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“We cannot shrink back in fear and go forward in faith at the same time.”

A thought by Christine Caine from her book, Unexpected: Leave Fear Behind, Move Forward in Faith, Embrace the Adventure (p. 11). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

But oh, we try to do both, don’t we?

Christine says, “Whiplashed and then immobilized by something we never expected, we end up stuck in a place we never wanted to be. Stuck in a place where our world shrinks and we hide inside of it, living a story far smaller than God intends. Forfeiting the future that could have been. The destiny we were born to live.”

She goes on, “We’ve all been there, tempted to pull back and hide when we were wounded, disappointed, or disillusioned. When we faced failure or endured another heartache. When we suffered a loss that was more than we felt we could bear. When we made promises to ourselves that we’d never let such pain happen to us again. But we can’t keep those kinds of promises. Not if we want to step into all of God’s promises. Not if we want to live with all the passion he placed inside of us. Not if we want to fulfill the purpose and destiny he has for us.

“No. We cannot shrink back in fear and go forward in faith at the same time. We cannot settle for our less and pursue his more at the same time. It’s just not possible.”

She then says, “What is possible is accepting his gracious invitation to trust him more in the face of our pain. To move into a deeper intimacy with him and let him heal our hearts. To develop relentless faith so that the next time life throws us a curve ball—which life most certainly will—we are able to bat it out of the park and still live the adventure he’s planned for us. And maybe we’ll even live a version of the adventure that’s beyond what we could ever have hoped or imagined—all because of the unexpected that interrupted our lives in the first place.”

The comforting thing to realize is that God lives in the unexpected.  Nothing takes Him by surprise.  Trusting Him in the unexpected is the way to live through the unexpected.  So, will you trust Him in whatever may be in your day today?  Will you?

Yes, yes!
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