Faith Meter

 Have you ever had a situation come up in your life for which there didn't seem to be a way out?  All the talking, analyzing, reviewing, searching and options seem to always lead to a negative dead end?

We had such the case recently.  Because it is so fresh in my mind and to protect the integrity of the people involved, I'll spare you the details.  For two weeks, every single day, the only topic that was discussed in our house was "it".  Over and over we talked, and cried, and yelled and then talked and cried and yelled only to end up at the same point each time.  The point of "there doesn't seem to be any answer."  The point of "oh my goodness, is this the way it is always going to be?"

After two weeks of this, The Husband, Kidlet Three and I were emotionally spent.  We were like zombies.  We weren't sleeping well so physically we became affected. 

Looking back, I am really embarrassed.  I am embarrassed that we let this "it" take over our lives.

Sunday I listened to a sermon that shook my faith meter and further solidified my embarrassment. 

The message started with this verse from Revelation 19:11 from the Amplified version of the Bible:

¹¹After that I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse [appeared]! The One Who was riding it is called Faithful (Trustworthy, Loyal, Incorruptible, Steady) and True, and He passes judgment and wages war in righteousness (holiness, justice, and uprightness).

Faithful and True is Jesus. 

Faithful.  Trustworthy.  Loyal.  Incoruptible.  Steady.

In the sermon, a definition that was given for faith was this:  An assurrance, a settledness that no matter what...God is good and has our good in mind.

An assurrance.  A settledness.

That certainly was not a description of our lives the past two weeks.  Here was another statement from the sermon:

When anything in my life becomes bigger than God--that is a problem.  We have to learn to turn away from the "its" in our lives and renew our minds.  Learn to say "no" to the issues, the situations that become bigger than God.  We to have re-calibrate our way of thinking.

We certainly had let the "it" become bigger than God.  In fact, it wasn't until we were at the end of our rope that we sat down together and prayed.   

The faith meter was at zero in a house that proclaims that Jesus is Lord.  Oh, how embarrassed I am. 

Yet how thankful I am that The Faithful One, the One In Whom All Settledness and Assurrance is promised, gently did woo us into prayer. 

After prayer, the peace came.

The sermon came two days later.

And the answer to "it" came, and I tell you the truth, at the end of the sermon on Sunday morning.  The Husband's cell phone rang as we were leaving church and The Answer we'd been waiting for was delivered.  The answer was a miracle and to quote the caller "we've never seen a situation like this ever..."

The answer was delivered after we'd heard the message that Our Assurrance, Jesus, was Faithful.

My faith meter skyrocketed. 

I've repented for the two weeks in which I thought I had to figure out the answer.  Oh icky.  What was I thinking? 

The cry of my heart and with a re-calibrated way of thinking, I share the statement from Hebrews 10:23: 

So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the [a]hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.

Hold fast to Assurance, Settledness, The Faithful One.

Where is your faith meter today?
He is The Answer.