple Faith.

Awesome God.

Enough said? :)