Avalon Chronicles #4: "The Gift of Faith"

Avalon Chronicles #4     "The Gift of Faith"

From time to time, the author and originator of this blog “Avalon” (my husband Allen Clark) has encouraged me to write about some truth I have gleaned and shared with him to be submitted for possible publication.

It has occurred to me many times while observing Allen's approach to life, that in the adversities and challenges of himself and others, he immediately takes them to his Heavenly Father in prayer.  Like a child running home to tattle on his playmates and tell his dad so his dad can fix it for him, Allen races to his Father in heaven in prayer asking and believing that all will be well and it usually is.  Much to my chagrin I have observed this eternal optimist overcome overwhelming odds to achieve his goals time after time until it finally dawned on me, Allen has the gift of faith!

With his 'child on Christmas morning' joy and enthusiasm, he welcomes each new day with expectancy and delight.  Admittedly, though I sometimes defend my pessimism by declaring that I am a practical  realist, I believe Allen may be the winner in that he seems to derive such joy by looking up rather than by looking down.

In my Bible reading the other morning I was reading about Jesus walking on the water.

The passage from John 6:21(KJV) reads “Then they willingly received him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land to which they went.”  This stung and resonated in my spirit as I realized that when we invite Jesus into our life, our situation, our boat, almost without effort we are immediately at the place we need to be.  Often the first thing He does is give us His peace and we can then think more clearly about how to solve or resolve what we are dealing with.  Sometimes we just have to accept the situation or go in a different direction.  Whatever the answer turns out to be, with Jesus in our boat we soon reach land.

How many times have I heard Allen say in telling his story about overcoming the loss of his legs, that when Jesus became Lord of his life, he began to heal?  I saw for the first time, that the physical power that was taken from Allen was replaced by the spiritual power given by going to the Lord His help.

We live in a world of walking wounded.  Broken hearts, hard hearts abound in this imperfect world we live in.  There is a hospital complete with a specialty for all the ills of mankind that is never depleted. There is the great physician who never tires, who has a storehouse that never becomes empty and that can minster to every need we can ever have.  Running to Him he can bind up every wound, heal every broken heart and set every captive free.

Allen lives the example of someone who runs to Jesus (the Lord of his life) for all his needs to be met and how completely and how beautifully they are met.  His prayers may not always be answered exactly the way he asks or what he would like but they are always answered by what he needs.

Linda

P.S.  Dear Reader:

I feel compelled to add that Allen was hesitant and shy to publish this as he felt it was too laudatory of him.  I encouraged him that he should do it before I became “disenchanted” about something and changed my mind about the whole thing.  (If you are a wife you will understand this).