Have You Ever Seen God Smile?

I did not intend to have two such thoughtful posts in a row, but these things have been on my mind lately and I want to write them down before I forget. Too often I plan to write about something and never do.

I pray on a regular basis, usually in my car or at night when I go to bed. This is not a religious 'observance' for me. It's just what I do. Mostly my prayers consists of asking for help in one thing or another, or asking for the safety of my family, or prayer for other people.

However, the other day on my way to work, I started praying for something else. For some reason it occurred to me to pray for God, for Yeshua Himself! I prayed that He would be blessed that day. That someone somewhere in the world would do something that would bless His socks off! It sounds funny to say that, and surely God is blessed every day by some one of His servants doing what He's asked. But, praying that prayer ended up blessing ME, because as I prayed I pictured the face of God smiling, because of me, because of you. We can make God smile! We can bless Him! I love that picture and it makes me want to constantly strive to put that smile on His face.

Hebrews 11:1

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see."

To be honest, I've never really quite wrapped my brain around this one, to know what it really means. For the past year or so, my faith has been tested. I've had some conversations that have challenged some of the things I've always believed, or at least the way I've understood them. It had me questioning whether what I've always believed was wrong, or just different. How then can I know the truth? I'm not a scholar. I asked this person, based on some of what he told me, why/how he believes. He said he just does. He chooses to have faith in God. I still don't know exactly what to believe, in many cases it really doesn't matter, it's just semantics. But when it came down to brass tacks, I asked myself, "Why do I believe?" My answer was because I HOPE it's true. My heart tells me God is real and he loves me. I can't prove it. I can't participate in theological debates on the subject. Some people may think it is ridiculous and childish to believe something just because I want it to be so, nevertheless, I HOPE it's true.

Now I get it!

"Faith is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things unseen." Hebrews 11:1