The Simple Things

I'm a girl that has an appreciation for the simple things.

Fountain Diet Cokes make my day.

I squeal from excitement over a good Subway sandwich.

My dream date would consist of going to a car wash and getting the upgraded wash, with all the different colored waxes and hub cap shine.

But my most simple recent obsession has come in the form of a powder.

Powdered peanut butter, to be exact.

PB2 is a powdered peanut butter, that is simply dried and crushed peanuts, that has 85% less fat then regular peanut butter.

And all you have to do is add water.

Put  two tablespoons of PB2 in a bowl,

Add one tablespoon of water,

Stir,

And you have creamy, delicious, healthy peanut butter.

It's so simple,

Add water and stir,

And you're done.

Sometimes, I think I look at my relationship with God,

And the way He answers my prayers,

Like I look at PB2.

I should only have to do is pray about it,

And the work will be done.

Add water and stir.

Most recently, I've been praying that God will increase my faith.

Increase my faith in His love,

Increase my faith in His ability,

Increase my faith in His plan for my life.

And I'm not sure why, but somehow, in the midst of these prayers, I think I expected to just wake up one day and discover-

"Wow, overnight my faith has grown! I have doubts no more".

But instead,  God put me in situations that forced me to take a step back and think-

Am I really going to trust God in this?

How much do I believe?

And am I willing to wait and see how He is going to work?

I expected add water and stir peanut butter,

But instead, I got something much more complicated.

I discovered, that most of the time, God isn't just going to give us faith,

Or patience,

Or strength,

He's going to put us in messy,

And hard,

And complicated situations that require us to grow our faith,

And our patience,

And our strength.

And it's through this process that we become true followers,

Not just blind believers.

So tonight,

As I head downstairs to make my PB2 sandwich for lunch tomorrow,

I am grateful for the work,

And the tough situations,

And the messy circumstances.

Tonight, I choose to be grateful for the complicated,

Because it's the complicated that will in turn grow my faith.

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything