Isn’t That Faith?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1, KJV

The afternoon sun was high in the sky, making the air hot and sticky. There was a grove of trees on the west side of the field, and they were just tall enough to give me some shade. I stopped rushing through my work for a minute to look up. Again, I was in a field of towering corn. I knew I couldn’t see the breeze, but I gazed anyway at the beauty of the sky. I just wanted to stop, listen, and enjoy the silence briefly. The wind picked up at that moment. I smiled, but was slightly disappointed because I could only get small wafts of air inside the tall canopy. I was thinking of a message the Lord gave me a year ago (see Come Out). Then I heard him.

“It is time to step out of the corn field; to get higher so you can feel the wind and dance with me. You cannot do what I am calling you to do in a corn field. It got you to where I wanted you to be; now it’s time to leave it. We’re going somewhere else.”

I believe this experience may also have been a fulfillment of a dream (see The Pickup Dream). As I scribbled this message in my pocket notebook, the wind kept coming in bigger gusts, making the tops of the plants dance. The wind hadn’t been that strong all day. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the wind also increased while I prayed with our friend who had cancer (see He Was Ready, Nobody There). I asked the Lord where he wanted me to go for work. I believe he told me to help my boyfriend in his business.

“Uh…Lord, did you give him a head’s up on that? He kinda needs to know!” I worried.

That night I shared with my boyfriend what the Lord told me. I asked him to pray about it, and promised him I would not make any adjustments unless he received direction from God. After a few days my beau brought up the subject with me. He said my working for him would actually be an answer to one of his prayers. My boyfriend wanted and needed help, but he preferred an assistant in the office, not in the shop. We looked at his business finances as well as my own. I knew I wouldn’t get paid what I was making currently, and my boyfriend was nervous about not being profitable. Walking with our heavenly Father always requires faith. If we could manage all the details on our own, we wouldn’t need God. If we say we trust the Lord and will obey him, he’ll make us prove it. When we do, that is faith.

In discussing this situation with my mom she wisely asked me, “What if you guys break up?” After a thoughtful minute I answered honestly, “That would be awkward. I would be uncomfortable for a while, but I would make it through, and still be okay because I know what God told me to do, and I am supposed to do it regardless of my relationship with my boyfriend. I don’t think God would set me up to fail. I need to do this and just trust God to handle everything I don’t understand. Isn’t that faith, and aren’t we supposed to grow in faith?”

I started working for my beau at the end of the growing season. I was pretty uncomfortable at first as I tried to learn how he managed the office, and why he did things the way he did. I cried trying to figure out how to do new employee paperwork, and how to keep track of and report income tax. I am NOT a secretary! My full love and respect to those of you who are! In response to my obedience and commitment, the Holy Spirit gave me peace. He helped me. I noticed I did not feel sad about missing harvest or soil sampling…well, not all the time anyway. My dog, Snoopy, was allowed to go to work with me. All the repair and grille guard paperwork, as well as answering phones kept me busy, and I don’t know how my man did it alone. The Lord blessed my boyfriend’s business.

As is true with all situations, God is much higher than we are. He sees a much bigger picture that we do. We see in part, but he sees completely, past and present. While I was feeling the growing pains of faith, my heavenly Father was getting excited to watch the best part of the show!

Ten days after I began working for him, my boyfriend took my children and me to Cheyenne, Wyoming. At Mirror Lake, he asked me to marry him! God knew all along what was coming! Our Father truly knows what’s best for us, and is fully trustworthy! On the day of our wedding, my mom said she knew it was real love, and really from our Father, when she saw the tears in my new husband’s eyes as I walked down the aisle!

Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk 2:4, ESV

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT