Tales from a Holy Land Pilgrim--Seeing is Believing

For many people, seeing is believing.  I am that way about some things.  In fact, one of my favorite phrases is, "we'll see." 

When it comes to matters of faith however, I am thankful that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  That means, He rewards us just for having enough faith and desire to go through the process of seeking Him, even before we ever "see" Him.

I first learned about God when I was in elementary school.  I don't remember the very first thing I learned, but I do remember that whatever it was, it made sense to me, and I believed. 

My earliest lessons about God, creation and life just fit and clicked with something on the inside of me and I've been walking and living by faith ever since.  Sure, I've stumbled along the way, but whenever I fell, God sent ministering angels to help lift me up and get me moving back in the right direction.  Sometimes He sent actual angelic beings, other times He used people as angels.  Yes, I said actual angelic beings--but that's a discussion for another blog.

My recent trip to the Holy Land enabled me to actually see some of the sites that I had read about in the bible that, by faith, I believed actually existed.  In walking on those sites and seeing what was described in the bible line up with history, it makes sense that if the bible is accurate about the details of where and when and through whom certain things took place, it's also accurate about what took place.

Here are some of the pictures from trip.  Some of you may have already seen them on my Facebook page: 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150708312492850&l=2a14f134fc

These are only a fraction of the pictures I took.  I'm still going through them and trying to remember what was what. Check my Facebook page for more updates in the coming days.

I believe God enabled me to take this breathtaking journey not because I needed tangible evidence to believe in Him, but as a reward because I chose to walk by faith and not by sight. 

Some of you may have a hard time wrapping your human minds around nebulous notions like faith. You may say, "I'll believe it when I see it."  But I say, "You'll see it when you believe it."

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen