I’ve been thinking a lot about this quote from Hudson Taylor lately.
“There are three stages to every great work of God;
first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”
God has been asking me to do things, lately, that seem impossible, so I guess it’s no surprise that this quote came to mind.
“What do you mean by ‘impossible,’ Tammy?”
I mean that, when you look at my circumstances and experience, God is literally asking me to do things I cannot possibly do.
Have you ever considered something and, even as you thought, “No,” you undeniably heard God speak to your spirit a solid, “Yes”? I did earlier this month. On the outside I looked calm and collected. On the inside a battle raged. My flesh, which was being told to step out of the way, was in a heated argument with my spirit.
But my spirit was leaping up and down. God had spoken to me, clearly, about this specific situation. And when God speaks that clearly, not only am I limited to one option – obedience – but I also have a guarantee that He’s not going to let me fail.
My flesh didn’t believe a word of it.
Flesh: “But you know how you get when learning new things frustrates you; you shut down.”
Spirit: “Not this time! God’s standing right here assuring me I won’t!”
Flesh: “What about the financial commitment you’re making? You haven’t budgeted for anything like this!”
Spirit: “God has, obviously, or He wouldn’t be telling me to do it.”
During the battle I was reminded of both Hudson Taylor’s quote and something a character in a book once said. I can’t remember what he said, exactly, but it was along the lines of, “Of course I don’t know how God is going to work it out. That’s what makes it so exciting!”
Even then, the battle wasn’t over.
The next morning, I was still struggling, doubting that I was truly hearing from God, so I fell back on my tried-and-true decision making strategy. It’s a principle my pastor taught many years ago: God always leads with peace.
So, when faced with a hard decision, I decide. In this case (because I had a feeling it was the wrong choice), I first decided I wasn’t going to do it; I was going to pass up the opportunity I was being given. And I was filled with…complacency.
I will interject here that I’ve advised people about this process many times and I always explain that only God can give you peace; the closest the devil can get is complacency. I’ve never experienced it like this before, however. Generally, the wrong choice has resulted in a churning stomach.
But yeah, I felt total and complete complacency, like a sleeper who chooses to roll over and go back to sleep because he isn’t in the mood to face the day. It disturbed me so that I quickly decided to obey God.
Not only did peace instantly flood my soul when I said, “Yes,” to God: I got excited!
And then something occurred to me. Actually, I’m going to say God revealed it to me, because this is a thought I’ve never had.
We are to live by faith. We know this. Scripture after scripture tells us we’re to walk by faith, to grow and strengthen our faith, that we’re to have works associated with our faith, that we can’t please God without faith…
I’ll stop. But you get the idea.
My faith is as strong as it is because living with my husband required it. When you’re moving essentially from one crisis to another, either you’ll build your faith up or you’ll let yourself be torn down – and I was not going to let myself be torn down!
Even in the year after he passed, my faith grew as it was stretched by my financial and housing situations, but in the past year or so…not so much. And I didn’t realize it until recently, but that steady season had quietly allowed my faith muscles to relax.
But, again, that’s not what we’re called to do. I have come to believe that, if we’re not consciously choosing to stretch and work our faith, which is what is required for it to grow, God will lead us into situations where stretching and building up our faith is a necessity.
Now that I think about it, this is the second time He’s done that in recent months. Something else happened a few months ago that demanded I put my faith out there and trust Him, and I was excited to find I was able, that I was looking forward to seeing how He would take care of things. I still am.
So…yeah… Faith – trusting God – is not just important; it’s essential. We can’t just say we trust Him; our lives have to show it. And when they do, He’ll often lead us straight into the impossible.
But once our focus is fully on Him, we’ll realize it was never impossible after all. It may be difficult, yes, but at some point…it will be done.
Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C
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