Friday, March 21, 2008
The Big Step!
By Ramone - March 14, 2008
The other night I was explaining the picture "Unhooked!" to Yoko, and when I got to the part about holding onto SDA beliefs like the "state of the dead" because of fear, I remembered that I'd felt the same feeling of fear (worry of being deceived & lost) when my friend Hazel had first told me the Biblical truth about keeping the Sabbath day not being what saves us (you can read that story here). And it reminded me of an illustration a friend acted out about that fear...
I had gone to visit Hazel after reading a prophecy she'd been given and that was on the internet at that time. Hearing the Gospel (saved by faith, not by our good works) applied to SDA end-time theology was new to me, but because I had read Romans and the New Testament through twice the year before, the words of the truth resonated in me and I heard God calling me in my heart. But all the years of growing up under an intense conditioning of fear in SDA would not give up without a fight! Even though I knew what was Biblically correct, I still felt fear and felt afraid to take the step into Biblical truth. It felt nervous! The SDA belief had been my security, and now it felt like I was going into a place where it wouldn't be secure...
Shortly after that first meeting, I invited my friends to come with me. I had been doing research into some SDA things and had been sharing it with most of them. At the meeting one friend shared something about "Sabbath" meaning "the Sabbath day" and the Spirit began to shake Hazel and she couldn't contain it. She politely interrupted (saying she couldn't hold it) and said, "JESUS IS YOUR SABBATH!" (For more on that, read this link and this page).
The next day I talked with friends who were at the meeting, who had also felt the Spirit's impact in that statement, "Jesus is your Sabbath!", and had it resonate and reverberate deep in their hearts -- amen! That's right! Jesus is our Sabbath-rest! He will give us rest!
But as we were walking and talking, we also shared about how nervous we felt about it, even though we knew it was right! My friend L.H. illustrated it by standing at the edge of the sidewalk and sticking his foot out, saying, "I feel like this!" And we agreed!
As I explained this to Yoko the other night and told her how I'd experienced the same feeling when the Lord showed me the truth about the "state of the dead" (see the whole story here), I remembered and re-enacted my friend L.H.'s visual illustration. And I realized in my spirit (He said it!) that I needed to draw it! So here it is! (L.H., if you're reading this, sorry the picture doesn't quite look like you! Hehe.)
This is that step of faith that He calls us to make, when we feel like there is no "ground" in front of us, and we don't know if we'll be caught by Him or not after we take the step. It is stepping into trusting Him, stepping into the arms of the living God. In our case, it was leaving what seemed to be "concrete" and finding out it wasn't concrete! And as we made that "step", we found God's arms to be much, much stronger! He became our rest! Not our own foundation, but Him. He is wonderful!
# posted by Ramone @ 11:03 PM 
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Wow, how cool and how cute! This picture taken by my friend Leila reminds me of this art picture I drew! And how prophetic that it is a child taking that step!
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