A challenge from Pastor Tim’s recent sermon is resonating closely with me today, and I can’t put his words from my mind. “Is your God big enough?” he asked the congregation last Sunday. “How big is your faith?” From where I was sitting last Sunday, I considered that sometimes it was difficult to react to certain situations with complete faith. I am one who is a solver and a fixer; I have to figure out how to rectify a situation before I can move forward. I could be asking God to come alongside of me and walk in faith, but so often, I resort to thinking I can solve any problem that comes my way.
It was so fitting that Pastor Tim spoke of God’s strength and power last week, for as I moved into the coming days, trouble hovered just over my horizon. I was scheduled to meet with a colleague to iron out details for the camp I direct, but she forgot about our appointment and I was left by myself at the coffeehouse. Initially, I was frustrated. Now what was I going to do? In order to move forward, I had to wait another two weeks until another meeting could be scheduled between the two of us. Our meeting didn’t have to be held at a certain point, so there really was no hurry, but I just wanted to be on the same page with this person. I just wanted to move forward.
Within 24 hours, I received a phone call, letting me know that the driver I had hired for an upcoming work trip to Madison had backed out on me. Again I asked the question, “Now what am I going to do?” I was so frustrated that I gave into tears; this scenario was playing itself out all over again. It was always such a struggle to line up transportation to Madison, and now a week before my presentation, I was without a driver. I wasn’t exactly panicking, but stress was certainly taking hold.
I went on to my Facebook page then and made a desperate plea, hoping someone— anyone— would be available for the trip. But hours passed following my post and I was quickly losing hope. But I had to smile when I saw a post from my dear friend Kate. She expressed how much she wished she could help, but that she would be praying someone would come through for me.
I had plans to head out of town later that evening, so I gathered what I would need and met my friend outside my apartment building. We had a lovely dinner along our way to our destination, and soon we were heading to a concert I had anticipated attending for a long time. We were still miles from our destination when my friend’s car broke down and we found ourselves stranded in a Fleet Farm parking lot. This was not exactly the way I wanted to spend a Friday evening. My day was quickly going from bad to worse.
An hour later, we were on our way back home in a tow truck— no evening out, no concert, no fun. My thoughts quickly turned to the news I received earlier that day. I wondered if anyone had responded to my Facebook post, and I prayed that I would finally have some good news awaiting me when I returned home.
Well, good news was slow in coming. I went to bed completely exhausted— emotionally, physically, and spiritually drained. In all actually, I had given up and just wanted to see the day come to an end. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought of Kate’s prayers on my behalf and the challenge from Pastor Tim’s sermon. Kate seemed to believe that God would come through for me, so the question resurfaced: “Did I believe my God was big enough? Would he intervene on my behalf?
I wish I could say that my friend’s car received miracle repairs and that situation was set to rights, but time will tell as far as that goes. But when I woke up and checked my Facebook page, there was a post from a friend who was interested in the trip to Madison. I was so excited, relieved, and just plain grateful that my prayer of gratitude was practically a shout of praise.
To many of you, the events of my week may not seem overly stressful, but I was facing incredible adversity. In the end, God was big enough for my challenges and strong enough to protect me and bring me through. I looked at the bright side and had to smile then. At least we weren’t caught in a snow storm on that highway and the engine didn’t blow up. We pulled over early enough so there wasn’t cause to worry about our safety. Just seeing the tow truck pulling into the lot was a relief in itself. And when it came to my trip to Madison, I think the arrangement that I’ve settled on now was actually how things were supposed to pan out all along.
In the end, my God was big enough; I just had to have the faith to see Him at work.
cassiecontemplates 