The Day of the Lord

Day 204: Zephaniah 1-3

Zephaniah, the prophet, writes about the Day of the Lord, a day when the Lord will judge and destroy Israel and Judah for all their wrongdoing, their sin. The faithful will be delivered, and the unfaithful will be destroyed.

I'm not sure exactly what the Day of the Lord is, whether it's come or whether it hasn't. Or whether the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus actually means this Day of the Lord will never happen.

But it seems that God is serious about us being faithful to him. He is in control of our lives, and he wants us to be faithful to him. He made us, and we are his. He wants us to seek him, to seek righteousness. Seek humility. We could all use to work on becoming more righteous and more humble. I don't know what's to come, but God wants it from us, and we should thus give it to him.

The LORD your God is with you,
       the Mighty Warrior who saves.
       He will take great delight in you;
       in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
       but will rejoice over you with singing.

An Unfaithful Wife

Day 192: Hosea 1-4

God tells Hosea to marry an "adulterous wife." So what does Hosea do? He marries Gomer. I'm not sure if she is a prostitute or not, but basically she provides a metaphor for the relationship between God and Israel. Israel is unfaithful, yet God is continuously faithful. The metaphor of the unfaithful wife can also be applied to us today and how often we turn from God. I'm just now into the beginning of the book, but the key thing to understand here is that God is always faithful--no matter how we respond. God loves us unconditionally. He always will. But he wants us to turn to him and live the life that he has envisioned for us. The New Testament discusses how we are the brides of Christ. May we all become more faithful to the Lord God and Jesus.

How Will You Respond to Tests?

Day 190: Daniel 5-8

Just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego resisted temptation and stayed faithful to God, in this passage Daniel does the same thing. He does not follow King Darius' edict and bow down to him. Instead, three times a day he goes to his room, gets down on his knees, and gives thanks to God, just as he had been doing before the edict was passed. And even though King Darius wanted to rescue Daniel, he instead had him thrown into a den of lions. But God protected Daniel. He shut the mouths of the lions and not harm came to Daniel. And what happened next? Darius threw the men who had falsely accused Daniel and their families, including women and children, into the lion's den. They were immediately eaten up and killed. The king then issued an order saying that everyone should fear and reverence the God of Daniel. What an amazing story of faith and trust in God.

Every day we are faced with the decision to trust God or to not. We may not realize it, but this decision is a common one for us. Bad things happen to us. People can be mean and hurtful to us. Temptation can knock on our doors. We can get into fights with our spouse or our children. We sin. We experience pain and suffering, even death. Each day we must ask ourselves the question of how will we respond. Will we trust God, or will we look out for ourselves and our own self-interests? The men in Daniel chose to trust God. They put their faith in Him and were not shaken. And interestingly enough, they were rewarded for it. They did not get eaten up by lions or burned up in a fire. Instead, they lived. And they were even promoted in the earthly kingdoms in which they lived. They also were witnesses to others, both times leading a king to come to know and believe in the one true God.

Today, we experience God in different ways than they did. We are not often--at least in America--sentenced to death for believing in God. However, we are like the people in the OT in that we are daily confronted with whether we will live a selfish life--one that looks only to our self-interests--or an unselfish one that trusts God and puts our lives in his hand. As we go about our days, look for those moments when you are called to make a decision about something. How will you respond? What will you do? Will you respond like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Or will you choose to trust yourself and others instead? How will you experience God and show Him that you trust Him with all that is in you, even if it means death at the hands of others?

Even If He Does Not

Day 189: Daniel 1-4

Daniel is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It has so many great stories in it and is full of many wonderful lessons and examples for us today. Daniel trains and serves in King Nebuchadnezzar's court. He is a wise person and makes a great impact on the king. He even interprets the king's dream and saves all the wise men in the court from death. Daniel is promoted to a place of honor within the kingdom, much like Joseph was in Pharaoh's court.

King Nebuchadnezzar seems like he is moved by Daniel's belief in the Lord God, but this is not so. Eventually, King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a a golden image and requires all people to bow down to it. There are some Jews, however, who refuse. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not bow down to the idol and refused to acknowledge the king's threat, the king grew furious and turned the furnace up seven times hotter than usual.

