This past weekend I went strolling in my yard searching for an abandoned bird nest and sure enough I found one in one of my ligustrum bushes and wouldn't you know it was a well secured little nest in the clutches of a three branch prong. And yes I will use it today as a prop, but as I took time to study it, I found some characteristics that relate to my feathering my own nest of faith:
Location: Where are you going to build your nest? Earthly setting, or heavenly realms?
Building Materials: Broken Twigs of life; Hurdles, broken dreams, Health issues, financial crisis, relationships, anything that knocks us off our feet or unsettles our daily walk
Construction: God helps us to use the tough trials to build tough faith
Tenacity: One experience at a time, methodically prayed for and over. Each experience woven together in/throguh God's love, grace, power and overseeing commitment to never leave us abandoned
Patience: God is never in a hurry though we many times are. God is more interested in secure foundations than quick fixes.
Goal: a place of security, warmth, peace and comfort....our nest of faith in Christ is a sure goal of eternal treasures
Each bird nest is constructed and built one twig at a time and carefully woven together to ensure a place of comfort and security for things to come. But the striking difference that I see is that the birds choose their building materials, we on the other hand are given ours through our our hurdles, our trials, our obstacles, and our experiences. And we build our nest of faith though one God trusted experience at a time, weaving into our hearts a relationship with Christ that continues to grow stronger and more secure with every victory that God helps us to embrace. Isn't that what our faith is all about? Building a safe haven through faith and trust in God and in his ways where we can fly into when storms come blowing through? It occurred to me that that is just how we each build our own nest of faith; one experience at a time. Someone once taught me that nothing in God's economy is ever wasted. So it is with nature and birds. We see trigs and don't think a thing about them whereas a bird finds a genuine treasure in a well chosen broken piece of a branch.
The very things that break us are the very treasures of our weakness that God uses to help us feather our own nests of faith in Him. For it is through our broken dreams,broken lives, broken plans, broken hearts that God, when we come to him, helps us to weave His Hope, Love, Provision and Grace into the nests of our lives. I was at baby shower this past weekend and was talking to precious young friend who had recently broken up with her boyfriend after many months of dating, and I asked her if she was doing ok and she said yes but that it was hard and then she without hesitation quoted something that she had read that she said keeps her focused: Faith is knowledge in advance of what will only make sense in reverse.
We don't know when the storms will blow through our lives but with each twig of trust that we hold on through our experiences, there is where we build up a nest of security and comfort. For God in all his glory will hold us close, keep us tucked under his wing of grace and secure us in the confidence that whatever is before us or behind us, he will give us the courage to go forth in truth and faithfully trust in his sovereignty. He will not let us down and will build us up through our faithfulness in HIm, one experience at a time.
This little nest was carefully constructed, one twig at a time and was forged into a crevasse of a three pronged branch. When we feather our nest of faith, we have a choice as to where it will lie....will it be on wavering earthly treasures and self generated plans, or will we chose to secure our construction in the three pronged heavenly established trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
Great Faith is knowing beyond a doubt that God is not only behind the scenes working towards his heavenly plans, but he has left within us His spirit of power and strength to help us navigate through, around, above or below whatever circumstances have come before us.
We only have to embrace that truth and carry on even when the roads before us are dimmed with fog. God will direct us and help us to see his light as we follow him in any darkness.
Ephesians 3: 16-17
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!
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