When a Mole Hill IS a Mountain

I am relieved to report I am surviving! I have more peace today than I did a week ago. Not all the time…yet. But more of the time, and you know what? I’ll take it! I am rejoicing…still. Even when I don’t feel like it…still. And I am in awe of God’s goodness and faithfulness. He heard my cries for help, and He answered, above and beyond the itty-bitty realm of possibility from which I asked. Honesty was risked and friendship restored. Humble love was risked and a child poured out their heart, even the struggles for which I was to blame. Lying bare at the foot of the cross, God covered me. Carried me. Caused me to seek after His plan. His purpose. His ways. And then He gave me more. More of Him. More of His truth. More for my children. The more I was troubled, the more ready I was for anything He had for me. I didn’t care what the truth was, or how hard it might be to receive, I just wanted truth. And He gave. And some of it hurt. It was about me. My shortcomings. My sins. My neglect. My selfishness. My desperate need for a Savior every day. My desperate need for grace every moment. My insecurities. It hurt good, though. The kind of hurt that brings an end to the bleeding. The kind of hurt that marks the beginning of God’s healing. God’s treatment. God’s rehab. God’s deliverance. By faith.

Faith. Jesus says, “I say to you if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain , ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you’” (Matt. 17:20). A mustard seed. That’s not very big. My mole hills become mountains, and I wonder what that sliver of faith looks like. Does the fact that I’m struggling mean I have forsaken faith altogether? God shows me the answer. No! Faith isn’t always some catastrophic, life-changing moment when we say yes to God to the accompaniment of angels singing the Hallelujah chorus. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith simply as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is the conviction we have that what we hope for in Christ is actually a reality today. It is the proof we and others need of the reality of what we cannot see. Faith is evidence of Jesus. It is evidence of salvation. It is evidence of hope. It is evidence of grace. Things that happen in a realm undetectable to the bodily eye are tested and proved by our faith. Sometimes it’s faith to do the big stuff God requires, like leave everything that’s comfortable and familiar, and follow after Him. But other times, like for me these last few weeks, it’s the faith to turn to God every three minutes because that’s as long as I can make it before my mind wanders to worry and He has to turn me back to Him.

Regardless of the measure of faith we have at any given moment, we simply must have faith. When we are saved by grace, it is through faith (Eph. 2:8). It is not of ourselves, but God is the one who deals each one of us the measure of faith we have (Rom. 12:3). He moves on our hearts to respond to Jesus with the faith He gives, and He saves us. Based on Hebrews 11, look at what He accomplishes by the faith He gives:

By faith, we gain understanding. By faith, we obey God from a right heart. By faith, the lives of those who have passed before us still speak to us today. By faith, God delivers. By faith, we are saved and can do the really hard things God requires. By faith, we become heirs of the righteousness that is according to faith. By faith, we can obey when we have no idea where it will lead. By faith, we can live temporarily, anchored only to Him. By faith, we can experience the impossible. By faith, we can consider Him faithful who has promised. By faith, we can seek a heavenly country. By faith, we pass the tests we face, even the extremely difficult ones. By faith, we can bless our children and speak of the future. By faith, we can defy evil rulers without fear. By faith, we can refuse position and heritage in order to be who and where God calls us. By faith, we endure. By faith, we see the unseen. By faith, we can do things that have never been done before. By faith, we can experience miracles and deliverance against all natural odds.

Everything is by faith in the unseen. Faith requires focusing on the heavenly. Faith makes the impossible insignificant. Void. Ineffective. Faith gives God all the glory. Faith preaches from our lives long after we’re gone. Faith strengthens others to faith.

The greatest faith truth for me this week? By faith, I can leave everything behind and find the ability to sacrifice even what is closest to my heart. The hard truth? Many times, the thing closest to my own heart is my own self. By faith, I can sacrifice self. That is what is on the alter right now. Me. My desires to control my children’s lives. My desire to have and be their answer. My desire to figure things out so I can fix things for them. My activities and accomplishments that supersede God’s priorities for my time and energy.

Hebrews 11 chronicles the big leagues of faith. The all-stars. Faith’s hall of fame.  Abel. Enoch. Noah.  Abraham. Sarah. Isaac. Jacob. Joseph. Moses. Rahab. Gideon. Barak. Samson. Jephthah. David. Samuel. The prophets. All big players. All simple men and women. Just like you and me in some way. Imperfect. Inconsistent. Interfering. Tempted. Stumbling. Manipulative. Sordid past. Yet, God gave them faith, and their faith is the evidence we need today for our faith.

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). Thank You, Lord, for the measure of faith You have given me. I ask You now, in Jesus’ name, please increase my faith.

And I ask You, Lord, please give every person reading this right now greater faith as we become more wholly Yours.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

It's Game Time!

