I don't like to exercise. I have to have a personal trainer to motivate me, otherwise riding bikes and walking the dog are as good as it gets for me right now. Exercise is hard.
But exercising faith is harder!
Last week we spent a week at the beach as a family. It was wonderful! I forgot how many bridges there are connecting the costal waterways of the Florida panhandle until my husband (the navigator) said calmly, "Turn left and go over the bridge and you'll see the hotel on the right."
My heart immediately started racing. Did he say BRIDGE?
With sweaty palms, I turned off the radio, cranked up the A/C and started ranting about how much I disliked driving over bridges. Then I realized the kids were actually listening, and I became fearless and brave. Ha ha ha. I want to teach them to deal with their fears, so watching Mommy conquer hers is a good opportunity!
It wasn't a huge bridge like my soaring imagination created.
(Have you ever driven over a huge, high bridge? All I can think about is soaring over the edge into the water below-- too many movies???!!!)
It's terrifying, y'all.
Anyway, I drove over it to get to the nice hotel we were staying at. It was worth it.
The next morning, I had to drive over that same bridge and a few others to get around town. It was still scary, but each day was less and less terrifying.
That's when I had the title to this blog post pop in my head. When I was driving over the bridge for the first time, I started thinking about exercising faith. I had to put my faith into action by driving over the bridge. I didn't like it, but I exercised my faith when I drove over it.
I could've pulled over and had my husband take the wheel.
I could've panicked and screamed the whole way over.
I could've turned around.
But exercising our faith is the point!
If I have faith, but don't exercise it, it's useless to me.
Like a muscle group you haven't strengthened (most of mine lately), faith has to be exercised to be useful and meaningful.
So I welcomed the opportunity to exercise faith at the beach everyday. ;)
Then I thought about our Ethiopia adoption process. It's getting longer, ya'll. 4-6 years now.
Did I already mention that in earlier posts? Probably. Sorry.
But I'm choosing to exercise my faith.
Sometimes it's a weak faith; "Lord, I'll be so old to have another baby in the house! Why are you making it take so long?"
Sometimes is a powerhouse faith; "Lord, I don't know why it's taking so long, but I trust you completely."
Sometimes it's an encouraging faith; "Lord, I learned so much from Emily's adoption, I know you have this and I give it to you."
Sometimes it's an obedient faith; "Lord, yes, I'll adopt again."
How does faith manifest itself in your circumstances? What kind of faith are you exercising? Is it weak, powerhouse, encouraging, obedient? All of the above? None?
Are you lacking faith in an area of your life that God really wants you to lay it down? (Hint: the one you're avoiding is probably it!) ;)
My friend asked me how I am managing a long wait for this second adoption.
I am managing in a couple of ways, the first is focusing on where I am NOW- the Lord has filled my life with four children to train and teach about His ways. I'm occupied in the meantime.
Secondly, I'm focusing on obedience in my walk with God right now. I've obeyed His call on our family to adopt again. I've obeyed His call to Ethiopia through my husband's specific calling there. I've obeyed the agency and completed a Dossier. Now I'm obeying God by waiting patiently.
These two things- focusing on where I'm at NOW and obeying God daily are really helping me through this journey.
Please pray for Ethiopia to remain open and ethical adoptions to continue there. Please pray for our family as we seek to obey God in the waiting.
