IN THE DARK WAITING ON THE REST OF THE STORY
My brother-in-law is a professional photographer. Years and years ago, I was visiting my sister for a few days, and my brother-in-law had taken some photographs that he was ready to develop. He had his own darkroom in the basement, so he gave us a warning not to disturb him while he was in the process.
Apparently, there are many steps that you have to go through in order to get the photograph to develop. And, one of the biggest no-no’s is when someone opens the door before the process is finished. The entire photograph would be ruined if it is exposed to light too soon.
Nowadays, most photographers use digital cameras, and the darkroom process is no longer needed. But the whole idea of waiting for the photograph to develop intrigues me.
This past week, I have come across similar verses in the Bible. Whenever this happens, I try to pay attention and see where the Lord is leading me.
Mark 11:23-25
23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
James 1:6
6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
Both of these verses have to do with doubt. What is doubt? Is it a lack of faith? Of course, it is! When we doubt, we are saying to the Lord, “I am not sure that you are paying attention.”
The Lord says that if we do not doubt but believe that it will be done in our hearts, then we can move mountains. He also says that those who doubt are double-minded and unstable in all that they do.
Joe has a story about one of his friends who got caught kissing another woman. The man who was caught red-handed says, “but honey, who are you going to believe? Me, or your old lying eyes?” Well, obviously, her eyes weren’t lying to her, but maybe our eyes could be lying to us.
2 Corinthians 5:7
7 For we live by faith, not by sight.
We are hampered by what we can “see” in this world. We ask, and pray for something, and we try really hard not to doubt that it will happen. But what we see with our eyes might cause us to start doubting. Maybe the diagnosis keeps coming back with a bad report. Or, maybe your marriage doesn’t seem to be healing like you thought it would. Or, maybe that job that you wanted so badly has been given to someone else.
Those circumstances would all be great reasons to start to doubt if we didn’t know the Great Creator. He has not forgotten us, and He is hard at work on our behalf. Maybe you are just trying to see the picture before it has had time to develop. Whenever we feel doubt starting to creep in, call out to the Lord.
Mark 9:24
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Declare, “I DO BELIEVE, help me overcome my unbelief!” Then, declare a “DOUBT FREE ZONE” and rejoice as you smile, and envision the Lord busy at work developing your story.
Have A Blessed Day!!!
PS: Sharing my Sunday blog posts makes the devil go nuts!
Good lesson we can all learn from!
Got it —Thanks Tania for being on top of technical issues . And I am so glad that I did. This topic has been making an appearance in my life too. Thanks for the confirmation . The word is truth and we have to approach it like a child and believe really believe what is says.
Loved this, Tania! Thank you!
From a new follower: loved this. A great reminder!
? and thank you, exactly what I needed to hear!
Oh my goodness, I needed this today. Thank you!
Mark 11:23-25 is one of my very favorite bible verses. I’ve reread it over and over and over again, particularly during a very trying and scary time of my young life. I thank God for prayers answered, His response was swift, huge, life-changing and far beyond the extent of my prayers. I could FEEL Him moving me, guiding me, holding me. We must believe in His power and His love whole-heartedly when we would normally view something as impossible. I am humbly grateful for His love and kindness. 32 years have passed and I am still in awe and so, so thankful. Believe!
Kathy, I love how you could FEEL Him. I can see His hand moving things after the fact, but I can’t always FEEL Him maneuvering things while it is happening.
I think the devil would have us doubt, while the Lord would have us believe. “Believing is seeing”, while the world would so often have us think the other way around.
Danielle, I had to laugh this morning when my website was down. I think that the devil was trying his best to quash this message.
This one was perfect.
Success!!! Finally, the link worked. Thanks for letting me know earlier that I was having issues.
I’m new here, and I LOVE your blog but now that I know I get a devotional on Sunday…Well that just takes it over the top for me. Thank you and keep driving the Enemy nuts!
Welcome, Shannon! Thank you so much for following, and I am thrilled that you like my Sunday posts! Let’s drive the enemy nuts together!!!
Oh, I just love this!!! I consider it my full time job to drive Satan nuts and I absolutely love it when I awake in the morning and my feet touch the floor and his first thought is, “Oh no, she’s awake!”. Lol! Sweetie, thank you for your faith based blog and your funny outlook on life but especially pointing us always to our Creator. Love, Shirley
Got It! Loved the message!
Yay!!! I guess the devil isn’t getting the last laugh after all! Haha!
I look forward to your Sunday posts and your message. Today’s was awesome as usual. Have a blessed day.
Thanks for letting me know that you got the post. I am so glad that you like my Sunday posts.
Great post! Thank you for sharing!
There were technical issues this morning, so I am glad that you got the post…finally.