The Possible In Impossible

MANY THINGS THAT WERE IMPOSSIBLE when I was young are not only possible today but also commonplace: smartphones and smart watches, e-readers, electric cars, 3D movies, Alexa, and spell-check. Our idea of what seems impossible changes constantly.

God calls us to believe the possible in what seems impossible: to follow Him without knowing the destination, to trust Him with the desires of our hearts, to rely on His plans that don’t always make sense to us. Trusting God for the impossible enables us to become less dependent on what others think and more dependent on Him. This is what the Bible calls faith. And Hebrews 11:6 tells us that “without faith, it is impossible to please God” (NIV).

When I was twelve years old, I walked to church with my little sister and responded to the gospel the first time I heard it. I knew nothing about faith, but that day I believed that God had sent His Son, Jesus, to pay for my sins on the cross. I couldn’t see Jesus, but I asked Him to be my Savior. With the faith of a child, my eternity was changed—the possible in impossible. My parents didn’t let me return to that church, but God continued to do the impossible in my life as He slowly transformed me.

My husband has an impossible story too. At sixteen, he attended a Christian ski camp because he wanted to see snow. It never snowed, but when he heard that God loved him enough to send Jesus to die for him, he responded to His love.

The faith story Bob and I would write together may seem embellished, made for TV, impossible to believe. We were not likely candidates to do the impossible, but the God we placed our faith in is not limited by personalities or circumstances. By faith, Bob helped start a Christian movement on our college campus. Two years later, as a student, I met him and attended his group’s weekly gathering, where I learned more about the Christian life and the Bible. With a little bit of faith, I started a Bible study with the girls who lived around me. Bob is known for his courage, but courage is not my strong suit. I was learning, however, that every time the Lord gave a seemingly impossible assignment to people in the Bible, from Noah to His disciples, He promised, “I will be with you.” Would He be with me too? I wondered when I invited the girls to join me.

Do you wonder whether God will be with you, should you attempt the impossible? The Bible assures us that He will be with us “always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). What impossibility is circling in your mind, causing your heart to beat faster? Is God calling you to go on a mission trip, volunteer at a pregnancy center, share the gospel with a coworker, foster children, repair a damaged relationship, or something else?

When we put our little bit of faith in our big God, He does the impossible. I have a sense of awe when I ponder the impossible transformation God made in my life and in the lives of the girls who joined me in our campus Bible study. Each story is unique, but in the years since college, all of us have counted on the Lord to make the impossible possible. One friend counted on Him to restore a marriage. Another dealt with terminal breast cancer, while another surrendered her fears as she regularly ministered in Cuba. I carried a baby that a doctor warned me to abort—or we would both die. The Christian group Bob helped start is still going strong on that college campus fifty years later. Trusting God to do the impossible has a ripple effect that we will not fully comprehend until heaven, and He alone gets all the glory!

Life is replete with things that seem impossible. Don’t let fear, doubt, and insecurity prevent you from trusting God’s plan. He won’t ask you to do what He asked of me. He has a unique plan for you, and it’s an impossible plan too—one that requires faith. But Matthew 19:26 reminds us, “With God all things are possible.” And you can be assured that He will be with you every step of the way, backing you up.

Isaiah 42:16 says, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them” (NIV). Our small faith in our mighty God makes the impossible possible.

REFLECTION

Take some time to pray and consider what God might be asking you to do. What seems impossible about it? Write down Matthew 19:26 and Matthew 28:20 to remind yourself that God will never leave you and that all things are possible with Him.