HOW FAITH GROWS + in life

MORNING MOMENT 5/28/2020 

During my years spent in college I would still be awake when Pastor Eric Cartier from Rocky Mountain Calvary was on the radio again at 2:30 in the morning. Since I was in class and would miss him during the afternoon, I really liked being awake and able to hear this. I have been out of college for over 10 years but I find myself waking up to use the restroom when his preaching is on. Now that doesn't seem very coincidental but there are mornings like this morning that I just wake up in time to hear his preaching not needing to do anything. And although this is not always the case, I was up this morning in time to hear the complete message! Yay! 

I don't have scientific data on this, but when I wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning when my brain isn't over-stimulated or full yet, my brain is processing events of the day. I wonder if there's a correlation between... I just got it! When your brain is doing this consolidation and dumping, it is not receiving so much input so it's not over-stimulated. That may have something to do with why I sometimes wake up all panicky or angry about something that happened the previous day but if I wake up to a sermon God helps me re-examine a situation through His eyes! Let me tell ya, I love life!

There's a lot of room for drawing your  own conclusions in that but I can’t think straight and need to go back to sleep.  

I really like this in the wee hours of the morning and I didn't want to get out of bed as I was hoping to fall back asleep. That didn't happen.

HOW FAITH GROWS

“Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds.” James 1:2

Did you just see joy and trials in the same sentence? Yes, you did. You can trust that your trials bring growth, because God is giving you His strength and expanding you.

Said another way, you need storms and trials in your life if your faith is to grow. In fact, faith must be tried to its limits before it can grow Beyond those limits.

As long as you're on this side of Heaven you can be sure that God is not finished with His work in you or through you. You can be confident that God is continuing to make you more like Jesus - - transforming you from timid to an unstoppable champion of faith (Philippians 1:6). His power is at work in you. Your trials are the tools He uses to grow and transform your faith.

James saw trials that come your way as a good thing, “the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything James 1:3 - 4. As you face your trials today, you can look forward to a future where you are mature and complete - - a finished working Him.

Lord God, when I go through trials, help me hang tough  so my faith grows stronger and my trust in You is complete

This is yet another time that the devotion corresponds perfectly with my life--I mean perfectly!  I have been so worried that my condition would never be attractive or something that another person would ever understand. A person might understand the science of a brain injury but would not understand how Starbucks was my office.

I am not getting excited but I recently met a person, with a very respectable career in my eyes, who’s response to my job was “That is so fantastic. I am glad that you are doing what you feel God has called you to do. That is very important.” WOW!  If anything meeting this person showed me that God has the perfect man for me I just need to continue to have patience.