In my mind, faith is like helium.
I have read words Jesus spoke in the Bible like, “follow me”, or “if you love me you will obey my commands”, or “feed my sheep”, and I have thought:
“Oh yeah! I’m in!”
Then I have prayed eloquent prayers, all filled with faith helium and I joyfully watched as those balloons soared heavenward. I have delighted in the thought of God’s word fulfilled in my life, embraced by my heart.
After the great faith balloon launch I skip along happily in life, knowing it meant something to pray that. And it did.
It meant God took me seriously; it meant I found favor in his sight; and it also meant that my day of sharing in the work of the Kingdom was coming.
Please don’t get me wrong, I am not cynical about this; I am being honest, though.
Serving God will cost us something. And we rarely know what the bill will be until the transaction has fully processed.
But He is a good God. He loves us. He is with us, and His grace, His presence, His power will see us through.
There have been times though, that the cost has been painful for me.
I have resisted forgiving someone yet again.
I have been deflated by the thought of leaving behind that dream.
I have glared, unsure of the loneliness that came with swallowing the pain and trusting that He who held my yesterdays would also hold me in all my tomorrows.
That’s when God’s glorious, whimsical joy has fallen around me. He takes those faith balloons I sent sailing upward, fills them with grace and drops them smack! in the middle of my life.
It’s like being baptized with water balloons.
They fall one after the other until I lift up praise and laugh at how very significant and purposeful my encounters with Him have always been.
I have never found anything but enough in Him.
He is enough, more than I could imagine, all I could hope.
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
-Romans 5:5
Ah, yes, another balloon is set to launch.
