And My Faith Grew…

Today, I had an interesting conversation with one of my very dear friends. She was in a dilemma of some sort and honestly, as of today, I couldn’t offer her the assistance she needed (she knew, but still came to me). I thought about it and as we spoke, I knew why.

You see, we have different friends that play several and differing roles in our lives. She has her role in mine and it is a balanced one. Today, she needed to unburden her heart and ensure that I knew where she was at. Beyond that, she needed sound counsel from me. By the way, I have friends we gist and laugh a lot, but at some other times, I just call them up to rant and talk endlessly. They would sit quietly and let me unburden and then pray with me. Cool right? You should have one or two of those I tell you. Before you run off, you should be one of those to someone too!

As we spoke, I could feel her tend towards hopelessness and I remembered that a few months back, we had a conversation and after that we prayed and I said to God after the call, “don’t embarrass Yourself o! I’ve told her she will get an answer from You!” I won’t lie, she needed that answer in a few days and though I promised her on His behalf that it will happen. I had my own questions. Hmmm.

Why? You ask, ‘did I do that?’
Because I know I had spoken His Word and His Word is who He is.
I knew He would respond to His Word
I had faith in her faith…the way she said the ‘amen’ was something else, so I believed more than I prayed. That’s why I told Him, I had done my part, He should do His.
And oh yes, HE DID!

As we spoke today, I reminded her that the God who did that then isn’t bankrupt and doesn’t need an account, so we can’t say He’s run out of money. I shared how we are told that ‘you reap what you sow, but in many folds’. Then the Holy Spirit said to me “If you sow beans and you don’t need beans, you will get what you need”. The scriptures in Philippians 4:19 jumped at me “And my God shall fulfill every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” I said to her, “Yes, I may have sowed a bean seed, but if I need a house, that’s what I will get as long as my faith is in place” and I never thought about it till we had today’s discussion.

We gisted about my Shoe-Faith. What is “Shoe-Faith”? Whenever I need shoes (whatever kind), I simply just say to God (no formality to it), I need a pair of shoe (or shoes), state the height of the heel, the kind (canvas or work shoe or flats etc) and the quantity and He gives me more! I also noticed that the same goes for phones, I’ve never bought myself a phone (definitely for the Heritage – my children, and the house) but I’m always given a phone. My last phone had been begging to be changed because the memory was always full. So I told Him about it and viola! It came. So with phones and shoes, all I need do is ask Him. Once, He said to me, why don’t you use that Shoe-Faith for every other thing you need. I wish I could, it’s so easy with shoes (or so I think), but it just faith at work. And it works all the time.

After all these *tory. We prayed and by the time the call ended, even the walls knew a different person was on the other end of the line. Her voice sounded lighter and I could feel her faith tangibly!

My pastor says it all the time, “Faith is Rest” and I’m resting and enjoying the fruit of the labour Christ finished on the Cross, how about you?

*tory means gist

@imanikel 12042023 (c) Frances Kelvin Otung