God Stories

@walkbyfaith

That’s good! That’s definitely something I don’t think about very often, either.

I think one thing God’s been continually trying to teach me lately is that He is the one who can satisfy every desire.

Two and a half years ago, I was finally starting to see some friendships blooming that I had been longing for since middle school. I was really excited, but also terrified that it wouldn’t last, and it started to consume all my attention. I remember coming back from hanging out with them one evening and telling myself, “You finally have what you wanted. Are you happy now?” And when I answered my question honestly, the answer was no. I felt God nudging me to surrender these friendships, but I was clinging to them tightly because I’d desired them for so long and it finally seemed like I had them.

The timing was such that this was all happening right before my family was to leave for a long trip throughout the West/Midwest. We would be gone for almost a month, and I was afraid that being gone so long would cause me to lose those friendships, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. I also knew God was asking me to surrender those friendships, and in a way, I was almost relieved to be leaving, because I really needed some time to pray through this and get clarity about it, without all the distractions.

That whole trip was so deeply impactful to me spiritually. (Maybe sometime I’ll share some more stories, but it would take too much time to detail them all here) But the most impactful moment for me occurred in the North Cascade mountains of Washington.

During our stay there, the weather wasn’t the greatest. The one day we hiked, there was a lot of fog, and we couldn’t see very much beyond the valley we were in. I sort of liked the fog; it gave off vibes from a mystery novel or something. But I had no idea what was on the other side of all that fog, so I didn’t know what I was missing. The next day was raining early in the day, so we couldn’t go out for a hike, but it tapered off in the afternoon, so we decided to drive up the mountain we’d been on the day before, to a viewpoint, and see if the clouds would clear off to give us a bit of a view. My dad had his heart set on seeing Mt. Baker, so we sat in the parking lot at the top of this other mountain, waiting as the clouds blew past, hoping for a break in the clouds long enough to give us a view.

Amazingly enough, the clouds did clear off partially- not enough to see more than a brief glimpse of the tip of Baker, but they cleared almost completely from another nearby mountain, Mt. Shuksan. At this point, the sun was moving towards the western horizon, causing a beautiful glow on the glacier-pocked peak. It was absolutely gorgeous!

But the best part came as we started driving down the mountain. My dad pulled off, and we walked back a short trail to a lake. The view took my breath away- Mt. Shuksan, against the blue sky, with the sun illuminating it, reflected in the lake! In that moment, I felt the pure love of the Father rush into my heart, and it was like everything else I had desired fell away instantly. The friendships I’d wanted looked so pale and unappealing in comparison. I was so in awe that I could hardly even speak, all that bubbled up out of me was worship for Jesus. That moment marked me, and allowed me to surrender those friendships, believing that Jesus had something better in store for me.

After we returned from our trip, I went from homeschooling to public school (that’s a story for another time, too) and a couple things happened throughout that year that were really difficult for me. As a result, it felt like some lies started creeping in about God, and it’s been a process of God highlighting those lies and revealing to me where I’ve been believing that He won’t fulfill His promises and that He can’t fully satisfy my heart. In hindsight, I’m so glad I didn’t keep the friendships I wanted, but God has started bringing better friends into my life since then. It didn’t happen in the timing I thought or wanted, but He’s been showing me that He really knows what’s best for me.

So anyway… there’s my long speech for the day lol.

@janellebelovedpig

That’s so good! I think it’s so easy to forget the simple things that are really the most powerful!

@janellebelovedpig @stephie @savannah-grace2009 @walkbyfaith @esther-c @anyone-else

I’m reviving this topic again because there is something powerful about sharing testimonies of what God is doing!

My mom was telling me today about a family from our church, and their youngest daughter had a severe food allergy. The mother was sharing that her son (he’s like six I think) had a dream that Jesus healed his sister, so she told him to pray over his sister, and now his sister has been able to eat the foods she was previously allergic to! It always inspires me to see God speaking to children and using them to bring about His purposes!

This second thing I wanted to share is more just something God was speaking to me last week as an encouragement, and I thought maybe some of you need to hear it, too. I was hiking with my family, and we were up on a mountain with some rock slabs, and it wasn’t always easy to distinguish where the trail was. My brothers ran on ahead out of sight, and usually I just follow them, but in this case I was forced to rely on looking for the trail markings myself. Several times I would find one marking, but I couldn’t see the next one, so I would hesitate. But as soon as I started taking a few steps forward in the direction the previous marker indicated, I would find the next one. God started showing me how this is often what we do in life- He gives us a piece of direction, and we hesitate or stall because we can’t immediately see the next step. But as we trust that His directions are accurate and take a step of faith in the direction He gave, He will make the next one clear and confirm that you’re still on the trail.

So anyway… I could share a couple more things, but that’s all I’ll leave here for now. I’d love to hear from some of you what God is showing you or doing in your life, whether that’s big or small!