Grow'n Faith
Updated: Jan 27, 2018
by Robert Bowen
On a December evening sitting next to my wife, I realized that the holidays had snuck up on me and I was faced with deciding what we could give as gifts to our extended family. There were obstacles in my mind though; not only were we days away from Christmas, but because we have invested all of our resources into our ministry and including our time, there were limited funds available for giving. I felt depressed, being "The Head of Our House," failing in provision. But this is where The Lord opened my eyes and reminded me of how little faith I had in Him. “…'Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?' Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” (Matthew 8:26 ESV) He revealed to me that He’s in control and not I. Amanda brought up an idea, through a social app, that we could create really precious gifts for our family and the resources were all around us. WOOD. AND LOTS OF IT. So ideas began to stream through my mind as I began to cut wood and drag it to the house.
The Lord instilled confidence in me to learn and achieve woodworking skills to create crafts that would be nice for giving. Within a week, we went from idea to creation. “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” (Psalms 25:4-5 ESV) This is how checker-board sets, rustic-wood stands made to hold phones, tablets, etc., and a fairy tree-house for my daughter’s dolls came to fruition. The dollhouse is far from completion, and new revisions are being made to our crafts, but it’s exciting how I went from depressed to inspired because of The Lord’s doing. He has now inspired me to make some of these crafts to help bring financial support to our family as we do ministry full-time. My faith grew from this experience from where I initially dreaded the holidays to being excited about the gift of giving. It was The Lord who showed me and walked this out with His hands on mine carefully crafting. Next time I will be reminded of this experience when I come against an obstacle. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 ESV) Thank you Jesus.
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