Red Sea Rule #9

Rule #9: View your current crisis as a faith builder for the future.

Rule #9 means we're almost done! It also means my surgery/vacation is almost over - back to work on Friday night for me (sounds weird, yes, but that's the life of a nurse, and it's OK because I get to work with one of my favorite co-workers and I get the weekend night pay differential).

Unexpectedly, my husband has been off work this entire time, too. With the plague. So our semi-vacation has been a bit disappointing. Lots of couch time and Netflix-surfing, spiced up with a late night ER run to confirm that the plague is a virus, not anything needing serious treatment.

Anyway... can I confess that, while I love this book, 10 days seems like a long time, and today... right this moment, I haven't read past the title for this chapter yet? So we'll see what happens here, but I KNOW this rule is true! 

Why? Because I work with a group of high school girls at my church. And I used to tell them to think about what God has done in their lives - how He's come through for them in the past - and move forward based on that faith.

Trouble is, while God's definitely been at work in their lives, it's in subtle ways because they're kids in middle-to-upper class families, so they're sheltered from difficulty by their parents' provision and protection. Their faith will grow, but I had to realize that they might not have a lot of practical experience to base it on yet.

Their blank stares when I asked them what God had done for them lately might have been my first clue. :)

So now I tell them to watch for God to work in their lives, and that every time they trust Him (and often when they don't), He will come through for them, and their faith will grow. And I tell them how God got me through small things and big things: big things like feeling unwanted, not getting along with my mom, not getting along with my husband, not knowing how to make a career change I really needed, etc. And knowing that God took me through all those things, seeing Him work those difficulties into good results, and becoming a better person in the process: all that gave me confidence to trust Him with my cancer diagnosis and treatment. And He's been amazingly faithful through that, too.

OK - I'd better read about this rule...

Haha. The author likens trials to Gold's Gym. Or maybe we can say God's Gym... baha! Sorry. He says being caught between the Egyptians and the great Red Sea "beefed up" the Israelites' faith for greater challenges ahead of them. Does this mean I have a spiritual six-pack?? Awesome!

He also asks a great question: what is faith? He gives several definitions, and I think the best one is "making reasonable assumptions." And then he provides some examples of making reasonable assumptions, from having faith that there will be water when I turn on the shower, to having faith that the God who promises to be with me, and who promises He has a plan and a purpose for me, and who brought me through previous troubles - that He will get me through the next difficulty that pops up.

Here's the catch: in order to make reasonable assumptions about God - to build our faith in God - we have to know what He promises, and we have to be asking Him for help, and we have to be looking for Him to work in our circumstances. And isn't it easy, especially in our independence-cultivating culture, to overlook all of those things? But they're essential.

Whatever your current difficulty, make some reasonable assumptions and rely on God to get you through. And be encouraged that these spiritual burpees you're doing right now are strengthening your spiritual heart and muscles. Ready? Begin!