Faith And Feelings: Trusting God When We Have All The Feels
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“For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7, NIV).
Many people believe that being an author involves writing day and night, 24/7. While it certainly involves putting words on paper, it also encompasses behind-the-scenes tasks, including marketing, email lists, giveaways, blogging, networking, podcasting, speaking, and more.
This past week, I hosted the Still and Strong Summer giveaway. I felt the Lord lead me to 8 other creatives, and together, we gave away a $225 Amazon gift card, 9 digital resources, and copies of books. For months, I prayed over this event, put in the work, organized the materials, and prepped. On the last day of the giveaway, however, I felt a bit discouraged. The email sign-ups were nowhere near what we’d anticipated, and I felt I’d failed as a leader.
But that day, instead of leaning into my feelings, I chose to trust God for what I could not see. What I could not control. As Scripture reminds us, those who have seen God and believe are blessed, but even greater are those who have not seen Him and still choose to believe.
While today’s focus Scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 5:7, I think it parallels quite well with Doubting Thomas’ story in John 20:29: “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (NIV).
Around 4 p.m. on the evening of the giveaway, numbers had slowed. We were at 700 email subscribers. I prayed that God would bless this event far greater than I could ask or imagine. I asked Him to bless every person who signed up. I asked for souls that needed to receive the resources we had to give.
Less than twenty-four hours later, the giveaway closed. I mustered my courage and looked at the results: 7,713 emails signed up. Not only had He heard our prayers, but He tenfolded us. He multiplied our little into great abundance. He had given us far beyond what we could ever ask, think, or imagine, plus some! As Malachi 3:10 notes: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (NIV).
