Does God care about our plans to rent a car?  You bet He does.  On my trip to Israel to drop off suitcases in August a friend was joining me, who was staying in a different location that I was. We planned to tour Jerusalem by bus and on foot, and then rent a car one day to go to the Dead Sea.

In looking at the prices of rental cars at the company he recommended it was very expensive, so I prayerfully checked for other options. I found one company where the cost was $8.50 per day!  I was amazed.  At that price we could have a car for our entire 4 days in Israel; and it would make life so much easier getting from and back to the airport, as well as to the Dead Sea.

After landing in Israel we got to the rental car counter and were upgraded to a car with a GPS system. That proved to be absolutely essential in navigating between the two different residences we were staying at, and the sites we wanted to see.

In looking back at the trip, it would have been a nightmare trying to navigate it by bus and on foot.  Who knew?  God knew!  The entire trip I kept saying “Thank You Lord; Thank You Lord; Thank You Lord!!!”

Not only did He know, He cared too!  Our Father directed and provided for us to have a car so that we would be well taken care of on our journey.

Let’s look for His loving care in our lives every day – to provide for and care for us in ways that may surprise us, but are certain to bless us.  He is all wise, all knowing and we can trust Him.  He’s a good, good Father!

A faith-walker’s faith isn’t in their performance, or in the world. It’s in who God is, and in the truth’s of His Word.

Along a faith-walker’s life the Lord puts various teachers and teachings to encourage and strengthen them. It’s imperative that they delight in spending time daily studying the Word of God. The purpose of Bible study isn’t to check an item off a religious checklist. It’s to fellowship with, and seek to understand God, and His ways. This helps a faith-walker seek God’s direction for their life.

A faith-walker loves reading the Word, expectantly waiting to hear God’s voice and experiencing the Master breathe and impart a personal application of instruction as found in His Word. Every time this happens it reveals a greater depth of His love. It’s His love that spurs a faith-walker on.

Hebrews 11 starts with these words; and along the faith-walker’s journey the Lord highlighted the first three words of this chapter in a very meaningful way. Faith is a gift from God. It’s a gift that we can either treasure, or cast aside. When we treasure it we become more aware of the creative power it contains.

In a transition period the Lord had the faith-walker write out a list starting with these three words.

Now faith is…

Now faith is…

Now faith is…

The list was 16 items long and comprised of  the unique things hoped for in the immediate future of the faith-walker.

The amplified version of Hebrew 11:1 inspired that list. “Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things we hope for, being proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality. (Faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.)

What’s on your faith list?

In mid July the faith-walker arrived in Israel for a quick 48 hour turn around trip en-route to a medical mission trip in Zimbabwe.

Leaving the airport she joined ten complete strangers and piled into a sherut shuttle van. Finding herself on roads never traveled before, she was being forced to trust God to get her to the destination in Jerusalem.

As they drove through the Judean hills the faith-walker pondered all the miraculous events that must have happened in the land they traveled through. Passing stony hillsides, military checkpoints, muslim minarets and climbing up and up on a highway fenced in with barbed wire fences on either side added to the drama of the mysterious journey.

Where were they going?  She’d never driven to Jerusalem on these roads before. When would she get to her destination?  Would she arrive there safely? These were all questions that floated through her mind.  With a stranger at the wheel of the vehicle she had to relinquish any sort of control of the situation. Ultimately she was being forced to trust God for her safe arrival.

As each of us faith-walkers navigate life’s unique hills and valleys, we too must trust that God is driving our lives and He knows exactly where we are going, and how we’re going to get there.

After traveling the windy and crowded streets of Jerusalem, dropping off passenger after passenger, it took every ounce of faith she could muster to believe that a stranger wasn’t stealing her suitcases from the back of the shuttle as they off-loaded their own. She had two bags to drop off at the offices of a ministry that was going to safe-guard them for her until she returned to Jerusalem some months later.

She was the last person on the van to be dropped off.  When the van pulled up to the destination for the passenger before her she realized that she was looking at the building where the ministry’s offices were.   She was planning to take them to where she was staying, two blocks away, and would have to roll them to the office.  God indeed had a better plan than hers.

And therein lies the true delight of a faith-walker.  What a joy to see the unfolding of God’s perfect plans that flow out of a personal relationship a faith-walker has with the Master of the Universe.