Posted on May 12, 2024 Posted By: HCCCategories: journey
Heartland Community Church
THE JOURNEY
Inheriting Faith
by Marnie Vasquez
Where is he? She’s running. Frantically. Searching. She’s trying to see if he’s done anything crazy. Anything that would stop people in their tracks. She can’t find him. Where is he? She can’t breathe. What has he done? She stops. Tenses up. Listens. Listens harder. And then realizes she’s chasing the wrong person. Instead, it’s that girl. THAT girl. She looks to her right and sees a young wife. She’s the culprit.
Her name is Hailey. With the exciting news she’s pregnant, she and her husband also discover their first child will not make it full term, her little brain cannot form properly, and this tiny little baby will never live a life on this earth. What should they do? Hailey and her husband pray ferociously. Hailey does bring this little baby full term, and her husband holds and loves baby Faith for the full two hours baby Faith got to live on this earth. Two decades later, Hailey, her husband, and their three high school children celebrate baby Faith’s life each year. Hailey shares her story that all life is precious, and she will follow Jesus’ footsteps wherever he leads her and her family.
But there’s another culprit. She looks to her left and sees THAT guy.
His name is Seth. Seth is done; he’s just done with how he’s been dating. Sure, he’s met some fun and exciting girls and had some wild and obnoxious times, but he’s recognized this isn’t the life he wants. So, he makes a decision, joins a christian dating app, and meets Morgan. They get married. And Morgan, well, she is the funniest person Seth has ever met. He is head over heels for Morgan, and Seth loves how Morgan can get him and now their two boys to laugh every single day. But, more than that, he loves how Morgan is authentically Morgan, and those two boys want to pray like their mamma and love Jesus like their mamma.
But there’s yet another culprit. She turns around and sees JAMI.
She’s aghast watching Jami. How does Jami do it? When Jami’s middle child was younger, he needed brain surgery. And somehow, this surgery forever turned on a pain switch in his body. Every second of every day, for the past nine years, this boy is in constant, horrible pain, despite all the medications, doctors, Mayo, and other specialty clinic visits. Meanwhile, she sees how Jami and her family have relearned how to live with this constant pain. But she also sees how Jami constantly deals with people telling Jami that she’s not believing in the right god and living her faith wrong because if Jami did, her son would be healed, and a miracle would happen. Those are tough, harsh, and, frankly, unhelpful words. And yet Jami’s deep faith in Jesus has never ended. While she wants her son’s pain to end, Jami doesn’t believe her faith, or lack thereof, is why her son’s pain hasn’t gone away. She believes this is Jesus’ story being told through her, and she will tell it, no matter how long the story will be.
You see, all this frantic running and searching she was doing was to try and find Jesus. In that search, she uncovered some incredible, everyday parents living out their faith in their everyday lives and positively impacting and passing this on to their children. It’s inspiring and encouraging. These individuals are also passing on their faith to fellow parents.
So, as she stands and looks at these three individuals she has found while searching for Jesus, she says to them, “Thank you. Thank you for unapologetically living out your faith. You have strengthened and encouraged me to live stronger in my faith.”
Can you imagine how strong Lois and Eunice must have been in their faith to warrant this type of lasting effect on Timothy? Think about the women in your life, who do you think would be modern day versions of Lois and Eunice?
Many of us would love to be the winner, the victorious champion in a given situation. This passage reminds us that we need leaders, coaches, mentors, and helpers … along with ourselves … to help us achieve our goals. Because we will encounter roadblocks on our path, and we can’t get tired and weary of moving toward this goal. Consider who your leaders, coaches, mentors and helpers have been. How have the helped or encouraged you? What have they taught you?
If you feel you’re not in the right situation, throughout the Bible God has taken the most unlikely of circumstances and made something positive and good can happen. Hold on, and don’t lose faith. When have you experienced unlikely circumstances? What good came through that situation?
There is comfort and confidence knowing that people have been following Jesus during our grandparents lives, their grandparents lives and their great-great-great-great grandparents lives and many people even before then. Jesus is truly known across the generations. Whose prayers have lifted you closer to Jesus? Who are you praying for and encouarging?
Some days it’s hard to hang on with the constant and never-ending changes that happen in this world. One can feel truly seasick. But there is great comfort knowing that despite all this change, Jesus hasn’t changed. And he never will. He won’t evolve into someone else, change his personality, change who he is. He will remain constant. And that is truly comforting. Make a list of the constants you have experienced from Jesus.
{extra journey resources}
CLICK HERE to visit The Bible Project site and explore their super simple, super informative Bible videos (and other resources). You can also download The Bible Project App HERE.
CLICK HERE to get the Read Scripture App, from our friends at The Bible Project.
CLICK HERE for more on how to use the observe-reflect-apply approach to getting the most out of your Bible reading.
The Bible App Get the free YouVersion Bible for your phone, tablet, or computer. Experience the Bible anywhere, with options to highlight, save notes, and share what you are reading with others.
The Bible App For Kids YouVersion partnered with OneHope to develop the Bible App for Kids, designing it specifically to engage children with Bible stories on an age-appropriate level. The Bible App for Kids is a free app for Android, Apple, and Kindle devices, available in over 60 languages.
Bible Gateway Provides advanced Bible searching capabilities, which allow readers to find passages in scripture based on keywords, phrases, or scripture reference.
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