Concrete Faith

Hebrews 11: 1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see. (MSG)

I have a problem with judging distance....always have as far as I know. Overall, this has not caused too many problems except some with driving and parking (as my family will attest to!) :) One of my biggest problems has always been with parking ramps. I try to avoid them at all costs.

For the last week, my mom has been in the hospital. The hospital has a parking ramp. A couple of days during the week, I had no choice but to park in the ramp (and bonus, the hospital validates so it's free). The first day, I cautiously approached the ramp. I drive a van. The bar hangs at 7'. My head knows that in most ramps, the van will fit. My eyes tell me a different story. My eyes make me think that I will be bashing my way through IF I get in at all.

I have had to learn that my eyes are not always my most accurate source of information. Sometimes I need to lean on the fact that there is more to something than what my eyes see. As I was pulling into the ramp that first day, I was reminded that faith is often like that and I remembered the above verse. There are many versions. Basically, it boils down to the fact that faith is not based on what we see. It is believing in what we don't/can't/won't see.

Our family has had to have a lot of faith over the past week. Faith that God has the best interest of our mom as his main focus. We knew that whatever happened she was going to be fine. She still will. She's one of the main reasons for my faith. This week just reminded me that faith is much more firm and structured than I thought and had been feeling.

Faith is what my heart knows, but my head (logic) and eyes try to convince me otherwise. Keep your eyes and heart open for those little ways that God uses to let you know he's there. One other way last week? A car moved over in front of me on one of those rough days. The license plate? LORDGOD I smile.