Stepping Out on Faith Alone
New. Strange. Different. Awkward.
And while there’s so much to say about what happened next, I can’t help but remember the hour right before.
The repeated attempts to get somewhere without knowing how to break through. The swimming in a fishbowl, bumping up against a thick layer of glass over and over again. Making out something on the other side without knowing what. It was blurry; hard to see. Hard to know.
And so I swirled around wanting to make better decisions but not really knowing how. Walking blind and wanting to see.
Then came the day when it ended. Quietly, without anyone noticing. Without any party or announcement.
The day I gently asked the Lord to take over my life. It was the first time I stepped out on faith alone.
The day the glass broke.
I broke.
The old life broke.
And I stood there in the hands of the Lord, taking my first fragile breath. And thank you Lord for letting me.
Thank you for restoring sight to the blind. For giving ears to hear and a hope and a future. Because while I didn’t know much, I did realize you were bringing the dead back to life.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6)
Stepping out in faith is a normal part of our Christian life. I’ve written over the years about not knowing why or how and keeping faith in the tough times, but there are the everyday decisions that require faith such as where to send the kids to school or how to handle job loss.
And so today I don’t know the decision you wrestle or the invisible barrier in front of your face, in front of your heart. I don’t hear the whispers that make you pull back or see the fences that make you feel unheard or unworthy. But I know them. I experience them too.
And while they feel hulking and heavy and all-knowing, they are thin. They can be stepped through. Hebrews 11 lists numerous examples of people who moved by faith alone; people who once lived ordinary lives just like you and me. People who demonstrated that–just as the first verse of that chapter says–faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.
So today there’s a decision to be made. A quiet decision of the heart that no one will see or experience except you and God. Today is the day to walk by faith and not by sight. To sow to the Spirit and remember that only what we do for God is eternal.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
What is God calling you to do today in faith?