Chosen Grace

Hi All! This post may be a bit shorter – but it’s Holy Spirit inspired! Happy reading!

As I mentioned in my last post, Steward It Well, I am working as a summer camp counselor. With this job, I am in charge of elementary aged children and we play games all day.

With some of the games we play (such as trivia) we allow the kids to win candy. Their favorite candy – however- are Dum Dum suckers. I can’t blame them, though, as I often find myself taking two (or three!) for myself.

The other day, I watched as one of my campers dug into the box. I was curious to see which flavor Dum Dum he’d pick and I arched my eyebrow in surprise as he pulled out two mystery Dum Dum suckers.

Now, I’ve never been a fan of the mystery Dum Dum’s. I’d rather play it safe by choosing strawberry or blue raspberry. So to see my camper choose two of them shocked me.

“Two mysteries?” I said to him as he looked at his suckers.

He looked at me with a grin on his face. “Yep. I trust it, Ms. Malaysia.”

Woah, I thought. I was shocked that he had that much faith. And it was right in that moment that the Holy Spirit spoke to me this Scripture:

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

– 2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV

You see, just as my camper dug inside of the sucker container and pulled out the mystery Dum Dum, our life is a lot like that container.

Before we are born, the Lord has each of our days written for us before we ever step foot into the world (Psalm 139:16). God- in His Omnipresence, has intentionally set each of our days for us. He knows the big things that will happen (marriage, children, celebrations) as well as the little things that will occur (an ant bite, being stopped at a traffic light, blowing a dandelion).

Yet, we are unlike God. We can’t see everything that’s gonna happen in our lives. Instead, just as my kids pull out one Dum Dum sucker at a time from the container, we must live day by day. Each day we are not sure of what we’re gonna get but we strive to make the best of it.

Because of our limited scope on our lives, as Children of God we must live by the verse above: we must walk by faith – not by sight.

Walking by faith requires us to take our eyes off of our life circumstances and put them on the Lord.

Now, I’ll admit this is not always easy to do. There are times when life’s situations are hard to endure. Sometimes it seems as if what we are going through is just weighing on us.

In full transparency, I am in a season where my reality does not match what the Lord has told me. I feel a lot like my campers at summer camp: excited for the container that has the prize yet disappointed when I reach my hand in and pull out something that I don’t like.

These are the moments where, like my campers, I frown and wonder why? And when this happens, I start getting anxious, uncomfortable, and unhappy. This leads me into trying to fix the situation in a way that only I can control. And every single time – I end up even more hurt.

But, when this happens, Abba lovingly convicts me so that I come right back to Him- resting at His feet. And being at His feet is where faith happens.

You see, there are times in our lives where we must (hypothetically speaking) choose the mystery Dum Dum sucker. This is a choice where we can not rely on our own understanding. We must choose to trust that God does have a purpose for our lives.

And that choice, friends, is where faith grows.

You see, when faith grows- it dispels fear, doubt, and control. It knocks out the lies that Satan tries to implement in our minds. More importantly, it allows God to come in and work as only He can.

Soon, the mystery flavor of life begins to taste good.

As I close out this post, I seek to encourage you. If you’re in a season of uncertainty like me, God is not confused about you. He is actually very sure about where you are and has good, Godly, great plans for you.

There are no mystery flavors with God. He ordained everything for us before it ever came to pass. And if He ordained the mystery- of course He has ordained the solution.

Let’s walk by faith, friends.

By faith- something better than you or I could ever imagine is coming!

With love,

Malaysia 🙂