2 Corinthians 4:18

A young woman named Minda Cox, was born in India eighteen years ago without arms or legs. After learning about her, her soon-to-be mom began to secure her adoption. It took longer than they hoped because Minda could not provide a fingerprint for her legal papers or passport.

Minda is a budding artist. She cradles a brush between her chin and shoulder-she paints with such talent that her art is worthy of her own show. Though her artistry is impressive, what really inspired me was the list her mom found in her backpack when she was in the fourth grade. It contained 127 things she would do if she had arms or legs. Things like: set her own alarm clock, make the sign of the cross, walk where there aren't sidewalks, jump with joy and clap her hands...be tall.

Minda’s purpose in life..... Minda said her purpose is to show that God is good all the time, even when it doesn't look like it. Minda is guided by the unseen. She truly, even in a wheel chair, walks by faith and not by sight.

Faith is a journey, a bumpy road at times where we embrace what we can't understand- believe what we can’t see. In George MacDonald's tale, The Princess and the Goblin, faith is portrayed by “following an invisible thread.” After Princess Irene rescued Curdie from the goblins cave by following her grandmother's thread, she pled with her companion to see what guided them; "There! - don't you see it shining on before us?' she added. 'I don't see anything,' persisted Curdie. 'Then you must believe without seeing,' said the princess; 'for you can't deny it has brought us out of the mountain."

Just like the skeptical character in MacDonald's fairy tale, most of the time we don’t see either. God's ways seem obscure to us. Yet we follow and trust and recognize that He has “brought us out of the mountain” of our hopelessness, darkness and despair. To follow and trust even when we can't trace His path is to believe without seeing. It is the difference between being governed by revelation rather than mere reason alone.

As George Macdonald put it, “Seeing is not believing - it is only seeing. “the real triumph of this life is to understand that “Believing is seeing!” Like precious Minda, when we trust God to act with goodness, we see His goodness. When we believe God to be faithful, we see His faithfulness. When we are convinced that God is love, then we see His love everywhere.

The walk of faith requires following even when we can't see or understand. Zora Neal Hurston said: "Faith ain’t got no eyes, but she’s long legged!” It's true. One step at a time, we trust God more than we trust our feelings. One step at a time, we receive what we can't reckon. One step at a time, we accept what we cant avoid.

As I believe Him to provide and guide, I see his leadership and provision. As I trust Him to comfort and teach me, I feel His Hand and hear His voice. I think that Minda has followed the same thread and she has been led out of a mountain of sorrow and gloom.

Thomas heard the voice of Jesus while he touched Christ’s nail scarred hands, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." I want that blessing. To see because I believe, don’t you?

Trust him more today than you did yesterday. If you can't understand, just keep following. Though it may be dark right now, you will see that eventually He has led you out of the mountain! "Let us step into the darkness and reach out for the hand of God. The path of faith and darkness is so much safer than the one we would choose by sight." George MacDonald

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

joelle