Faith

I know my blog is desperately behind, but time is a precious commodity nowadays. At our homeschool coop, we take turns leading devotions, and I wanted to share mine from yesterday. Love you all. <3

"Faith"

I want to talk to you today about faith. 

But first I'm going to tell you a funny story. A few years ago I got a letter in the mail from my mom. When I opened it, the letter was dated 1988. I was two. My mom had written me two entire pages, bemoaning my stubbornness. She wrote that she was afraid she would never be able to teach me anything and that I would grow up to be a terrible person. 

I'm still just as stubborn, but I think I turned out better than she had hoped. 

Faith is my favorite thing about being a Christian, because...........it requires stubbornness. And that is something I am VERY good at. Faith requires you, no matter the cost or the struggle, to hang onto something and refuse to let go. Luckily for Christians, we have the all-powerful God of the universe running eternity and giving us the command to be faithful, so we WILL win in the end.....and that also makes me happy. I'm super competitive, and I like to win. 

So faith. When we think of faith, the first thing we typically associate it with is BELIEVING. The dictionary defines faith as: complete trust or confidence in someone, or something. Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we do not see." But faith has two parts: the believing, and the action. 

The Bible says in James 2:26 that faith without works is dead. I read this somewhere:

"Faith always has in it the idea of action. it is movement toward its object. Faith is a restless, living thing. It cannot be inoperative. Faith moves. Faith acts. Faith does.

And faith develops by listening to, and studying the Word of God. Romans 10:17 tells us, 'So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.'

If we hear the word of God, our faith will grow. And when we hear the word of God, it puts everything else into perspective. 

Faith is also developed through use. Some of us treat faith like it is fragile. But faith is tough. It is resilient. Faith grows through use. It becomes stronger the more you practice it.

James 1:22 says We must be doers of the word and not just hearers. A quote I read is: "It is so human to hear the word, rejoice in what we hear, and then… ponder. Pondering plants seeds of doubt, which grows into the mighty tree of procrastination, that bears the poisonous leaves of inaction. "

Sitting back and waiting isn't faith; that's thinking. Faith. Is. ACTION.     

Waiting, hesitating, or inaction leads us to dead faith. The Bible has tons of verses about helping others, but often, we don't do it, because we hesitate to act. I read somewhere that if a person doesn't act within ten seconds of thinking something, they just won't do it. For example, if you see a piece of garbage in a public place and think, "Oh, I should go pick that up," but then you hesitate, most likely you will walk past. Or if you are at an event and see someone standing by themselves and think, "I should go say hello," but then you pause, you probably won't ever go over.

Something that really frustrates me about Christians today, is our lack of faith. We make excuses for everything: I'm too tired, I don't have enough talent, or money, or time. God's commands in the Bible, and the individual callings He places on our lives are not optional. They are commands. They are often difficult. But they need to be followed. And they require FAITH. Faith doesn't make things easy. It makes them POSSIBLE. 

Matthew 17:20: Faith can move mountains. Matthew 19:26: With God, all things are possible. Luke 1:37: For nothing will be impossible with God.

Faith is scary. So what? Kick it in the face. You have GOD on your team. There is no higher power. So you shouldn't be afraid. Isaiah 41:13: I am the Lord Your God, who takes hold of your right hand, and says to you, "Do not fear. I will help you."

So I want to challenge you right now, to face whatever it is that God is calling you to. Whatever fear that your faith is avoiding. Stop making excuses for yourself. What is that you are being called to do?

For us, it was adoption. It didn't make sense from a worldly point of view. We were 21 and 23. Abe was in college. We had been married 9 months. It sounded crazy. People TOLD US we were crazy. But we knew what God wanted. We had to say YES. We had to WORK. We had to have FAITH. 

We didn't say, "Oh yes, God, we will adopt, if it will be okay and you will give us all the money up front." No. That's not faith. Faith was saying, okay, we are gonna do this, and we are gonna meet God halfway. God didn't just hand us piles of money. We were in the same position as many of you. Broke. We were broke college kids. No house. No money. Newly married. We had to push forward, when literally no one believed in us. Had to fight, and fight HARD, for years. God didn't magically just waive the struggle and the years of paperwork. We didn't just agree to adopt and God paid for it and gave us a kid and that was it. There were years of sweat and blood and tears and sacrifice. And then when we DID get our kids home, it wasn't over.....it had just started. 

As humans, we are filled with self-preservation. We want to be first. We value our own comfort above that of others. We want to protect ourselves. We want safety. We want assurance. 

A life filled with faith has to be the opposite of that. Faith requires blind trust. You don't get to know the end of the story. God doesn't tell you what's going to happen. Faith is trusting that GOD knows what's going to happen, and that He has it under control, and that HE can work all things for good. It doesn't mean you get what you want; it means God can work it for GOOD. He can make good come out of it. 

