The Father of Faith

Posted on by beautybeyondbones

Hey friends!

Gosh, I am so grateful for you! Thank you for all the kind comments on my last post, reminding me of my worth and purpose right now, as I’m growing my child in my belly!!

You all never cease to amaze me with your insight and wisdom!

So – the biggest news this week is…….

WE’RE FINDING OUT THE GENDER ON THURSDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

We are beyond excited! We’re going to do a little gender reveal with my family and Steven’s family afterwards, and gosh — it’s going to be such a surreal day!

At that appointment, I’m also going to find out about my placenta. Because at the 12 week ultrasound they told me that I have an anterior placenta — meaning the the placenta forms on the opposite side than normal: aka the front side of your uterus, instead of side closest to your spine.

If all goes as planned, this will not have any negative impact on my pregnancy. However, if since the 12 week ultrasound my placenta has grown downwards and is covering my cervix, that means it has become a placenta previa – which is a dangerous condition for both baby and mother. And means that you have to be on bedrest and get a cesarian section.

So I’m praying that I don’t have that.

Anyway — we’re officially into the second week of Lent, and yesterday’s Gospel –the story of God asking Abraham to offer his son, Isaac as a sacrifice to God — caused quite the discussion among my husband and I.

Maybe because we’re expecting a child of our own, but it just struck us as a really horrific story in the Bible: God asking Abraham to kill his kid.

Yikes.

I mean, we’re heard this story a zillion times over, but for whatever reason, only now — only being married with a baby in my belly — did the severity and frankly: the darkness of this story really hit.

And of course, being a cradle Catholic, I knew the textbook answer: “God was testing Abraham,” and “it’s a preview of God’s beloved son, Jesus dying on the Cross” – but that just wasn’t good enough for either Steven or I.

So we went to the actual de facto authority of the Church: Fr. Mike Schmitz and his Bible in a Year podcast. And during dinner, we played the episode that covered this Bible story.

And sure enough, we were not disappointed.

Fr. Mike shed some light on an often misinterpreted fact: Isaac was not some seven year old child.

Isaac was a man. With Abraham being well over 100 years old, Isaac was probably in his thirties: just like Jesus, who was 33 when He gave His life.

But Isaac was old enough and strong enough to not only carry the wood all the way to the offering site, but also strong enough to overpower Abraham if he wanted to.

And what is more: is that Isaac was also old enough to fully commit to offering himself as a sacrifice to God.

So instead of simply looking at this story through the lens of Abraham, ready to kill his son…we should also look at it as the teamwork of Abraham and Isaac, and his willingness to offer his life in obedience to God.

So when you think about that, it really sheds some new light on the story. That Isaac was part of this whole ordeal: he was a ready, willing and obedient participant.

And it reminds us that we need to be willing to surrender everything to God.

The last thing is this: Abraham knew that God wasn’t going to make him go through with the sacrifice. Just like God spared Abraham’s other son, Ishmael, from the same fate, Abraham knew that God wanted only good things for him.

But he had to be willing to surrender everything.

This is a lesson that has been a theme in my life numerous times.

During my anorexia: the only way I found healing was to totally and completely surrender the control of my body, of my thinking, of my fears and autonomy. I had to relinquish control of my eating disorder, and that was incredibly difficult to do.

But at inpatient, I had to let go and give Him the reins, knowing that God would not let me fall. He had a good, and beautiful plan for me — one that did not involve anorexia. And so even though I wanted to maintain that control over my body — and the false god that it had become in my life, I had to completely surrender it.

2006 (in the throes of anorexia) vs. healthy and thriving today

And sure enough, His hands were there to carry me to health, to recovery, to new life, to forgiveness and to peace. And I can truly say, that without Him, I would still be in that dark place. I would have no recovery without Him.

It taught me to totally and completely — recklessly so — put my faith in God.

And still, to this day, that is how I operate my life. Perhaps a little too much, but I just know that in literally all areas of life God is going to provide. God is going to make what is supposed to happen, happen.

He has never failed me:

Find an incredible spouse who is a man of God? Check.

Find a route back to Ohio that is good, healthy, and beneficial for both me and my spouse: Check.

Overcome the overwhelming odds post-anorexia and conceive a child: Check. ((I will just remind you — to show the power of God — that I didn’t menstruate until I was 29.))

God is working, and I am just throwing my hands in the air and letting Him.

