A Faith Progression

This month has been teaching me many lessons and as I stop to ponder them, I am seeing a progression of growth in my faith.  A few weeks ago, I heard Max Lucado speaking on a radio station.  He talked about how we need to recognize that as humans, we are always in a "crisis" situation.  He said that we need to act out our faith on the good days the same way we would on the tough days - diligence in spending time with God, in reading his Word and in recognizing his grace.  There is always a battle going on for our lives, even when in our humanity, we feel pretty good.  Then, this past Saturday, I really felt challenged to relinquish my independence and to stop trying to be so self-sufficient.  On Sunday, I was reminded that God isn't here for my immediate stress relief but that often there is a lesson I need to learn through the trying situation.

Boom...trying situation.  2 leaky pipes in my crawl space.  I know that doesn't sound like a reason to panic, but I know nothing about these kinds of things and my mind always goes to the extreme and in the end, my imagination has me paying thousands and thousands of dollars to get it fixed.  The last time I had a crisis situation, I called my parents in a frantic panic.  I still called my parents, but this time it was with a calm spirit in knowing that even in this "crisis", I was being looked after.  As I looked at the problem, I felt my heart start to pound, but over and over in my mind was that even in this crisis, there is a lesson.  A few deep breaths and a moment of prayer and I felt my perspective begin to shift.  It's going to be okay.  Pipes can be fixed.  I have a job that is going to pay me for the next 10 months and it will be fine.  In fact, I even felt enough courage to go completely into my crawl space (which is how I found the second leaky pipe....AND if you knew how much I dislike dark, damp spaces, you'd understand my dilemma).  Then I realized, if the leaky pipe right by the door to the crawl space hadn't happened, I never would have found the other one - the one that is more problematic than the first. 

These lessons that have been living in my mind for the last few weeks have worked their way into my heart and I'm finally learning.  I'm not saying that I won't have a panic again, I'm saying that I'm learning to deal with it in faith.  This progression of faith is unending and I just need to keep my eyes open for the lesson God is trying to teach me.