Skipping Faith

Hello, all. Want to talk to you briefly this morning about three things which are: skipping faith, tottering faith and "Ultimately" faith. Here is an explanation of each, as I see it:

• Skipping Faith is the kind of faith that I had as a child. This was faith that propelled me onward through my charcoal bucket, cotton chopping, water hauling and holey shoes days. This was the faith that told me that I was just as good as the next person because the Lord loved me. This was the faith that told me that I could and would be somebody one day if I just kept on believing in Jesus.
• Tottering Faith is the kind that I gained as a result of life being allowed to happen to me without the full benefit of the Lord's protection (i.e. when the hedges had been taken down and I had the opportunity to learn a smidgen of what life was about without that protection that I had thought I would never lose). I remember thinking some of the time, "What would I do if I ever lost this protective help that is such an integral part of my life?" Another name for this type of faith is crawling faith. In this stage of faith, you learn just how helpless you are without Him, but you keep moving toward Him, even when you have to crawl.
• "Ultimately" Faith is that kind of faith that has seen hardships and knows what the loss of the protective hedges can do to a life. This is that kind of faith that says, "One day, He's going to wipe all of my tears away if I just remain faithful and keep moving on toward Him and Heaven, my home. This is the tearful rejoicing stage of faith because the hedges have been put back in place for a battle scarred and weary soldier to have her wounds tended.

This is my walk of faith, y'all. This came to my mind in a moment of epiphany as I was doing my morning prayer. I hope it blessed your spirit in whatever way you needed it this morning. I make no apologies. This is who I am.

Doing What I Can, While I Can,
Alma Jones

I do know that ultimately is an adverb and that I am using it incorrectly in bullet three. But, using it this way epitomizes what the word does for me. It says to me, though things are happening in my life and have happened in my life that I just do not understand, God does. "Ly" words tell how, to what degree something is done. (Adverbs are used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb and often used to show degree, manner, place, or time ) When I see this word or hear it, it says to me, the Master Planner has it all under control. He, because of His meticulous planning for my life, has "jic's" in place for all contingencies; He has care packages available for me and messengers ready to get them to me according to all of the "ly's" in my life.
       *jic - just in case