The Middle Part of Believing...19 months later...

The middle part of believing...leaving a comfortable former way of life, obeying God, and moving forward to the other side where He's called you. But before you arrive at the other side...you're in the middle part of believing. This is where you choose to trust God completely or you'll consider and reason potential outcomes that will certainly drown you. God put the term "middle part of believing" on my heart 19 months ago at the onset of a huge change in our lives-we were excited, but also anxious; we prepared and anchored our faith for the upcoming storm. God is so faithful, the first year was actually smoother than we anticipated, but God clearly put in my spirit to get ready...that He needed to purify us beyond what we thought possible...so the last 7 months, we've been pushed! I've envisioned telling people since the onset of this change how God provided for us... then God challenged my spirit saying, "it's great when people give me glory after I've provided for them...but it takes guts to give me glory, when you see no answer in the natural, yet you boldly state, I will provide." In my close circle of friends, I do boldly state this, as does my husband, Rod. We know with confidence in our spirits that God is doing a great work and is preparing us to go higher. Our faith has already been tested and we've become stronger. We've been careful not to make our situation our identity. Our huge change was an employment transition for Rod when his former company was sold. God gave him contract work for one year that provided more than enough for our family. But the last 7 months have been taking us...deep into the middle part of believing. And this is where God has challenged me. November 2011 I started a fb page at God's request. I'd never written for the public before...I've written treatment plans as a counselor for 28 years. God told me to get on fb and post what He put on my heart. That fb page led to Christian Insight for Life blog May 2012-another not planned on my part. I planned on setting up a Twitter account that evening and a blog was birthed instead. It has 13 countries followint and approximately 20,000 views...just say, "three letters and begins with a capital G." Rod is trademarking the blog and we're developing a web page. Then recently God challenged me-wanting to know that, if I really believed Him, I would post to the public and thank Him for the job that we believe we have, but have not been given any hint of in the natural. Even as I write, satan is trying to stop me with his lies...people are going to feel sorry for you because you're digging for sympathy...and so on. But I'm focused  on what God's asked me to do in my spirit and I'm carrying it out...so the revelation of faith deepens in me as I meditate on the middle part of believing. When we choose to believe God, we do so because He is God. Believing Him is based on Who He is...He is love and He loves us and cares for us. We can't understand all He does, but we can choose whether or not we will believe all He does. With no indicators in the natural, Rod and I are standing on His Word...as our source-we believe Him, we trust His provisions for us. We choose to believe what we can't touch, feel, smell, hear, or see-nothing visible...in fact, if we leaned into our senses, we would be discouraged, because our senses indicate little hope. But we know our God makes something from nothing...and when we confess with our mouth what He can do...not what we can do-He moves the heavens for us-He's pleased when we believe when we do not yet see...That's why this is taking guts for me to write...many are watching our faith as we go through this middle part of believing-now it's public and our expectations are known...boldly and confidently saying, our Father will provide-we say it over and over, we remind each other, we look back on the times that He has, because He's faithful always-He never fails us...never. We know He loves us and has good plans. We make a decision in advance...no matter what happens-we're with Him, He's our Father. We can say, all is well, because our Father lives in us and we know Him...we believe because anything He says is always true...so I boldly thank my Father for giving us exceedingly, abundantly, more than we could dare ask for...in Rod's new job. I've shown you my guts...for my God- I love Him and I believe Him- all the time and in every situation. He provides everything we need! Amen. 9/12REV12/17/12-CIFL-LMM