Faith and a Mulberry Tree

This was a lesson on faith, that I was never going to post on here, but because everyone loves this story, I decided I would.

Faith is something that I have always dealt with. There are times when I have a lot of it, and there are times when I lack it completely. Not as much anymore, but still more than I should. Please don't misinterpret what I am saying. I have faith that God exists, but where I lack is the faith in my everyday life. There are times when I just need to be able to rely on God, but I tend to not have the ability to give it to Him. I am always trying to solve my problems on my own.

Anyhow, I was dealing with the faith problem again, so I went to the Bible. I asked God to fix this problem, and I turned to the Bible for my guidance, and reassurance. I found in Luke 17:6 it says, "The Lord answered, "If you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,' and it would obey you!" (NLT)

I found this to be rather interesting. It also just so happens that I own a mulberry tree. :) It was probably around 1:00 am when I found this verse. It was a dark summer night, and there were plenty of people out and about in my neighborhood. I did not hesitate, I threw my shoes on and ran out side. I heard my husband calling after me, asking where I was going. I told him that I was on a mission and that I would explain later.

I walked up to the tree with a thousand thoughts going through my brain and a knot in my stomach. I sat there contemplating how I was going to do this. I thought about what an idiot I would look like talking to a tree. If ever there was a time that I looked like I was on drugs, this was it. I didn't care. I needed to see for myself. I needed to know...

I gathered my deepest most authorative voice that I could conjur up, and I said to the tree as it was looking at me, "Tree, uproot yourself and go into the lake." I got nothing. I wasn't disappointed at this point. I figured that I wasn't holding enough authority. I gave it another shot, I got enough authority, all of it that I could find, and with a few neighbors staring at me, I said "Tree uproot yourself and go into the lake!" All of a sudden the wind blew and the branches shook. I got so scared that I ran up the stairs and into the house as fast as I possibly could! It took me probably less than a second and a half to go peeling into the front door. My heart was racing! I was afraid.

Finally my husband looked at me annoyingly, "What are you doing and why are you running at this time of night?!?"

I said, "You are never going to believe this, but I think it works! I moved the mulberry tree with my voice, I bet it is in the lake now!!!"

Brandon said more confused than ever, "What are you talking about?" He looked out the window, and the tree was still there. I was speechless. It didn't work. I explained the situation to my husband, and all he could say was "You went outside at one in the morning to talk to a tree?" I coudn't deny it, the answer was yes.

I found myself to be rather upset, so I decided to call the pastor and his wife, also a pastor. They are always up late, and they always have such great things to tell me. When they answered the phone, I told them the situation and they laughed at me. I was so serious, and all they could do is laugh! I informed them that I didn't think the situation was too funny.

Rev Sudie said to me, "Nina, of course the tree didn't move!"

I argued back, "But the Bible says..."

"Honey, I know what the Bible says, but honestly, did you expect it to move?"

"I don't know."

"Well from your story, it sounds like you didn't expect it to move. If you were afraid of it actually moving, then you didn't expect it to work anyway. And besides Nina, why are you testing God? Did you actually NEED the tree to move? If you did NEED it to, and you knew in your heart and soul that it would, then I am one hundred percent positive that it would."

I was mad! She was one hundred percent right. There was doubt in my mind, so I tested my faith, with doubt in my mind. Of course it wasn't going to work. I think God shook the tree up just to laugh at me. I think that day he said, "Look at this foolish girl, I am going to have fun with her."

Besides giving God a good belly laugh, I learned a valuable lesson that day. I learned that we cannot test God's love for us. I learned that you cannot do things pretending to have faith, that the faith has got to be there, and I learned that God will show himself even when our faith is lacking. God loves us, and even though sometimes we need to know that he is there, if we reach out far enough, we will find him.

I guess my night with my tree wasn't wasted. It opened my eyes to myself. Faith is something that I have been working on since that night. And even though I know that I don't need that tree to move, I find myself periodically telling it that it will be moved one day. I pray for a reason to move it, but I know one day there will be. And when that day comes, I know that I will be prepared in watching it leave. I will smile at myself for how far I have come. One day, I am going to move mountains. Right now I am just preparing myself to do so!