God and You: A Faith History Worth Remembering - Part I

Have you ever made a decision, only to question everything when things don't go as planned? Terri shares a pivotal chapter from her relationship history with God. What started as an impulsive decision inspired by a friend's success story turned into a seven-month journey of silence and waiting.
 
 Through honest reflection, Terri reveals how this challenging season unveiled profound truths about authentic faith, divine timing, a conviction God is for us and with us.

Faith In Action - Major Points from Part I

Don't miss Part 2 to discover how God showed up in an unexpected way.
 
 

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Transcript

Every relationship develops a short or long-term history. A history remembered and sometimes forgotten. My relationship with God forms a history or story, with each year representing a chapter. 

Listen to a pivotal chapter in my relationship with God beginning in September 2011. I accepted a nursing position and within a week I realized it was a poor choice. 

After a few more weeks with the company, I met my friend for lunch. She enthusiastically described how she took a step of faith, resigned from her home hospice job, and landed a position perfectly suited to her skill set. 

As we said our goodbyes, her phrase "step of faith" kept running through my mind. What she did was exactly what I needed to do. I reasoned, "If she can take a leap of faith, so can I".

Since none of my thoughts or actions surprise God, He saw what was coming. I proclaimed, "Hey God! I'm stepping out in faith" and then applied Bible verses to support my actions. Like the verse saying, "God causes everything to work together for good according to Terri's plans and desires". 

The correct version of the verse from Romans 8:28 (NLT) says, "God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. Key words here are "His purpose". There's nothing saying God has to provide just because I want Him to. 

So, I quit my job without a job. If you gasped, I don’t blame you. You're probably thinking, "I'd never quit a job without having a job." And I'm sure you wouldn't. However, perhaps you have made a choice or acted relying solely on your wisdom alone. You do it because you have absolute faith in what you know.

Hey, my faith was in the strength of my resume and in my wisdom. Never did I consider there would be silence from all those employers for four months. No calls, emails, or interviews. Wringing my hands and knee-deep in worry, now I ask God to direct me, step in. 

My leap of faith turned into a life lesson. Faith isn't something you pull out of your back pocket when you need God to do something. Life is best lived with a faith always in use, flexible, and strong.

I'm referring to the faith described in Hebrews 11:1. The verse has two-parts.

Part 1 says, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for…" Part two says, "and the conviction (or confidence) of things not seen". Faith, assurance, and confidence. Many of us have wrestled with making this verse our lived experience. Same here. 

As 2011 rolled into 2012, I had plenty of time to wrestle with the meaning of faith. 

I realized the depth of my assurance of what I hope for depends on the depth of my relationship with God. My conviction of things not seen depends on how I relate to God. Make God your life partner and this will convict you the of unseen things: Jesus, heaven, salvation, and God's presence with you now and in the future.

Think about the relationships in your life. Isn't it true the depth of your relationship determines the depth of your trust? To live assured and convicted someone will consistently show up in your life means you are relying heavily on the history you have with them. This is true of your relationship with God.

But if you forget the history you have with God or believe He was a no-show at some point, trust and faith are words without meaning. 

As my understanding of faith went from dim to bright, I thought God would surely answer my prayer for a job. I mean, I got the message—faith grows in the process of an ever-wider and deeper relationship. Certainly, an interview, a call, was on the horizon. But these did not appear. 

It's not an overstatement to say the silence and waiting were agonizing. But both were necessary and helped me dig up two nuggets of truth.

Takeaway nugget #1: the depth of my assurance of what I hope for depends on the depth of my relationship with God.

Takeaway nugget #2: recognizing what God is doing in your life right now may determine how you will respond to events in the future.

You and God go way back. It's a relationship with history. I wonder how your trust relationship with Him has changed over the years. I bet God's history of faithfulness to you could fill a chapter or two. 

When was the last time you reflected on a memory of God and you, together, working through that big or small problem? 

Even today, those days in 2012, revive what I discovered about God, about myself, continues to provide strength and wisdom that I use today. Reflection moves me closer to God.

Getting back to my story, in the seventh, yes, the seventh month of my hiatus from nursing, I continued working out those three words: faith, assurance, and hope. But then there was a breakthrough. It centered on the one good decision I made in late 2011: my enrollment in a Nurse Educator program. God blessed that decision in a manner I never, ever imagined.

Listen to Part 2 to hear the rest of this chapter from my story. Discover how God showed up. 

Consider subscribing to my monthly Anchored Not Anxious CareLetter. Find the link by opening the podcast episode description. Or we can connect on FB. Just go to my page Terri L Hutchinson

Until next time,