Faith, Speckled Gumballs and Little Red Wagons

 Have you ever felt life spinning out of control and find yourself longing to go back to when life was easier? Do you imagine that your life hasn’t turned out like anything you planned for it to be and find that living in new normals has tested your faith and trust in God?

 

Perhaps, we all have those memories we seek out to find comfort. Carefree days remind us of simpler times when life gets hard, and we find it difficult to move forward. So I recently revisited some memories of my own of simple times and simple things like speckled gumballs, little red wagons, and time spent with family. Times, when childlike faith and trust in God, were found to be easy. 

 

I would love to know the miles we put on that little red wagon.  The one my cousin and I rode in my aunt’s backyard growing up. We would ride over and over again. Our entire world existed up and down that one small hill. We were too young to know how much more life would have to offer or even care.

Recently, I revisited those memories. A challenging season made me question if my best years were behind me. How quickly I can assume that only what my eyes can see is all there is. Grief has a way of stealing your hope for a better tomorrow because your today has lost its wonder.

 

There was a small store a few yards from that same backyard. I couldn’t wait to put my pennies in the gumball machine each time I visited. The store owner promised a bright shiny quarter for the kid lucky enough to get a speckled gumball. I would put my money in each time believing it would be mine. Imagine if we exuded that same kind of faith in God’s promises. Faith to keep trying with anticipation that obedience brings favored results. Every. Single. Time.

 

However, life has this way of weighing us down with disappointment, unable to see past our backyards. We put all our dreams into one red wagon, and we quickly get stuck going up and down the same routines. All the while, God wants to lead us to some new exciting adventures and interject fresh purpose in our lives.

 

We serve a risen Savior who dreams for us when we have forgotten how to dream for ourselves. He calls those things that are not as though they are, and He brings new life from the dead places of our lives.  “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert”. Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)

 

I am learning that Jesus has bigger plans for us than merely what is in our backyards of familiarity and more to life than only the plans we dream up for ourselves. God is giving us glimpses of His unique plans for us and they are always exceedingly abundantly what we can ever ask or think.

 

So if you are like me and have been feeling stuck in the same routine, may I suggest trying again? God never wants us settling down in the same old routine. Instead, He brings us new experiences that lead us to a whole new world of discovery and awe.

 

Elijah prayed 7 times before that glorious cloud appeared.

 

Noah worked on building the ark 400 years before it was completed and set sail on the flood.

 

Hannah had spent years dreaming of a child that she would hold in her arms.

 

Friend, God wants to take us on the ride of a lifetime. So let’s try again. God rewards those who diligently seek Him, and oh, what a prize it will be!

See you in the field,

Susan

 

Lord, We thank you for all the days you bless us with that are easy and simple.  Carefree days of rest and comfort.  But God you grow our faith and trust in you in times that press us and push us forward.  We can’t live life in the past.  New normals will come and go.  We can trust you are working in all our days even in the ones in between that we find difficult and hard to understand.  Grow us.  Strengthen us.  Comfort us.  Lead us to where you have great plans for us, and we will give you all the praise and honor for them all.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.