Faith-Life Lived as Adventure...

Amanda, living the adventure at SB2W

Just a musing for the weekend, something that brought me joy as I greeted this new day...

I am a big fan of the gals over at Moody's Midday Connection, and they have put out a wonderful devotional, Tending the Soul.  Today God gripped me with their words and set my heart in the right before it could take a left...oh, make that wrong....turn *smile*.

Okay, so the back story.  Isn't it so much easier for us to lament the challenges we all face [picture me fainting on the couch, and throwing my hand up to my forehead with a sigh, for effect...], then to face the challenge, knowing that with Christ, we are over-comers, able to stand in all things with joy and thankfulness?  I am a sucker for adventure.  Trips around the world, summers climbing walls, zipping across lakes, and a few years in the Rockies, all add up to an adventure-junkie.  I'd face most things except jumping out of a plane or swimming the ocean, if I had the right guide with me.  So why is it that when my Lord throws a life-challenge at me, it is easier to faint on the couch and lament my woes, then to FACE IT, knowing that the Warrior-King is not only cheering me on, but pulsing through me, at a level deeper than the flesh and blood....?  Not a good answer to that, I'd say.  And true, my dear friends and husband would say I do face the challenges, but there is a deeper level that God is taking me to.  I want to reply to that challenge with a big 'YES, I'll go there'.

And this is where my heart was when I read of Ms. Farrel's Alaska journey in the Midday devo, the 50/50 rule for the treacherous icy waters the state is known for, and what she found while there with her close friends and trained adventure guide, also a friend.  When the calm wind and waters picked up to form 'whitecaps', the adventure guide advised, "Face it head-on.  Aim your bow directly into the wave."  My heart was pierced at this directive, which I knew was also for ME.  It gave me a charge similar to all those other adventures I've faced....standing at the edge of Pikes Peak, harnessing up for a zip-ride across a long lake, and flying over the Sahara...the feeling that, "Wow, this will be tough, but I can't wait to do this with Jesus."....knowing that I am exactly where God wants me to be, and trembling all the way...

What are you facing today?  Is your Lord not big enough to hold you and strengthen you for the challenge ahead?  I am trusting that He is big enough for me today....with quaking hands and timid faith. Oh, the momentary and light afflictions we face!  (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Hoping in Him with you...
Ruth