Listen to what the three men say to King Nebuchadnezzar,
"King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If the God we serve is able to deliver us, then he will deliver us from the blazing furnace and from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Then, the three men were tied up and thrown into the furnace. But a fourth image was also walking around in the fire and Nebuchadnezzar was distraught and scared and ordered the men to come out. When they came out, Nebuchadnezzar praised God and promoted the three men in Babylon.

There is much to comment on here, but I'll focus here on two main areas: Nebuchadnezzar and the attitude of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

First is King Nebuchadnezzar. I typically think of the king as a bad, power-hungry man. He required men to bow down and worship an idol and he killed people if they did not do so. However, it's interesting to note that Nebuchadnezzar is constantly being pulled through his circumstances to worship the one true God. He worships the Lord when Daniel interprets two of his dreams. He believes again when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are not burned in the fiery furnace. And he does so again when his power and glory is taken from him. Nebuchadnezzar believes. He witnesses miracles, extraordinary events, and he is impacted by them--even though it goes against his other beliefs. He witnesses the miraculous God and believes. Yes, he makes mistakes, but ultimately, he believes.

The other thing to discuss are the attitudes of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three extraordinary men who stay true to their belief and faith in the Lord God. They were not going to bow down to an idol even though they knew it would mean being thrown into a fire and killed. We don't really know if they were scared or not; I would imagine that they were. And yet, they looked Nebuchadnezzar in the eye and told him that they do not need to justify their behavior to him. They even go so far as to say that they trust God that he will deliver them and let them live. They have complete and utter faith that he will save them.

And yet. "Even if he does not." They will still not serve his gods or worship the idols he has constructed. Wow. What faith! They trust God and believe he will do what they ask, but even if he does not, they will still trust God and believe in Him. What a testament to faith these men are. I hope to have the type of faith these men have, a faith that asks God for things and trusts that, even if he does not answer my prayers the way I want him to, I will still trust God and stay faithful to him.

Two Kinds of Messages: Which One Will You Tell?

Day 122: Psalm 91-95

I just returned home from the BCS National Championship game between Alabama and Texas. Although the game didn’t end the way we (my dad and I) had hoped, I still had a great time. The whole experience was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I’ll remember it for a long time.

While I was there, I saw two types of “witnessing,” two methods of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, two testimonies. The first one was given by four men carrying signs. The signs were enormous, well above our heads when we walked and easy to read from afar. The text was in black on yellow signs, held up on these long poles. We had to walk about two miles to the stadium from where we parked, and everywhere we looked—no matter where we were on the trek—we could see these signs. They, too, were headed to the stadium.

Immediately when I saw them, my heart sank because I did not like what I saw, even though some of the quotes were from scripture.  I can’t remember what all the signs said, but a couple of them stuck out to me:

“Hell AWAITS you.”

“God will come to JUDGE the earth.”

Now here you have these guys who are “doing their part” to tell others about God and Jesus. They carry these extremely heavy signs all around the place; they are virtually telling people that they follow God. If I give them the benefit of the doubt, they even seem to be concerned that the people they hope to reach might be going to hell, or that God is coming to judge, so all these people at the game should “turn from their evil ways” (but I’m totally inferring that; they could not want that at all).

Like I said, they are doing something, even if I don’t approve of the way the messages they are sending. But what good are they really doing? It seems to me that this fact that they are “doing something” might be doing more harm than good. Would it be better if they weren’t doing anything? I’m not one to make that claim, but I wonder why they're really doing what they're doing. Who are they really helping? Do they really think that an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian even will respond positively to that sign? What do people think? I know what I think. I think it’s hurting Christianity to spread this idea of God as hateful, avengeful, vitriolic, and fear-chasing. It is NOT the gospel I know and love. It is NOT the Jesus who came to save the earth, wash away all of our sins, and show us how to live like humans while we are on this earth. These men are preaching these passages out of context and in error, I believe. If I were to conduct an analysis of these signs and the men holding them, it appears that they are judging an audience of people that they don’t know, with whom they don’t have a relationship, with whom they don’t love or respect or care about even.

These are not the type of messages we should spread.

