Just Believe

For the past few years Jim and I have felt this strong pull, like God is moving us some place, somewhere. It started out with Jim and this huge passion for the fire department and ems. Things seemed to be working their way to a paid position on a fire department. We saw God's hand in so many ways and then all of a sudden....nothing. Where was He? It was like being on the top of a mountain and then getting pushed off only to fall head over heels all the way back down. What happened? Had we not really seen God at work? Were we completely nuts? During that time of complete devastation I kept turning to passages in my Bible that said "Do not be afraid." I would reply back "ok...but I am afraid, I don't know what the future holds and it scares me!"

We are still on this journey of waiting, trusting in God and letting go of the need to be in control. The other day I turned to Mark 5. At the end of this chapter a man named Jarius was waiting for Jesus when some men came from his house to tell him that his daughter had died. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher anymore?"

This got me thinking. I can't tell you how many times it has felt like our dream (vision, if you will) has died....all the while standing in line to bring our plea to the feet of Jesus. Devastated, reality settles in..."why bother the teacher anymore?" Why do we stay, why do we keep on dreaming? Because God is the author of our vision. He planted this seed and in his time it will become the exact thing that he had purposed for us.

Ignoring what they said, Jesus told Jarius, "Don't be afraid, just believe."

I have been struggling to hold on to the "Don't be afraid" aspect of all of this, but this was the first time that JUST BELIEVE stuck out to me. This weekend service was on thirsting after God (Psalm 63: my soul longs for you in this dry and weary land). It's not just about seeking God, but about longing for Him and His glory, trusting in what we know about his character. Sometimes life doesn't go as we think it should, but we can trust in the fact that God is always there. Our Heavenly Father is on our side, whom shall we fear!

In the closing of chapter 5, Jarius takes Jesus to his home. Jesus asked them, "Why all of this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead, but asleep."

Jesus knew what he was about to do. How often do we get so caught up in our circumstances, wailing and carrying on that we miss the miracle that is about to happen. It would be like one of our boys throwing a fit because we passed McDonald's, but he didn't know that we were on our way to Chuckie Cheese's (that is the equivalent to a 5 star restaurant in our house..hahaha).

Then, just picture this, Jesus kneels beside the little girl's bed. He gently takes her hand. "Talitha Koum." (Little girl, Get up!). The girl gets up and starts walking around!

Whatever you're going through right now, whatever your struggle or your hurt...Jesus is there. He is right there gently taking your hand, telling you to get up. Your dream is not dead, it was just sleeping. If we were just given every dream and didn't have to work at anything, we wouldn't have a God, but some giant genie that could just POOF all of our desires. Trials build faith. They are God's way of drawing us close to him.

Sometimes we have to go through a dessert to get thirsty enough to long after Him--the water of life is like none other!