Faith

I know I said I wasn’t going to post today, but this is essentially a post from Amanda. Saturday afternoon, I called YJ, our pastor, as I was on my way to Starbucks. He didn’t answer, but when I got back to the room, Amanda was on the phone with him. I loudly gave him a hard time for not picking up, and Amanda told him that I came bearing StarBs. He then told her to put it on speakerphone so we could have a “staff meeting,” which is what we call our trips there together. He was working on his message for Sunday, When God Opens Your Eyes to Grow Your Faith. He wanted a testimony from Amanda about faith. I never saw what she sent him, and I first heard them during the message this morning when YJ read them. I only attended online, of course, and couldn’t see anyone in attendance, but my eyes couldn’t have been the only ones that weren’t dry. Here are her words:

Last Friday, I turned myself in – surrendering my freedom for a better chance at a new life. We had to put complete faith and trust in God to pick up and move over 1,000 miles away from everyone and everything that we know and love. 

We came to Nashville with a plan, and when we arrived, things took a drastic turn. It has been a grueling week of testing, intense discussion, and more emotions than I can even begin to describe. 

I have prayed more this last week than I have in a long time. I remember lying in a MRI machine and just kept pleading with God for them to be able to gather the information that they needed to allow us to move forward. I couldn’t understand why God would give us such a clear path with door after door being opened, just for us to arrive and be faced with such uncertainty. 

As the week went on, we continued to be challenged more and more – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. On Friday morning, we sent out an urgent request to our prayer warriors – we didn’t know what to do other than pray and ask others to come alongside us. 

Within a couple of hours, our prayers were answered when I received a phone call saying that I was officially ready to be listed for a heart transplant. 

I don’t know how people face times of turmoil without a relationship with Jesus Christ. I found myself so worked up over all of the challenges that we continued to face, that I had forgotten to just release it all to Him. I allowed fear to creep in. 

But we don’t have to live afraid, because we have a faithful God – a God whose faithfulness frees us from fearfulness. 

Psalm 116:7 says, “Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me.” 

When we find ourselves consumed with fear, we can reflect on the way He has been faithful to us in the past and rest assured that He will be faithful again.