Walking the Walk - Trusting God

As part of my college course, training to become a Salvation Army Officer, I have been studying a module on biblical interpretation and preaching. In my studying and reading one thing that all the scholars agreed on is that preachers need to live their sermon out before they preach it. Timothy Keller in his book on preaching (you can buy it here: ) says that as preachers: 

“You must be something like a clear glass, through which people can see a broken but gospel changed soul in such a way that they want it for themselves.” 

This is something I have found to be true in my own life and in the last week or so God reminded me of this in a beautiful way.

Over the last few months in our church we have been following a sermon series on Trusting in God. We have been looking at different characters who have trusted in God and how we can apply those truths to our lives today. We have been considering in which situations in our life do we need to resolve to trust in God. I have been encouraging people in our congregation to take a step of faith, and see how God acts in a powerful way when we trust in him, however recently I have has the opportunity to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

For some time I have been struggling with an issue with my health. I have developed a lump on my back that in spite of antibiotics and other treatments, I couldn’t get rid of it. My doctor had booked an appointment with a consultant to get it removed and I went along to my appointment expecting them to cut it out so I could get on with my day. How wrong I was!

When the consultant took a look he realised it was a more serious problem and that I would need an operation under general anaesthetic to remove it. Not only that but due to the nature of the problem I will need to spend at least two weeks laying on my side doing nothing to allow it to heal, and it could be substantially longer! Any of you that know me will know that doing nothing is not in my vocabulary, and that it is an incredible challenge for me in the midst of ministry, study, home life and caring for a child with special needs! The consultant also told me that timescale of receiving treatment was likely to be around 18 weeks and I worked out the operation was likely to fall right in the middle of me being commissioned as a Salvation Army officer! I left the appointment feeling worried and a little defeated.

After discussing the situation with family, I contacted a few people and asked them to stand with me in prayer that the operation would come sooner than they had said and that it wouldn’t interfere with the many things I have in my diary. I must admit, even after preaching about trusting in God for some time, even after hearing of the miraculous things God did for people who trusted in him, even though I had been challenging people to put their complete trust in God, I was struggling to practice what I preach! I knew people were praying for me and having spent time in worship and praise, I resolved to leave it in God’s hands.

To my surprise, three days later I received a letter from the hospital, informing me that my operation was booked in for the beginning of May less than four weeks from my original consultation and the recovery (which I’m believing will be swift!) shouldn’t interfere with much at all! What a miracle!

I am reminded of Isaiah 12:2

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation.”

This week at church I was able to testify to what a faithful God we have and to the effectiveness of the prayers of the people around us. Every day we are faced with a challenge, will we trust God completely. I can testify that even in the scary things, we absolutely should, because when we do, we see him come through in a wonderful way!