20 - The wedding ring: choosing faith over doubt!
It was now 1969 and I was enrolled in the first year at Lake Worth Community College. It had been four years since the dream in 1965 showing me the girl that God would bring into my life. So far there had been no sign of her. Doubts together with discouragement began to enter my mind.
It was a war within my mind and I labored under it for a period. One day I decided I had had enough, and, and a fit of rebellion against the doubt, marched myself down to a jewelry store in West Palm Beach. I picked out a nice engagement and wedding ring set and put the set on a three-year layaway plan.
That point in time was a crossroad for me and I am so thankful that I held the course. Timing is everything they say. Jumping ahead but without giving away the story of her appearance, I will say that two years and eleven months later, I made the last month’s payment for the engagement and wedding ring set and she put the engagement ring on her finger. Neat.
Not long after, early in 1970, a life-threatening event occurred for my niece, Jolee. Check out the next page for that story, “21 – God, faith, testimony, and the healing of Jolee”; a story not only of God’s response to the situation but also a story of faith.
Notes
What do I make of this experience?
There is a common element to be found in this story and the story of “9 – Prayer, faith, and my sister’s cat” found on an earlier page on this website. In both instances, there was a point in which doubt warred against my choice to believe and trust God. My reaction to both these instances was to reject the doubt and chose to believe and trust God. The end result of those choices was that I both found the cat and had an engagement and wedding ring set ready to be picked up shortly after I had met the girl, Pat, that God showed me in the dream.
The thing to learn from this is that when it comes to the things of God; there are two elements of which one or the other will rule: faith (belief and trust) or doubt. But there is something else to be learned. Both of these events took place over a period of time: one over the period of a day and culminating at the last moment of the day (when only a sliver of sun remained above the horizon) and the other over a period of seven years and culminating at the end of the seven year period. The point being made is that some things take time in God’s timeframe and that trust and belief in Him must necessarily endure during that timeframe. The saying, NEVER GIVE UP, is fundamental to a relationship with God.
The choice (one might call it a war) between doubt versus belief and trust in God is common to us all; a fact of life so-to-speak. This choice is never easy as it usually involves serious and significant real life stresses and anxieties as one walks through them. Many are the Scriptures that speak of those folks who made it through because they relied upon, called upon, believed in, and trusted God during a day of trial.
Some of the more well known Scriptural examples of belief and trust in God
Genesis 15:1-6 (KJV) The story of Abraham, found in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis is a story of faith and the trial that comes with it; choosing between doubt versus belief and trust in God. The story of Abraham is a story in which Abraham chose to believe and trust God and, in doing so, prevails. Check it out.
Genesis Chapter 37, Genesis 39, Genesis 40, & Genesis 41 (KJV) The same can be said of the story of Joseph, also found in the book of Genesis; a similar story of faith and the trial that comes with it; choosing between doubt versus belief and trust in God. The story of Joseph is a story in which Joseph chose to believe and trust God and, in doing so, prevails. Check it out.
Daniel Chapter 6 (KJV) And the same can be said of the story of Daniel, found in the book of Daniel; a similar story of faith and the trial that comes with it; choosing between doubt versus belief and trust. The story of Daniel is a story in which Daniel chose to believe and trust God and, in doing so, prevails. Check it out.