Has Your Faith Reached Mustard Seed Size?

In the Gospel of Matthew, there is a story about a boy with a demon that the disciples weren't able to cast out. When the disciples questioned about why they weren't able to do this, he responded in Matthew 17:20 by saying, "'Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.'" I believe this verse holds two teaching points; first, that our faith can move mountains, and second, the amount of faith necessary is miniscule, but some of us don't even possess that miniscule amount. I believe we all yearn to have immense amounts of faith, but when faced with struggles and questionable circumstances in our own lives, I think we have a tendency to allow doubt to creep in. As Christians, we believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and that God parted the Red Sea, but we don't seem to possess faith enough to trust that God will answer our prayers about finances, employment, health issues, or any other daily struggle we might face.

If I'm to be upfront and honest with you, I've been full of plenty of doubts myself lately. I'm still unsure of my career path and not sure if I should go for a certification and if so, which certification to even go for. I trust God to bless me with a job, but after my phone interview the other day, my brain became full of more questions and doubt than faith that it'll work out. When friends asked me how I thought it went, I told them I wasn't sure because I was honest and told the interviewer that I really haven't been keeping up with my EKG skills lately. My worldly self began questioning whether or not someone would still want to hire me even though my skills are rusty when I really should have been more focused on the fact that I was willing to be honest and maintain my integrity. Also, I need to trust the fact that God is in control and already knows the outcome.

Three things got me to snap out of the doubt that was slowly beginning to creep in and take over my brain. The first came from a text a friend sent to me after I told her I wasn't sure about how my interview went. Her response was brief but served as an excellent wake up call. She said, "I know it went good K I was praying for you." Her assuredness and faith about the situation caught me by surprise, but also put a smile on my face. I'm very happy and blessed to have someone in my life who is confident about the outcome of her prayers for others. The second was remembering the faith I had had just one week before while at work. I was expecting an order of firewood that would cost $240, but at the start of my day, I only had about $40-$50. I knew only God would be able to help me in this situation so I prayed for His provision for the money and to possibly delay the arrival of the firewood. Low and behold in the early afternoon I had a wave of customers check in for their campsites and pay for their camping and a bunch of supplies. Although it was a bit chaotic, I was thankful for the business and God answered my prayer by providing me with more than enough money to pay the guy who brought the firewood, who happened to arrive right after all of my customers. The third thing that got my attention came from the book Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. The biggest slap in the face came from the following sentence: "Quit assuming and start believing." I need to stop assuming that I may not get hired based on my performance during an interview and instead have faith that God is monitoring the situation and knows what will happen. God has the power to open doors to places I've never been before, for positions I never would have considered. He knows exactly where I need to end up and I need to trust God to get me there because I can't get there on my own.

In the long run, God may not want me to get the position I just interviewed for and only He knows the reasoning behind the final outcome. But until I get an answer, I must maintain my faith and belief that God can come through for me. My faith must grow to the size of a mustard seed if I'm ever going to move mountains in my life. Regardless, I must remember what is written in Matthew 19:26, which states, "'With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.'"