View From The Pew

View from the Pew

By Lynsley Grady

“Excuse me. I don’t mean to interrupt you, but I just want to let you in on a little secret. This is going to be an awesome year for you! As a matter fact, it may be the best one you have ever had. Enjoy it.  Happy New Year!”

What if on New Year’s Eve someone whispered in your ear that 2012 was going to be your very best year to date? How about if they said that this would be the year when you would finally let your light shine for all to see.  Would you believe them if they said that this would be the year when everything would work out perfectly?  Hmmm.  Maybe.  Chances are, even if it were from a complete stranger – someone whom we had never seen before and may never see again - we might just start to feel some excitement stirring up on the inside based on their prediction.  We might find it hard to shake that voice or that message.  I’m quite certain we would replay that scene over and over again wondering if we heard it right, and secretly hope that we did.  Isn’t that what faith is all about?  But faith in Whom?  As we head into this new year, let us not take other’s predictions over our lives as gospel, but instead see what the real gospels have already revealed.

Jesus said “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22)

In this new year, how about reallocating that never ending steady stream of faith in your favorite football team.  You know the one that has not seen a Super Bowl in decades yet, according to you, they will this year.  How about putting all that faith into a sure thing – God!  Start the day off with a cheer that will help you make the touchdown. Envision waking up and grabbing a couple of pompoms, and shouting out a cheer while stomping your feet to the beat of your own imaginary marching band.

 “Thank you God (clap clap), for this new day (clap clap), I’ve got my faith (clap clap), I’m on my way (clap clap) Can’t stop me now (clap clap), I trust in You (clap clap),   there is no thing (clap clap), that I can’t do (clap clap).

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”(Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is when you are driving home at night in the middle of a major snowstorm and you can barely see the road ahead of you, but you are saying the prayer of protection all the while and knowing that the road ahead is rough but believing that God will see you through the front door to your home safe and sound.  Do you honestly think Dorothy made it back to Kansas because she clicked those ruby red slippers three times while reciting “there’s no place like home”?  Trust me, if she didn’t have faith, she could have clicked all night long and she still would have been in the merry old Land of Oz.

“We live by faith, not by sight.” (2Corinthians:7)

In spite of what the credit score, the medical report, the news, or even what the mirror shows first thing in the morning, we must have faith that we are loved and loving children of God and that His plan for us is greater than what the physical eye can see.  No matter what it looks like, if we live by faith we are sure to arrive where God has intended us to be. 

So no matter how we choose to travel through this new year - whether it’s following the yellow brick road, easing on down the road, or paving a new road altogether, it is by faith that we will move with steadfast purpose.

“…I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20-21)