The Way of Faith

I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19b

After a recent road trip, it was awesome to be greeted by the Welcome to Arizona sign! My first time in Arizona was a connecting flight to San Diego. Looking out the window as our plane approached Sky Harbor, I declared, “I would never live here!” It looked like Mars out that window; a tan universe with dry, red, rocky, mountains. I really believed my first time in Arizona would be my last.

Despite my declaration, God made a way for us to make a home here. God prepares journeys for us that we could never imagine. It wasn’t easy. Yet we were ready for a change in our lives serving in new ways. We trusted that God would provide in surprising ways. My next flight to Arizona was moving here in 2014. As we approached Sky Harbor, I tried to imagine my new life. Why had we agreed to move to Mars? I truly asked myself why I was here yet continued to ask God for guidance knowing this was my calling. Ten years later, I’m still glad for that the journey to the desert. The desert is now home, and God made a way for this new life amongst the beauty of the blossoms and water breaking forth in unique places.

God promises to make a way for us to live in faith just as God promised to make a holy way for the exiled Israelites in Babylon. Isaiah 43 is God’s promise to the exiled people to bring them back to faith in God with a promised journey home. We have a generous and gracious God who promises strength and salvation, joy and gladness, freedom for a life of love and mercy. What do we need to leave behind to journey with the Lord and trust his new ways in our lives, our church, and the world? God makes a way where there is no way and prepares journeys for us that we could never imagine. May each of us listen and trust, as we follow the way of God.

Faith’s way,

Pastor Andrea