Don't Get Stuck - Kristin Sterk

Today Dan and I were headed up to Hudsonville area for a Christmas party – that means a road trip and time for some great conversations. Sometimes we sit silent, yet other times we just talk each other’s ears off with deep, heartfelt conversations. Today was one of those deep and heartfelt conversations.

We have thought and talked much about Belize in the past 24 hours. Still get a little choked up over God’s grace, but it has sunk in a little more and we just know it’s in humbleness that we accept the call and thankfulness that God has given us something to look so forward to. One of things Dan put so well is that “emotions grow the faith.” Faith to us is shown in action and belief. It is what we DO with our faith, that matters. Faith is not something we can simply “believe” – it’s what we do with that belief that matters. It can’t simply BE an emotion. As Dan said that, the more I thought about it, and the more I found that to be true.

We started to reflect on our life in 2012. The months leading up to 2012 were filled with so much excitement over having children through a gestational carrier. Then we were presented with the opportunity to adopt someone. After much prayer, we realized that is not what God wanted for us at the time – that was not easy! Then the tornado happened. That experience immensely changed our perspective on life. It was the emotions of that experience that increased our faith. The utter realization that God is so mighty that He can create a tornado, form ice that is softball size, and allow a tornado to do the damage it did. The emotional aftermath of something like that increased our faith in ways we didn’t expect. We realized even MORE so, our life is not our own – at ANY MINUTE, God could take us home to be with Him. That emotion and thought process started a new mindset for us – one of living a contented and simple life. We had to allow our faith to inch into every area of our life – that is what God was preparing us for.

Then September hit. We have never cried so much in our life it seems. With losing our babies and Dan losing his job, boy, we were a mess. Back then, tears could start flowing at any minute. We are in a MUCH better place today! But like I said before, God gave us tear ducts for a reason, right? Even yesterday, I had a hard time not continually crying over what God was doing in our life. I was so overwhelmed – it was the emotions that I was feeling, that reminded me that God has not forgotten about us and He has us under His wing. Losing our babies and God not placing us in a church yet, we can either let our emotions drive us, or our faith. It is a DAILY CHOICE to choose faith.

What emotional experiences has God taken you through that have increased your faith? We think back to our mission trips with our youth group – those are often emotional experiences – that often end up growing the faith tremendously. I remember our trip to Newark, New Jersey. We were blocks away from the Cripp headquarters, but also located between two projects, that were controlled by the Bloods and Cripps (rival gangs). That experience for many of our youth group kids was emotional. It brought their faith to a new level because of the things they had seen and the emotions it drew out of them. The tears and heartbrokenness they had for those children, led them to do a backpack and clothing drive. We ended up sending 11 big boxes of school supplies and clothes to Newark, NJ. That was a beautiful representation of God using emotional experiences to increase the faith the youth group.

Do you let your emotions drive you to action? When something causes you to get choked up, do you just let it stay an emotion, or do you let it increase your faith and draw you to act out on it? God has taught us that we can’t simply go through life thinking that all will go as planned. At ANY MINUTE our life could change drastically. When those moments come, will you let your faith drive you or will you get stuck in the emotions? Trust me, it’s easy to get “stuck.”

Don’t get “stuck.”