For this week’s Monday Minute, Katye shares with us how God answered her plea for fresh faith in challenging times as she studied his Word. What challenges are you facing?
Fresh Faith in Challenging Times
by Katye Riselli
Another bleak Monday loomed ahead. School-at-home coupled with social distancing had shattered the rhythm of our days. Although we had begun to find a new normal, my morning routine still felt off.
Armed with my coffee and a new journal, I stared at my Bible and silently asked God to speak truth over my circumstances.
We were weeks away from packing up our household goods and saying goodbye to our friends. But unlike any other PCS, we didn’t know where we were going.
This time our HHG would take up residence in non-temporary storage while our family of four would be temporarily without a home.
What had sounded like an adventure last fall looked a lot less fun in the middle of a global pandemic.
Faced with a lot of unknowns and far less control than ever before, my faith felt weak and flimsy.
I nearly rolled my eyes as the daily devotional for that morning pointed to Scriptures about God as the great gardener.
Bitterly I wished again we had a real home where I could plant a garden. More than once during our spring quarantine my girls had wanted to plant flowers and vegetables and I had to remind them we’d be gone before most would be ready to pick or eat.
As I continued reading, the next passage leapt off the page:
“And I will provide a place for my people and will plant them so they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed…”
Smiling, I felt tears well up in my eyes.
Oh yes, God plants His people.
While I knew that truth intellectually, God graciously used my morning study to sink His Word deeper into my spirit in a new way, tied specifically to the burden that weighed most on my heart.
Though I love travel and adventure, my favorite part is coming home.
Moving has never bothered me much because I know home is where we make it – it’s where I find my people, where I am known and loved, a community where I invest my time and energy.
But stepping into the next chapter without knowing where home would be had exposed a pocket of unbelief in my heart.
God’s Word spoke truth into that gap: God provides our home.
Even when we feel uprooted or homeless, God is our home, just as he has always been for his people.
As I searched the context of the verse and read the entire passage, I found more hope:
“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you.”
Though David wanted to build a house for God, God gently reminded David this was not the work to which he was called.
God recognized David’s good intentions, but gently reminded David it is the Lord who ultimately provides for his people.
Long before Israel had a home of their own, the Lord dwelled among them, providing for them even when their unbelief left them stranded in the desert.
On that Monday morning, I felt stranded in a bleak desert surrounded by nothing but questions without answers.
Thanks to a heartfelt prayer asking for a fresh word, coupled with a few minutes in God’s Word, I had discovered fresh faith to meet the days and weeks ahead.
Footsteps down the hall sounded the end of my quiet morning, but as I closed my Bible and journal, I felt a new peace settle my anxious heart.
Move Out
Read: Joshua 1:1-18
Reflect: What challenges are you facing today that require fresh faith?
Respond: How do God’s instructions to Joshua (vv 1-9) and the leaders’ response to Joshua (v16-17) strengthen your faith?
Prayer
Lord, You are our great provider. Thank you for promising to meet our every need and for graciously rooting us in you even when we feel uprooted, adrift, or unsettled by circumstances beyond our control. Be with me today and sink a fresh word deep into my spirit to revive my faith. Amen.
Additional Resources
Journey of a Military Wife by Brenda Pace
Girl Meets Change by Kristen Strong
Adore by Sara Hagerty
For more on how to study God’s Word for fresh faith, check out the Planting Roots Bible Studies, written specifically for military women by military women.