And then I saw another type of message. One that speaks of finding hope in Jesus Christ, even when you’re experiencing deep pain. This person I’m speaking of is Colt McCoy. Many of you may already know what happened during the game: on the first Longhorn drive of the game, Colt McCoy hurt his throwing shoulder. He was out for the rest of the game, and if he had played, most commentators and journalists are now predicting that Texas would have won (who knows, though?). Regardless, Colt was gone. He was the winningest quarterback in NCAA history, and he set numerous other records as well. This game was going to be it for him.

As soon as Colt got hurt, the fans were devastated. The mood changed, and we were all heartbroken for the kid. He did come back in the second half to help coach the freshman quarterback, but it was a little too late. Texas lost. 37-21 was the final score.

After we finally got back to our car (after a two mile walk) and then drove all the way to Orange County to the hotel where we were staying, I was able to turn on the TV and watch a little bit of ESPN. Here I saw the post-game interview with Colt McCoy. Wow. He was asked, “What was it like to watch his final game as a Longhorn from the sidelines.” For several seconds, he couldn’t speak. He was obviously broken up about it and it looked like he was trying to fight back tears. It took him a while to form words. He responded, “It’s unfortunate I didn’t get to play. I would have given everything I had to be out there with my team.” And then he gave his testimony to millions of people: “I always give God the glory. I never question why things happen the way they do. God is in control of my life, and I know that if nothing else, I’m standing on the Rock.”

Wow. Here you have a man who is suffering from probably the greatest disappointment of his life—not the loss, necessarily, but not getting to play in your final football game for a team for which you have started every game since you’ve been there, and then this reality ultimately leading to a loss. That’s a lot to take in. But even in the midst of his frustration and regret, he responds by praising God and placing his faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Two kinds of stories. Which one makes more of an impact on you? Which one illuminates the gospel in a healthier way? Which one might convict an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian? I hope the answer is obvious.

There are several kinds of stories we can tell in our own lives, and I hope that you will think about the kinds of stories you tell about God, the gospel, and Jesus. We want to share the good news about Jesus, not news that makes people cringe and react against our stories. 

Dry Seasons of Life

Day 120: Psalm 79-83

My eyes are dry. 
My faith is old. 
My heart is hard. 
My prayers are cold.
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to you and dead to me. 

But what can be done
For an old heart like mine?
Soften it up
With oil and wine.
The oil is You, Your Spirit of love.
Please wash me anew
With the wine of Your Blood.
(Song by Keith Green)

Have you ever felt like your faith was lukewarm? I once heard a preacher talk about having a lukewarm faith. Using the passage in the New Testament about being either hot or cold but not lukewarm, he said that it was better to not believe at all than to have a lukewarm faith. In fact, I still remember his words to this day: "Get HOT. Be COLD. Or GET OUT!" The message was that apathy is the worst place to be when it comes to faith.

But it's very easy to fall into a pattern of apathy and not even know it. Maybe Sunday morning church is what faith is about to you. Or maybe faith is about your own personal journey towards Christ rather than gathering with other Christians. Maybe you go to church each time the doors are open. You do good deeds and you read your Bible. You give money to God, and you teach your children about Jesus. Regardless of where you are and what your definition of Christianity is, it's easy to get "stuck in a rut" where you don't feel anything, where you wonder what the point of it all is anyway.

When you are feeling like you don't have a relationship with God, that you don't belong, or that your faith is all dried up, I encourage you to turn to Psalm 80. Psalm 80 won't solve all your problems or give you the courage to "Get HOT," but it will provide you with a way to talk to God in the midst of this dry faith (or sin, too). The author begs God to bring he and the other Israelites back to Him. To restore their faith and to save them.

God has saved me. He has saved you, too. I hope we will all remember this truth during the dry seasons of life so that the rainy season will come soon.

What's your legacy?

Day 88: Ezra 5-10

Ezra. An entire book is named after him, and he doesn't even appear until chapter 7 in the book named after him. He only appears in four chapters total in the book of Ezra.

I didn't remember one thing about Ezra before reading the book today, but after reading what is written about him, I think he was a great man. He was a godly man who helped the Jews rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. One of the facts you might find interesting about Ezra (I did) is that he is a direct descendant of Aaron, Moses' brother. In fact, Aaron was the first priest (I think), and here you have Ezra who is another priest. He comes from a priestly heritage and is living his life in the same way as he grandparents did.

