“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
But what happens when we, like our Bible heroes are required to put our faith into practice and step into the dark, stormy waters?
The daily slog through life is often easy, sometimes quite comfortable...until life sways from our carefully laid plans, like I discovered this week when my company decided to cut positions due to COVID-19.
Mine was one of the positions eliminated.
Interesting fact: I’d been praying about being a full-time writer for several months. That’s right. Most employees don’t pray to leave their job, but God’s call on my life to write had been weighing on me for several months now.
I thought it would be a decision I would make at the appropriate time for my family.
Clearly, God had a different plan.
The conviction I’d been praying about wasn’t God trying to nudge me into a decision. Instead, he was giving me a head’s up about what was coming, preparation for the life change in my writing career only He could see.
I’d love to say that as a faithful follower of Christ, I was joyful when my prayers were answered but instead, I found myself acting like an Old Testament Israelite after God led them out of Egypt.
I started looking backwards at all I’d be losing and questioning God’s call on my life. I’d lose a connection with good friends or miss out on the satisfaction of accomplishing a great deal.
I started to question God.
So, I had a choice to make… Would I trust God in the new direction he seemed to be taking me? Would I behave like one among the great cloud of witnesses noted in the book of Hebrews whose faith pleased him?
Instead of getting angry because a situation didn’t go exactly as planned, I ran to God with all of my emotions and found him waiting for me.
I told him of my disappointment. He took it away.
I asked him to increase my faith and help me to look forward to our future together, not only in my writing career but in every area of my life. He’s already opened my eyes and mind to the endless creative possibilities.
Like Abraham, when life doesn’t turn out the way we imagine, we must look to the architect and builder of our faith. We might not know where we are going or where we’ll end up, but we can know to trust the one who leads us to his place of promise.
Like Abraham, when life doesn’t turn out the way we imagine, we must look to the architect and builder of our faith. @Shannon_Redmon @MaryAFelkins #seriouslywrite #faith
We might not know where we are going or where we’ll end up, but we can know to trust the one who leads us to his place of promise. @Shannon_Redmon @MaryAFelkins #seriouslywrite #faith
Shannon’s writing has been published in Spark magazine, Splickety magazine, the Lightning Blog, The Horse of My Dreams a compilation book with other authors published by Revell, and the Seriously Write blog. Her stories have been selected as a semi-finalist and finalist of the ACFW Genesis Contest and won first place in the Foundation’s Awards. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. The StoryMoore Blog is named in memory of her father, Donald Eugene Moore.
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