The Risk

The other morning, I went with my family to hike to the top of a local mountain. As we were driving through my town to get to the mountains, the weather was dark, overcast, and foggy. It was rather depressing and ominous. We arrived at the mountain and started the round trip, 6 mile hike.
  About halfway up, I looked out over the valley and all of it was under the cloud cover. From my elevation, however, I could see the sun and clear, bright skies to the left of the mountains. I thought, "Oh good! Today will turn out to be a beautiful, bright day. The sun is around the corner." If I were still in the valley, I would never have known that sunny and clear skies were just around the corner; I would have assumed that the day was going to be rainy and gloomy. It made me think about perspectives. I only knew the hope of the sun, because from where I was looking out; I could see both sides of the mountain. God always sees both sides of the mountain and every other angle we are not even conscious of. He has resources in places we could never think of. He has gifts and hope at every turn. Though we often must walk through the winter times of rain and tribulation, there is always a Spring that is around the corner. In fact, the harder the winter is, the more rain it sheds, and the more magnificent the Spring will be. But Spring will never come, if one does not endure the winter first.

Christians are called to not be shaken by circumstances. We are not to live by what we can see in front of us, because faith is not by sight.  We do not take steps of faith only when we can control and understand the situation. Rather, faith requires an abandonment to God. Though I cannot make sense of what He is doing, I will trust in Him.  I will follow God because I love Him and His Word proves true. If I lose my life, I will only find it.

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”- Jesus

 Often, we do not want to step out in faith because we will be taking a risk. We might be risking life as we know it, possessions, image, the opinions of others, even our physical lives. Faith takes a risk - you fork over the control to God.
 But once you take the step of faith, you find liberation and that God is a God who is more than trustworthy. You begin to experience the amazing, incredible liberation of a life that is truly free: free of what others think, free of the world's ways, free of the threat of death and fear. The "risk" turns into victory, because all you risked was your own self, and what you found is much more than that. You gain life abundant and the discovery of the adventure God created you for. You'll never know if you never take the "risk" ;)