Sarah.

We love Sarah.

I picture a lovely 90 year old tender hearted, spunky, imperfect woman with gray hair (I love silver gray hair!) when God promised her at the age of 65 she would have a baby and she laughed to herself. She laughed out of doubt and unbelief. But little did she know that doubt was going to be tested for another 25 years.

She clung to God's promise and not to her faith.

I feel like I could learn such a rich lesson from Sarah. When we know God's promises, we read them in scripture, we only know them, but until we believe them, His promises don't become our faith.

I fall into this often.

At the beginning of this year, God promised us we would be debt-free by the end of this year. I laughed in unbelief. $22,000 paid in one year when we live on one small income, are you crazy God? Oh, I had my doubts. But months passed, we faithfully put chunks into the debt. I just sold my dream car, my bright yellow beetle and traded it for a rickety old truck, and put another $5,000 into debt. I am humbled to say we have $2,200 left to pay off with 2 more months to go. Praise the Lord? My laughter has turned into faith, anticipating the promise to be fulfilled.

Like Sarah, we often laugh in unbelief because we don't truly believe God's promises, we just know them. And for Sarah, she made a lot of mistakes throughout her 25 years of unbelief. I am so challenged by Sarah. She was as human as any of us. She had her doubts, tried to make her own plans, questioned her husband. She gave her maid Hagar to her husband, Abraham, to conceive the promised child. But God didn't make the promise to Hagar, He made the promise to Sarah. Relationships were broken, trust was broken, but I just love it, God still fulfilled His promise even in her doubts and mistakes.

No matter how many mistakes she made or how she tried to do things her own way, she was still faithful to her husband and to God.

Isn't that so true how we complicate God's plans by trying to make our own plans? I know it's true for me. His plans are still going to be fulfilled whether we spend the time doubting or believing. I am just so humbled by the richness of His promises.

 How would our life be lived differently if we laughed with faith when God gave us a promise? We could bypass the 25 years of unbelief and just live in His promise today. What has God promised you?