Faith to Move Trees

[Jesus] replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. (The Gospel according to Luke, Ch.17 v.6 NIV)

When I was a child, I would stare at an object and will it to move with all my might, after asking God to move it. Well...to be completely honest, it's a thought that still crosses my mind. Every time, I would curse my lack of faith for not being able to move whatever it was I was staring at.

I realized later, that what I try to move when doing something like that, is actually my unbelief. Do I believe God can move a rock, or a tree, or not? The practice of removing our unbelief is painted clearly for us by the father of a possessed boy in the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 9 verses 20-24, ESV.

"And they brought the boy to [Jesus]. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.
And Jesus asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?'
And he said, 'From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.'
And Jesus said to him, '"If you can"! All things are possible for one who believes.'
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 'I believe; help my unbelief!'"

The simple truth is that all too often it takes us coming to a point of desperation to truly remove our unbelief. Unbelief is, in itself, an act of pride. It is us saying that we know better than the creator of the universe. When we are desperate, we are humble.

I have a nephew who was born six weeks premature. He made it through and has grown to be a beautiful and rambunctious little guy who's well on his way to being a toddler. However, his heart had not quite finished forming when he was born. It still has a hole and, while he has done well thus far, he will need to have open heart surgery this Thursday. This spring will be the two year anniversary of the passing of this little guy's older brother. He had only lived a few months before he went home. If you ever want to see me sob, just ask me about the nephew who beat me home. I couldn't even write that little bit without a few tears getting out :) His ashes are buried under a weeping cherry tree in our backyard.

I miss my nephew more than I can say. I miss him a lot. I am happy for him. He would have had such a hard life because of the complications he was born with, and now he's running and singing with his Daddy. I can't wait to go home and see him again.

But for now, here my family and I are faced with another tree in the road: the whole in my little nephew's heart. My dad's been praying and fasting, asking God to heal the little guy's heart before he even goes in to surgery. Do we have any doubt that God can do this? No. We know he can. But like that father crying out to Jesus, so we too are crying out, "We believe you can heal him! Help our unbelief!" And as always, when we show faith, He will show Himself to be faithful. This is my Reality.