“When are you going to write a blog about playing Apples to Apples, Mommy?” inquires my youngest. “You should write about me being your favorite daughter,” another chimes. Several blogs post. “Are you writing about playing Apples to Apples this time, Mommy?” she asks again. And again. “Of course, baby. Yes, I’ll write about when we played Apples to Apples.” I just don’t know when.

This one’s love language is quality time. If you want her to feel loved, spend time with her. The game was a Christmas gift from family. Leveraging a captive audience as we licked our plates and wiped our mouths after Christmas Eve breakfast, she sprang, “Let’s play Apples to Apples!” Glances around the table. Who’s in? All inquisitive eyes land in one spot. Dad. Would even he say yes? Other than a continuous marathon of Friday night Monopoly six years ago, I can count on three fingers the times James has played games. He loves his family. He does not look as fondly upon games. When he does participate, he’s very creative in strategy and scoring. A close eye is required. And he’s prone to wander. He agrees! Does anyone have straps? Quick. Clear the table before he can flee. Who knows the rules? “James, are you listening?” We decide it’s best to learn as we go. We might lose him with the rules. The first green card waits for answers. “What do I do now?” James asks. “Just pick a card that contradicts or compliments the one on the table.” Cards greet one another in the center of the table. The game is on. “Where’d Dad go?” someone inquires. “James!” Out he saunters from the direction of his office. A few more cards find their way to the table. “Where’s Dad?” “James!” Here he comes from the garage. And so the game goes. Eventually, we just put cards out for him. Roping him in and keeping him there is half the fun. Laughter’s warmth lingers in the memory.

Why does she keep asking me to blog about Apples to Apples? The thought cycles in the back of my mind. Her repeated inquiries have a definite significance. Monday, I share with my Bible study group my burden for knowledge and wisdom from heaven in disciplining my children, coveting the prayers of my sister saints. Approaching my car to go home, a precious and true friend risks my toes to give me truth: “You’re seeing all this going on with your kids. Maybe you’re doing too much.” Her words register in my spirit. Hugging her tight, I thank her. And I mean it. When she says she only recognizes it because of her own tendency toward the same, I believe her. Don’t most of us wander with good intentions into the trap of over commitment? As Paul calls himself the chief sinner (1 Tim. 1:15), I am a pretty good candidate for chief over doer, allowing good distractions to divert me from God priorities. It’s not a conscious or intentional spar for the top superwoman spot. It creeps in, slow and sly, to the point that I don’t even recognize it has happened. Symptoms scream something is wrong. My heart breaks for the hearts of my children. And a friend dares to tell me the truth. Yes, Lord. Thank you for this friend. Thank you for giving her knowledge in answer to my heart’s cry, and then giving her the courage to open her mouth. I am so thankful for friends who hear from the Lord and have the boldness to speak it in humility and love.

It’s time to clean the temple. Pull every activity and commitment out of the closets and corners. Present it to the Lord and let Him determine each item’s worth to Him. No secret storage. No restricted access. All of it, Lord. Have Your way, especially in the way I am to train up my children. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). What is the way, Lord? A whisper. Please Him. What pleases you, Lord? Faith. The focus of Hebrews 11 and our current Bible study. Train up my children in faith. Train up my children to come to Him and believe that “He is and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). Train up my children to obey, “for this is well pleasing to the Lord” (Col. 3:20). How do I do this, Lord? He answers. I love that about God! “Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10). Set the example. In the Greek, He is saying to me and to you: Make your way, Shauna, by using the opportunities I give you, and accommodating My opinions, My desires, and My interests so that everything with which you become occupied, every act, deed or thing done, individually and collectively, will be useful, pleasant, excellent, honorable, agreeable, and distinguished. In this way, what you do will be productive and produce My fruit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). What happens then? We are “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Col. 1:11-12). “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (I John 3:22).

So I ask, Lord. For Your grace. For Your charis: “the merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of Christian virtues”[1]. For me and for them.

Driving home from Bible study, I get another answer. Apples to Apples was a good work.

I call James. He listens. Sure we spend a lot of time in our home at the same time. Our home is our corporate office, school house, and residence. We’re here a lot. But are we spending time as a family? Are we training in the ways of the Lord. “We talk about making family time a priority, but we rarely do it,” I soberly confess. “It’s not that we have to have some unrealistic grand plan, but what about turning off the TV occasionally and playing games?” Agreement! Then a condition: “It just can’t be Apples to Apples!” he begs.

Looks like I better start finding all the Monopoly pieces.

“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb. 13:20-21).

Becoming wholly His through grace,

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

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[1] Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for charis (Strong's 5485)". Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 18 Jan 2012. http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G5485&t=NKJV.