Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s)
I just wanted to add some more on the fantastic faith story of Ian’s watershoe. 🙂 Just some thoughts from my head throughout the whole thing…
Can God Really Do It? That thought obviously kept going through my head. In a way. You know, I really had no problem believing that God COULD bring Ian’s shoe out of the water and neatly onto the shore for us… but where my mind betrays me or gets me into trouble is on the "does he want to" side of things. I mean, what does God care about a shoe?
But he cares about Ian… But I kept coming back to the fact that it’s not about the shoe – it’s about how much God loves Ian – and even me – in this. He loves when we come to him believing that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Heb 11:6)
Faith Like A Child. You know, I actually saw Ian’s simple faith waiver a bit. But it wasn’t as insecure as my waivering. I wonder if God would ever do something big and God-like for me… but Ian didn’t worry about that. He just wondered when it would happen. He KNEW God would do it. That was so cool. I did too actually. It was honestly some of the most confident I have been in a while, and I just smiled everytime I was talking to God cause I really knew He was going to do it.
Moments of Doubt. There were plenty of moments when I had looked and asked and found nothing where I wanted to just give up… and I would talk to God again and ask Him what should I do… lead me to the shoe. (that rhymed…) I knew that even if God did not come through with the shoe, there would be some awesome story of His provision. I was confident in that.
Celebration! You know, I honestly thought I would celebrate more… but all I wanted to do was smile and worship God. We sang some, we shouted out "GOD IS AWESOME!" and just had fun. But in the end… we were really expecting Him to do it! We knew he could – and we thought he would. Amazing.
I think that is how God wants us to live. Completely trusting Him, even when it doesn’t make sense – or seem possible. There are so many chances we have in life to trust that God is bigger. Sickness being one of them. Our friend’s daughter is really really sick. And they love Jesus. A lot. They are in a crisis of belief. Can God fix this? Will he? Does he love us? They know all the answers, but now they have to trust him.
God gave Ian his shoe back today so he will have a reason to trust Him in the future with bigger stuff. Our friends are dealing with a very tough situation right now — where they have to trust God. God has given them plenty of shoes… that is what they are holding onto and taking comfort in right now – the shoes God has given them.
What are your shoes? Can you think of one? Or several? God gives us little markers along the way where we see Him very clearly working or leading in our lives… and it’s when we look back at those that we can look forward in trust. Faith is being SURE of what we hope for and CERTAIN of what we do not see. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Faith requires action. God gives us reasons to trust him (shoes) and then something happens where we HAVE to trust him – and that’s when we remember the shoes and trust that He has another one for us.
Tonight, celebrate Ian’s shoe – and remember yours. And thank God for his amazing love and faithfulness. And trust him. Really.