Our family has a lot of personal stories that attest to this, but here is just one general example: Much like Joseph was taken from his home and family, and forced to a foreign land, my kids were all torn from their families by poverty, disease, and death. They were forced to a foreign land. Joseph's story sucks; he had a terrible time in Egypt for years, but God worked it out so that he became the second highest ruler, and was able to save his own family, as well as both the nations of Egypt and Israel. He was later reunited with his family. My kids lives and stories aren't what they expected; they are full of pain and heartbreak and separation, but God is taking the brokenness and making something good of it too. One small example, is that by being here my kids have been able to speak in Washington DC to Prime Ministers and government officials, regarding international adoption, and were able to impact laws regarding it. 

Faith is believing and giving 100%, even when it means you don't get what you want or expected. I'm paraphrasing another quote I love: "True faith influences how you live. When you’re willing to put yourself at risk, your faith in God becomes active. Only when you know God’s grace is your only option, when you’ve cut off all back-up plans and thrown yourself entirely upon God’s mercy—only then is your faith the substance and evidence God’s Word says it will be." 

"Faith is not a magic formula where you pray for something and get what you want. Hebrews 11 says: "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." In describing faith in Hebrews 11:27, the word "persevered" is used. As a result of their faith, some Biblical heroes triumphed: they destroyed armies, escaped the sword, survived lions. But others met terrible ends: they were beaten, stoned, and sawed in two. The chapter concludes: "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised." 

Sometimes faith leads to victory and triumph. Sometimes it requires a gritty determination to hang on at any cost. Of such people, "God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them" (vs.16)." (Paraphrased; cannot find the original source.)

Faith is also evidence that God is faithful. We are not the first people to trust God. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Esther, Ruth, David, Job, Mary, John, Paul....these people laid everything they had on the line, in faith. 

You don't get to see miracles without faith. I think most people think of miracles as something that happened only in Bible times. We don't associate miracles with 2018. But I think it's because we aren't stepping out in faith. I can tell you that miracles exist. I have seen them. I have six of them living in my house. 

Our family has seen more actual miracles than I can explain. I'm going to list just a few.

1. When I was 9, I became obsessed with three things. The fiddle, Siberian huskies, and sign language. Thank you, Sesame Street. I had never met a deaf person. When I was 13, I tried to teach myself sign language out of a book from the library. My mom found a magazine about a deaf orphanage in Liberia. I told her, "Someday I'm going to adopt deaf kids from Africa." It was 1998. That's the same year Levi was born. 

2. When we were in the adoption process for Levi and Z, we needed to send some of their paperwork. We were completely, and I mean completely, out of money. We needed $10,000 to send their next set of paperwork. A week before it was due, we received an anonymous check. For $10,000. 

3. We were told we would never be able to adopt Levi, for many reasons. I had never even seen him. But I knew he was my baby, and I fought for him. And he's sitting in that pew right there. 

4. I was told my deaf kids would never acquire language. They grew up with ZERO communication until they were teenagers. All science and experts say that if you do not have language by 2-3 years old, you will never get it, and you will never be successful in life. I have three deaf teenagers who are some of the smartest people I know, and who get compliments on having beautiful language. 

5. For Micah's adoption, we were $10k short, and we made a fundraising video.....God raised $12k for us in three days. 

6. I was told Micah was NOT adoptable. I fought for EIGHT years for him. It was horrible. Remember when is aid God requires WORK for faith? Everyone thought I was crazy; that I was chasing a pipe-dream. I don't know if anyone else ACTUALLY believed he would come home, besides our family, and even that was a roller-coaster. We sacrificed EVERYTHING for Micah. Abe and I were 500% sure God had called us to this child. Told us to fight for him. So we did. And after eight years of sleepless nights, thousands of tears and broken cries to God, our baby is home. (side note, eight years is 1/4 of my life.)

7. Micah had an incredibly serious hip injury almost two years ago and had no medical help; surgeons here cannot understand why he hadn't lost his leg. I told them it was God. They operated, and by God's grace, he still has his leg and while it will never be right again, he WILL walk. 

8. This is my favorite miracle so far: the change in Micah. I can't go into details, but I can say that the 8-year fight to bring Micah home was just the start in the fight of HAVING him home. The last 7 months of my life have been......a test of my stubbornness. A whole new test of faith. But the miracle, is that in the last six weeks, Micah's heart is changing, it is a miracle that takes my breath away. 

Faith is not pretty. It's hard. It's a daily struggle. It's painful. But, "Faith is resting in what God has done for us in the past, and trusting him to move on our behalf in the present and the future; even in the struggle." When we believe God, even when life is tough, our faith grows deeper in Him. He is in control, and whether we see the fruit in this life or not, we are called to fight for what is right.