Hi everyone--I'm Nikki Blair, glad to be one of SALT's new DT contributors! I'm a SAHM of two handfuls of little boy, one 4 years old, and the other almost 11 months. My husband is a chaplain in the US Navy, currently serving with the US Marine Corps. In my life "BK" (Before Kids) I attended Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas, and was ordained to ministry. I served in a church in Virginia for a short time before the Navy moved us to London, England for a few years. I started scrapping in early 1996, after getting married (yes, those were the "sticker sneeze" years)--thankfully I have come a long way since then (I hope! LOL).A scripture that has been on my mind lately is Matthew 17:20 (there is also a fabulous musical version of this text on The Welcome Table cd by Dan Zanes & Friends). I've been thinking a lot lately about "impossible" things--or those things that feel impossible. I'm looking toward a change in the life of my family that feels deeply, painfully impossible; such a big shift in our everyday life that it's hard to imagine what we will be on the other side of it. As I was thinking about this and feeling really overwhelmed by it, I remembered that not too long ago we made another "impossible" change--another time when it was hard to see what our life would become, and yet, by the very grace and goodness of God, we were (and are) surrounded by friendships richer than we could have imagined. And what seemed so very impossible has become--perhaps not easy--but a time of great love and joy.
I guess sometimes "moving mountains"--facing seemingly impossible challenges, tasks, changes, losses--requires us not only to have faith, but also to have a good memory: even when that one tiny mustard-seed of faith is hard to muster up, just remembering God's past faithfulness can be the seed. Maybe if we remember that the mountains have moved again and again, we'll eventually stop seeing the impossibility of mountains all together, and instead be able focus on the surrounding view: the loves, laughter, prayers, joy... all the many gifts of this life that surround us and nurture our seeds of faith into abundance.
I guess sometimes "moving mountains"--facing seemingly impossible challenges, tasks, changes, losses--requires us not only to have faith, but also to have a good memory: even when that one tiny mustard-seed of faith is hard to muster up, just remembering God's past faithfulness can be the seed. Maybe if we remember that the mountains have moved again and again, we'll eventually stop seeing the impossibility of mountains all together, and instead be able focus on the surrounding view: the loves, laughter, prayers, joy... all the many gifts of this life that surround us and nurture our seeds of faith into abundance.
Blessings,
Nikki
2 comments:
It's good to have you on board at Salt and to get to know you a bit more, Nikki. Yes, He is the God of the 'impossible'! x
Nikki, God knows I needed to hear that right now! A wonderful remionder for me at a challenging time! Thank you
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