Let’s just be honest. Doubt sucks! Having any kind of doubt in anything or anybody just plain sucks!! Because you have hope in things and you have hope in people and circumstances… but there is always that small little crumb of doubt that sticks to the corner of your thoughts.

One of my favorite quotes or sayings I used to say was … Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I actually LIVED by that quote. I would say it in every single circumstance and in every single journey through something or to somewhere.

Hope for the best… but prepare for the worst….

I am a lot older now and I have grown so much closer to God and I have realized that this whole time (basically my entire 20’s) that by saying this I was kind of just setting myself up for failure. I mean… think about….

I am hoping for the best. I hope this works out. I hope this happens. I hope everything turns out to be okay.

BUT….. prepare for the worst? Prepare for the bad thing to happen? Prepare myself for bad news? Why? So I can accept the bad circumstances sooner? So I wouldn’t be surprised about the bad journey I am about to be put on?? That’s kind of silly. I mean… I understand getting prepared for things. I get what it means to prepare for earthquakes or accidents. That’s why we have emergency kits and insurance. You prepare yourself for this or that… I get that… but… why prepare for the worst thing to happen if you have hope? Why allow doubt to consume the hope you DO have??

If you have complete faith, you don’t have room for doubt. And, trust me, I know it’s hard to do. When you have all kinds of people and things coming at you with “bad” news, I know how hard it is to not doubt!!

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  – Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

Your eyes are what show you everything. You SEE life through your eyes. So I know how hard it is to not believe what you see. But faith…. having faith as small as a mustard seed… that’s all you really need.

I remember when I was pregnant and the doctors ran so many tests on me. For a week straight at the children’s hospital, test after test, ultrasound after ultrasound, measurement after measurement. And then…. his first surgery in-utero. Every single test came back sooooo bad!! Every single test had bad results. Every single one…. and the probability of Matthew surviving the pregnancy or living past a few moments after birth was 3%. My baby who wasn’t even born yet had a three percent chance of survival. The ONLY hope I had was in that 3%. I held on to that 3% so tight. Faith as small as a mustard seed.  And my 3% was that mustard seed.

I learned very quickly that the only way I was going to get through this, no matter what God’s Will was going to be, was to have faith!! And I couldn’t think about anything else. I could not allow room for doubt in my heart. I only had 3% and I had to spread that three percent all over my heart and mind. It was thin…. but I spread it.  And I held on to it.

I can’t say what God’s Will is for you or your circumstance. None of us will ever know what God’s Will is for us. God really does work in mysterious ways. And it’s how we trust in Him and how we have faith. That is what will get us through. God’s grace… our covering. His feathers. His shield. Our faith…. 

Blessings

xo