Faith & Tenacity
Being raised by a powerful woman of faith, I have seen incredible, miraculous healings and deliverances in her ministry. I could tell you so many stories, but there was one instance in particular that taught me more about what faith looks like than any other.
My mom had a beautiful German Shepherd given to her when she had decided she wanted to live above her ministry building in the inner city of South St. Louis. She hadn't had the dog more than a couple of days before it turned up missing. We assumed he was stolen from her yard. She told me and everyone she knew, that she had prayed and the Word said that anything she asked in Jesus name He would do it unto her (John 14:14). I tried to explain to her that either someone stole him and he wasn't going to be returned or the dog got out of the yard and ran away and there's no way he'll find his way back. I knew he wouldn't because he didn't know the neighborhood and had no collar. I couldn't see any possible way this dog would return. Well, she continued to confess that she prayed and had no doubt that God would bring him back.
Days went by then weeks. I finally told her she was starting to sound crazy telling people her dog was coming back and she needed to stop! She looked me in the eyes and said, "Faith has no time frame, it's trusting God regardless of how things appear, what people think or how long it takes." She said, "Even if years go by, I'll never stop believing God will answer my prayer, but if you need to see it now, God will show you!"
That afternoon, unbeknownst to her, someone posted a flyer of her missing dog on a grocery store sale board, miles from her home. A man glanced at the flyer as he entered the store, did his shopping then went home. As he approached his home he saw the dog in his yard. He closed the gate, called the store and got my mom's number. The dog was back that evening.
She had bulldog faith and tenacity and due to her intimate relationship with Jesus and her knowledge of the Word, she absolutely never doubted that He would ALWAYS come through for her, and He did!! That's the model I have and the relationship I strive for. Total trust in the lover of my soul!!!
Praise God! I know she had a great Mother's Day, at home with Jesus!
Matthew 21:21-22 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
James 1:6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind
John 14:12-14 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
