What If?

My Beautiful Daughter Ethecie - 12 years old

The beautiful girl in the picture hiding behind the yellow balloon is my oldest daughter, Ethecie. (She would want you to know it is pronounced Etessee, without the "h.") She is 12 years old and joined our family from her home country of Haiti when she was 9. A conversation with her recently made me think of how the disciples must have felt during this time we celebrate as Easter weekend.

She heard my husband and I discussing a person who had passed away due to cancer. A few minutes later she came to me and said, "Mommy, what if you got cancer? What would you do?" Sometimes Ethecie surprises me with "What If" questions. Although she is living a wonderful life here with us now, she has already known a great deal of heartache and sorrow in her young life. I think her life now is still somewhat surreal to her, and so as she is learning to walk by faith these questions will come to her. What if mom and dad don't stay together - what if they get a divorce? What if I don't know what God wants me to do with my life? What if I marry the wrong person? And as each question comes up, we talk about what the Bible says and learn a little more about having faith in God's Word. When she asked me this question, it was not a difficult thing to answer. I was incredibly blessed to grow up in a culture of faith and healing that planted the healing Word deep into my heart. So immediately up out of my heart came faith - "I'd pray and stop it. I would use the Word to make it leave my body and I would be healed!" A glance at the smile on her face told me that was all she needed to hear. She said, "Okay" and went about her day in peace.

I can imagine the disciples on Saturday, fighting What If? thoughts and emotions. What if He doesn't rise again? What if the soldiers come for us next? What if these last 3 years were just a supernatural season that's over now? What if we never see Jesus again - what will we do?

It would be easy to read the Bible and feel tempted to almost look down on the disciples for their lack of faith at times, but if we are honest, we have all had those What If moments. The key is in realizing that it's not the question that determines the outcome - but rather how you answer it! Ethecie was willing to take my answer of faith in the Word and believe it. In Matthew 10 and Luke 18 there are accounts when Jesus told the disciples that the only way to enter the Kingdom of God is to receive it as a child would.

My girls take my word for things. They know that mommy is very careful not to make promises she can't keep, and because of that they trust my word. Even though I'm not perfect at it and there are sometimes changes in plans, my track record of keeping my word to them assures them that when I tell them something, they can count on it. That's why Ethecie walked away without care or concern after our conversation. She knows my heart and my faith in the Word of God, so she trusted my words to her.

If we can learn to trust the word of someone here on earth, how much more can and should we trust the infallible Word of our Father God! 2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us that all of the promises of God are Yes and Amen! When a What If question comes to your mind, that is the moment you need to lean and rest fully on the promises of God. Even if it is just a thought in your mind, never let a question that raises doubt go unanswered! Use the powerful, two-edged sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, to cut doubt and unbelief into pieces and win every time.

I am so thankful that just as Jesus promised, on that third day He rose again! The promise He made to the disciples to rise again was fulfilled and eternal life was won for everyone who would receive it. What a glorious and most precious time this weekend is to celebrate the resurrection of Christ that took away every What If question and launched the Body of Christ into the taking of the Gospel around the world. Happy Easter everyone - Jesus is alive! 

Debbie Beck