Walk By Faith...

Do you ever walk by something and see it with fresh eyes?

I did this morning.

As I was watering the flowers on our front porch, I noticed a rock I painted with the word “faith” sitting on top of an old pair of shoes I fill with flowers.  

“Walk by faith” came to my mind as I saw that little vignette.  I think that rock has been sitting there for almost a year.  

Pretty hard to walk by faith, huh?  To believe in something you don’t see.  To believe the problem can be solved without seeing how.  To put our trust in God rather than ourselves.  

Just last week, I had to do just that.  

Certain things got to me, made me mad and made me sad.  I sound like Dr. Seuss (by the way, today is his birthday -- a little trivia for you).  I was in such a bad mood that I drove to a parking lot late one night and stayed in my car for hours.  Crying.  But all the while knowing that this little episode would make it into one of my blogs.  Probably under the heading of “faith.”  

I received some bad news (nothing to do with cancer) and I got mad.  Then I heard some heart-breaking news, and I became very sad.  And every time I seemed to turn around, bad news stood before me.  I couldn’t shake it.  It lasted for more than a week.

I kept praying and asking God to remove this cloud from over me.  How could I weather cancer so well, and then allow life’s smaller storms to torment me?  Why was I struggling so much?

And then one day, He took it away.  Upon hearing more bad news, I said, “Lord, you were with me through cancer, and I know you’ll be with me through this.  Thank you that I don’t have to do this alone.”    

And, I’m telling you, it was as if God grabbed the cloud over my head and threw it in a trash can.  I immediately felt His peace again.  And joy.

I wish I had experienced this feeling a week earlier.   I’m teaching my kids that God is not a genie in a bottle.  We don’t pray and, bam, our prayer comes true.  Oh, how I wish that were true.  
We need to wait on Him.  For His perfect timing.  

But what I am trying to teach my kids is that God promises us many things.  Promises we need to hold on to -- no matter what. 

Here’s a good one.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to Him,

and He will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-7

My path is straight.  For today.  
And I know I need to lean on Him every day 
for it to remain straight. 


Good thing that rock and those old shoes sit by my front door.  
A daily reminder to walk by faith.