In thinking about Ezra and the long line of faithful people from which he comes, I'm struck by how his faith came from his family. So often we look for these fabulous conversion stories--like those that happen in the New Testament--but there is also something to be said about generations after generations of people following the Lord. Faith so often happens because of family relationships--whether you inherit a faith from your parents, grandparents, or siblings. While not everyone comes from a family that believes in the Lord or in Jesus, some of us, like me, do. I think it's important to be reminded that we have an even greater responsibility to pass along this faith with others--not just our children but our friends and neighbors, too.

I often wonder if my children are inheriting anything good from me. I have faults, and I think I'm a horrible parent on many days (I am!). I think it's important to ask myself, though, what kind of heritage am I leaving my children? Am I instilling in them a faith that will last up to 16 generations, like that of Aaron's to Ezra's? I really hope so.

Let God Out of the Box

Day 85: 2 Chronicles 27-31

I'm curious why most of the kings in the Old Testament who followed the Lord became powerful and successful. For example, King Jotham walked steadfastly with the Lord and he grew powerful. King Hezekiah restored the temple and God blessed him with financial wealth, glory, and honor. The Bible even says that since everything he undertook was for God, he prospered.

On the other hand, those kings who did not walk with the Lord and were unfaithful to him were punished. They were taken prisoner, like King Ahaz, were struck down with a disease, or were killed in war.

One generation was faithful and the next was not. This story is repeated over and over again. What we can learn is that even when one generation was unfaithful to the Lord, the Lord was still faithful to his people--even if he still disciplines and punishes the faithless.

Nevertheless, what I still perplexes me is the message that this pattern sends: if you are good, you will be blessed; if you are "bad" (or unfaithful), you will be punished. And these consequences aren't something that happen "when you get to heaven"; they happen here on earth (at least in the case of the textual examples). So, I don't understand it.

Did good things always happen to good people in the Old Testament? Or did bad things happen, too, but because the person was faithful to the Lord, the biographer/narrator of the books reflects back in a postive way (and likewise for the "bad" people)?

Or maybe the words "blessing" and "prospered" meant something different in OT times. They sure have various meanings today. I don't know. But I don't think we can equate doing good with blessing and doing bad with harm and pain. If we do so, we put God in a box and when trials comes, God cannot get out of that box because we won't let him.

Instead, I think we should try to live in the moment so that we feel what God intends for us to feel at any given time. Sometimes, we are supposed to cry. Other times we are supposed to rejoice and be glad. Still other times call for anger, frustration, and disappointment. God wants us to feel what we feel, but He also wants us to realize that He is working for the good for those who love him, even if "good" people have to go through pain and suffering. If we recognize this when we are not experiencing pain, then when we do experience it, God will not be in a box, and during the midst of our suffering, we will, Lord-willing, not lose our faith.

Miracles I Know for Sure

Day 70: 2 Kings 3-8

The story of Elisha surprises me. I remember that he was taunted by some boys for being bald and these boys were then killed by bears, but what I hadn't remembered was how many miracles Elisha did. He raises a young boy back to life, heals a man of leprosy, parts the Jordan, and prophesies...and this is only the beginning! Elijah did numerous miracles, but his protege Elisha did double the miracles that Elijah had done. Wow! (Elisha had asked Elijah for double of his spirit when Elijah was being taken up into heaven, and he received it.)

Miracles.

I've witnessed miracles. The miracle of birth. The miracles of an infant child no longer having organ trouble. The miracle of a changed heart, a new being in Jesus Christ. But I haven't witnessed someone being raised from the dead or a sea of water parting so that people could walk through it.

The difference between the miracles that happened during Old Testament times and those today can be quite striking, but that doesn't mean miracles don't exist (or that God doesn't still use people to perform them). I still believe in miracles. Do you?

Here are a few miracles I know for sure: 
1. Faith is a miracle. The fact that humans look beyond themselves for answers is a miracle. We are invested in ourselves. We are selfish, self-absorbed, and egotistical. And yet, we have faith in God. Faith in the Father, in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit. Faith in Truth. Against our nature, we have faith that God is who He says He is and that He will keep his covenant to us. That is a miracle.

2. Family, friendships, and other relationships, including marriage, are miracles. Anytime that God says "Yes" to a relationship, it is a miracle. Although God made us to live in relationship with one another, it's still a miracle when it happens. Sin often makes it difficult to form relationships with others, and even though God designed us this way, it doesn't often happen. We must work at relationships, at marriage. Surely, good relationships are miracles from God, blessings on us as we seek to live out his will. 

3. Children are miracles. As a mom of two, I have witnessed firsthand the miracle of childbirth. Children come into this world in crazy ways. From conception to pregnancy to birth, the whole thing is pondersome. And it's a miracle that children are born, that they can live and survive and love and forgive. That they are resilient and caring and pure and innocent. Jesus loved children and saw in them the miracle that God created us to be. Remember that we all were children once. We are all miracles.

4. Becoming a Christian is a miracle. Think of it. We are selfish and sinful and yet we are convicted of Truth and seek a different way. We make different choices and we grow in relationship with our Lord. We no longer live for ourselves; instead we live for God and for others. What a miracle. We are going against human nature. What a miracle it is to be in process and to being formed like Christ. 

5. It's a miracle that we can be forgiven and have eternal life. Jesus, the Son of God, coming to earth is a miracle. And that God used him as the ransom for our sins is a miracle. We can now have eternal life and that is another miracle. The whole biblical story is a miracle.

Miracles abound. We just must open our eyes to witness them.

Thank you, God, for miracles. Even today.

The Miraculous Gift

Day 52: I Samuel 1-3

Not all women want to be mothers, but for those mothers who want to become one and can't, well, that has got to be so painful. I have known a lot of women who have either had a hard time getting pregnant or who never were able to conceive a child. They prayed fervently asking God for a child and either had to wait for years or were ultimately told no. I'm not sure how women deal with that and I do wonder why God won't say yes to their prayers. What's more is that I can't think of a specific instance in the Bible where God doesn't say "yes" to a barren woman's prayer.

Here at the beginning of I Samuel is Hannah. She, like Sarah, Rachel, Samson's mom, and Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mom to come) is a barren woman who desperately wants a child. She has to wait a long time, and she prays and prays for a child. She even tells God that she will dedicate her child to him if he blesses her with one. Eventually, Hannah does conceive, and she gives her son Samuel to the Lord.

What's unique about Samuel (and Isaac, Joseph, Samson, and John the Baptist) as opposed to all those other children born in Israel or elsewhere is that Samuel is a gift from God. Yes, all children are gifts from God (they're miracles, I believe), but Samuel (and the other four boys) are more than just gifts for their families; they are gifts from God for the entire community. Samuel is going to be a gift for the Israelites. God uses him.

God also uses these women who struggle getting pregnant. They are the ones who turn to the Lord for hope. They are the ones who dedicate their children to the Lord. Who trust God at his word. Who help train and guide their children. The process these women go through during their struggle to have a child changes them. They grow in the Lord. They grow in their faith, and I can imagine that they are different mothers than they were before.

While the Bible may not provide examples of women who try to conceive and can't, it does show us women who are examples of hoping and trusting in the Lord. During their lowest points, they find strength and faith in the Lord. We, too--no matter what situation we find ourselves in or whether we personally deal with this personal struggle or not--can look to these women as models of where to turn when something does not turn out as we thought it would, or even as we had hoped. These women point us to the Lord--the one in whom we can find our strength. The faith of these women forever changed the outcome of their communities; it changed the story of Israel and the one in which we, too, find our identity.

Like these women, we are on our own journeys, and no matter what pain or suffering we are experiencing, we can find strength through the physical and faith struggles of these five women.

Gideon's Example

Day 46: Judges 6

If I have another child, I think I want to name him Gideon.

I don't think I know one person named Gideon, and considering how often people name their children after biblical people, I find this surprising, especially with how impressed I am with him after reading Judges 6. Now I haven't finished the story of Gideon and I don't remember what becomes of him, but in chapter 6, he is someone to admire.

I admire his courage, his boldness, his willingness to go to God on behalf of for the Israelites. Gideon feared God and yet he trusted God, too. He feared God and viewed him as holy, yet he also trusted that God would keep his word, that he would save the Israelites and answer his prayer. He even asks God to "prove himself" and God does it.

