Dark Hurdles

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged 

to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” ― Nelson Mandela

My friend is watching her mother grow older, less mobile, and frail. I wish I could comfort her, but the truth is, it’s going to be painful. I can only offer prayer that our Father will immerse her in assurance that her mother’s life comes and inevitably continues with Him, though it may be in a different form. It is the story of the butterfly, of the seed, and of the earth itself. This is the hope of those whose lives have been given back to Him as an offering.

The last time I saw my dad in this world, he asked me if I really believed all those people who go forward at Billy Graham crusades were going to heaven. The answer came from somewhere within, as if it had been waiting to emerge at the right time. “If they really believe it, they are.” 

I hope it gave him hope. Over time, I would come to believe those words more fully. I have come to know the nature of the Father, which is always to honor what we believe: our faith. In fact, without faith it is not possible to please Him, because the one who comes to him must first believe that He is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). 

So, while we may face dark clouds, we who believe must look beyond them to the constant shining of the sun.

My friend and I had a nice talk over our seaside lunch. The dark clouds evaporated into the ocean and in the course of our conversation, she spoke Jesus’ words from Matthew 6:34. “Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” She is working on believing it. Together we believe that when she gets to the hurdle she’ll be able to go over it. 

We walked out into the sunshine and followed our separate paths. Mine got pretty bumpy, but peace sustained me. At another time, those bumps would have knocked me off balance into the undertow and dragged me out to sea. Her words drifted back on the gentle tide of evening. I searched them out in various translations of light until I found the one that expressed what the Spirit was speaking:  

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (the Message). Yes, He has and He will. Amen.

John 1:5
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out. Good News Translation 

Psalm 1:6
The Lord protects everyone who follows him. Contemporary English Version 

Jeremiah 29:11 
I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. God’s Word Translation 

“Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!” - Thomas Chisolm, Great is Thy Faithfulness

Excerpt from:   While it is Called Today - a 30-day photo devotional for living well  
by Dee Marvin Emeigh

(c) 2014 Dee Marvin Emeigh
all rights reserved

www.livwellseedco.com

Synapses, Spark Plugs..and Faith

 Faith is the spark that ignites the impossible and causes it to become possible.

Rick Renner 

I am no more a neurologist than I am a mechanic, but I can recognize a principle of creation in operation. What synapses, spark plugs, and faith have in common is gaps. 

Gaps compel ideas, electricity, and information to leap from transmitters to receptors. In the brain, the gaps are called synapses, the tiny spaces between neurons that carry messages. In some cars, the spark plug forces electricity to arc across a gap, carrying power to get the engine running. 

In our spiritual life, the gap between what we see and what we hope for is the energy called faith.

This principle became clear to me as I considered Jesus’ responses to John the Baptist and Peter at the times when they most needed encouragement. Luke reported that John sent two of his disciples to Jesus to inquire if he was “the One,” the awaited Messiah. John had baptized his cousin, Jesus. He had marveled that it was Jesus who came to him to be baptized. 

But from Matthew’s account we learn John was now in prison. So, “before He answered John’s messengers, Jesus cured many from various diseases, health conditions, and evil spirits. He even caused many blind people to regain their sight” (Luke 7:21, The Voice). Then, Jesus turned back to John’s followers and said, “Go and tell John what you’ve witnessed with your own eyes and ears: the blind are seeing again, the lame are walking again, the lepers are clean again, the deaf hear again, the dead live again, and good news is preached to the poor” (Luke 7:22-23, The Voice).

Instead of simply answering John’s question, He sent John a message that would compel him to do the only thing that mattered. It was a message of hope that would cause John's faith to spark across the divide between his sensory experience and the unseen kingdom of God.

When Peter denied being a follower of Jesus the very same night he’d sworn it would never happen, I imagine he felt pretty worthless. Jesus knew how Peter would feel as much as he knew what Peter would do. To restore him after His resurrection, Jesus sent a messenger to, “Tell his disciples and Peter that he's going ahead of them to Galilee. There they will see him, just as he told them” (Mark 16:7 God’s Word Translation). 

Jesus didn’t just appear to Peter and the others to encourage them. He sent them a message that would stir their faith to spark across the gap from their current state of grief and disbelief to hope in the resurrection.

Before the sun disappears, it colors the world with encouragement.

Of course, it was their choice to not exercise faith, just as it will always be ours. His miraculous power is always available to us, but it will always depend on our allowing faith to leap across the divide between our experience and what we hope for. 

Walking in the promised land of God depends entirely on faith for every step. 

Psalm 27:13

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living (New American Standard Bible).

Matthew 9:28

When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord” (New American Standard Bible). 

Matthew 17:20

Believe me when I tell you, if your faith is only as big as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. You will be able to do anything (Easy to Read Version).

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see (New Living Translation).

Hebrews 11:6

It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him (The Message).

Excerpt from: 
While it is Called Today: a 30-day photo devotional for living well 
by Dee Marvin Emeigh

(c) 2014 Dee Marvin Emeigh

all rights reserved

www.livwellseedco.com