Devotional 9 - Faith

            It took a lot of faith for my family to move to Colombia in 1991. At that time the drug cartel was getting bigger and kidnappings were very common. My parents remember that they were told not to be conspicuous, which was hard to do since my dad is 6’2’’, my mom is red head and I was very blond. We stood out. There was no denying we could have been targeted. My parents took a step of faith to move a very “gringo family” to Colombia. 

            As a kid, I didn’t think twice about where we lived. I think subconsciously it was dangerous and that is where my fight or flight came into play many times. I choose fight. There are times where my dad and I would get separated on the bus going to school and if any guy seemed way to interested in me, I would imagine ways of how to protect myself. I am not proud of my ideas, such as stabbing their eyes with needles, but what was worse being kidnapped or hurting someone to protect yourself. It might sound extreme to most, but it was survival. Thankfully I never had to use any of my ideas because God continued to protect us and we all had faith He would.

            One occurrence that shook our faith was a time where my dad and I had been at a church practicing for a kids program for school. While there we heard over the news that a car bomb had exploded near where my mom was having her dentist appointment.  This is before any of us had cell phones and had no way of knowing what had happen to my mom. We went home and waited. I remember being only maybe 10 years old at the time and we were just praying and waiting quietly. Thankfully my mom showed up after a few hours! She told us that in the taxi ride the driver decided to go a longer route to the dentist, which at first made my mom mad because it would cost more money.  Then as they were exactly parallel to where they would of normally been driving she felt and saw the bomb explode. It was a miracle that the taxi chose a different street. Our faith in God’s protection was built up even more that day.

            What kind of faith do you have today? What keeps you from having faith in God’s promises? What does a step of faith look like for you today? I have had those questions run through my brain in the past and even present, but I stand on this verse every time I doubt creeps in. Hebrews 11:1 NIV “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” I believe that only until we get to heaven will we get to understand the whole realm of how our faith is played out. If you have unanswered prayers today, stand on God’s everlasting faith. Delay is never Denial.