He has an interesting balance of fear and respect, but the trust is also apparent. Too often we struggle with being totally fearful and not being willing to ask God for anything, or we are at the opposite end where we will ask God for anything and everything, forgetting that He is to be feared and revered. Gideon is an example to us of how to balance these two aspect.

I hope you will read Gideon's story. You can find it here. I think you will be encouraged by him.

Forever Yours, Faithfully

Day 33: Numbers 31 to 36

Do you remember the song "Faithfully" by Journey? It was very popular when I was growing up. In fact, it was mine and my high school boyfriend's "song." :) The lyrics are about a musician on the road who asks his girl to stand by him and he'll be "forever yours, faithfully."

Well, my boyfriend and I broke up. We were not forever faithful. It was just a song we liked to sing to each other dreaming about our lives together. (Eventually, I did meet a man to whom I will be forever, faithfully--my husband Shane.).

When thinking about the book of Numbers, what strikes me the most is how God is continually faithful to Israel. Notice the contrast between God and Israel. God is holy, while Israel is not. God is faithful to Israel, while Israel is repeatedly unfaithful to God. God loves Israel, and Israel only seems to love God when they want or need something from him. God is faithful, while Israel is faithless.

The lesson here: God  remains faithful to Israel--and to us--even when they/we turn away.

Even though God is to be feared because he punishes and destroys, he's also the one who remains by our sides. He remains faithful even when we walk away from him. That's pretty powerful, actually. God is faithful when we are faithless. God is holy even when we are not. God is forever yours, faithfully--no matter what you do.

This God does seem to be the same God of the New Testament, the same God who offers us Jesus, the same God who offers us grace. A God that I didn't think existed in the Old Testament. But He's there. He is the God of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament. He loves Israel, and he continues to show them this again and again. They are His people, and He is their God. We, too, are his people, and He is our God. Will He be forever yours, faithfully like you will be to him? I hope so.

Delivered

Day 14: Exodus 1-4

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt for a long time. They must have been wondering where God was during this entire time. They groaned and cried out to God. God heard their pleas and remembered his covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Over this past year, I have felt like the Israelites—-groaning and crying out to God, wondering when he was going to listen to my prayers. I prayed and prayed that God would lead us to a new job—and do so quickly—but he didn’t. Shane and I were both in very low emotional states—depressed, actually—-and for the first time we both got on depression medication (I feel a little awkward admitting that, even though I know it’s common.). I wondered when God was going to take care of us (Technically, I know He always was, but I still wondered where his hand was in all this and why he wasn’t answering our prayers for a new job).

Dreams lost.

Faith tested.

Souls scarred.

What comes next for the Israelites—-God calls Moses to delivery them from slavery in Egypt-—offers me hope. While I can’t see into my future, I do know that God is taking care of me. He has already provided us a new job. Now, I’m hopeful that he will start re-casting our dreams, firming our faith, and healing our souls. And just like the Israelites do at the end of Genesis 4, I, too, will believe in God and bow down and worship him.

Side Note: I’m learning more why these Bible stories (and the Old Testament) are important. They can guide us as we live our lives.

Parting Ways through Faith

Day 4: Genesis 13-16

The story of Abram and Lot parting ways has new meaning to me after my church planting experience. When Shane and I were thinking about how to approach our church planting partners about parting ways, we read this story often. Here you had two people who were very wealthy and the land could no longer support them both. Also, strife existed between their herders. But Abram didn’t want strife between the two of them, so he told Lot that Lot could choose which land to take and he would then go the other way.

Shane and I spent a lot of time thinking about this and decided that it was the right way to think about parting ways with the church planting couple. We didn’t know what they would choose, and we didn’t really know what we wanted to do either. Once I began looking at this hard situation in this way—as one where we would just trust God that he would make happen what needed to happen—I felt so much peace about the whole situation. The story of Abram and Lot increased my faith and brought me peace during a very difficult time. I knew that no matter how hard things got—and things got VERY hard afterwards—God would take care of us.

After Abram and Lot departed ways, God blessed Abram and Abram praised the Lord.