So though, yes, I have some fears and trepidations about this whole placenta thing: I know that God is in control. I know that He is carrying me through this pregnancy, and my job is to just let Him do what He does best: take care of His children.

I have learned over and over again that God will never abandon us, and only wants good, good things for His children.

And even if something from the outside doesn’t seem like it’s a good thing…God will make it so that something good does come from it.

So anyway. There you go. That’s all for tonight.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your evening, and I will talk to you on Wednesday…and then THURSDAY, when we find out the big news!!

** And just a housekeeping thing — on Thursday — logistically: we’re going to be doing our gender reveal with our families at 7pm. SO that is when we will be finding out for the first time…THEREFORE…I’m going to just make the call now that the news will be in a special edition FRIDAY POST. It will be a video. So be on the look out for that! 🙂 **

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beautybeyondbones

BBB: Because we're all recovering from something. // For speaking/business inquiries: beautybeyondbones@yahoo.com

21 thoughts on “The Father of Faith”

  1. On Sunday, the sermon at my church was all about faith and how without faith, we can’t please God (Hebrews 11:6). God is definitely speaking to me through you in this post! May we have faith in Christ’s work and not our own. 🫶

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  4. Most importantly, we love y’all and keep y’all in our daily prayers. God is good and never leaves your side(heart). As a parent of 5, 2 of which I have buried; I think of the 1st reading more as a test for Abraham commitment, trust, and faith in God. Unconditional love and obedience of God.

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  6. Congrats! And yep, Isaac was old enough to consent, since he never overpowered Abraham. Could have, but he didn’t, which means (a) that human sacrifice was the norm at the time, and (b) God’s test of Abraham was also a BIG NEON SIGN saying, “Do NOT do this. Anyone who does this is on My bad side. So DON’T DO IT.”

    Oddly enough I ended up going into that in a bit more depth here: https://carolinefurlong.wordpress.com/2024/02/02/stupid-christians-or-what-do-people-of-faith-actually-believe/. Got a little fed up with certain tropes we see in certain places. (Also, good call on listening to Fr. Schmitz – he’s great!)

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  7. I totally understand your uncomfortable-ness of the Abraham/Isaac story, and it would be more relevant as you prepare for your baby’s arrival. We too initially had thought of Isaac as a child, but also like you, listened to Fr. Mike for a clarification.

    And please know we are sending prayers as you and Steven deal with this placenta situation. Unfortunately, the worries of a parent start during the pregnancy and actually never end. The worries just change as you traverse through their lives. Welcome to parenthood, and we look forward to finding out who will be joining your family! Hugs!

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  8. An excellent posting. You are to be congratulated.
    First, let me say this. Both my children were born by Caesarian. It’s not that bad. No 14 hours of labor, no drinking cigarettes and smoking coffee all night, playing solitaire til dawn with a deck of 51. …. Lol. It is more like a “procedure”. The recovery is a little longer but I’m sure you will have great help.
    Your teaching of Abraham and Issac is top notch. I had never thought of Issac in those terms. But Issac and Abraham remind is of another submissive giant of faith, Stephen. Oh that I could be like them when asked of me. Not only do we need to read and understand, but we must apply what we have learned.
    God bless y’all as you proceed your pregnancy, child birth, child rearing and beyond. I’m sure y’all will be great parents… I’m praying for you.

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  11. We had complications galore with all three of our daughter’s birthsFirst one went 3 weeks past due date, and when I was laboring, started showing multiple signs of distress, we had an emergency C-section. With 2nd pregnancy, I found out I had been “isoimmunized” during first delivery (look that one up! It was not the RH factor, but, rather, I am negative in THREE minor blood groups. Baby 2 had to be taken early, 34 weeks, and had an initial Apgar score of 1, but with a high level NICU, modern medicine saved the day. But I had this thought that there was one more baby “waiting in line” for us. We waited a few years and then consulted with a high risk practitioner, and decided try one more time. Third baby ended up being delivered at 32 weeks, can’t even remember why, but she was in pretty good shape. She did have some mild learning disorder, but I homeschooled my children, so I found an awesome phonics specialist to tutor my daughter, and I pushed her way further in math than she wanted to go! 😂 She’s married to a math whiz now! And in addition to 3 LOVELY daughters, my husband & I now have 15 grandchildren.
    Like you said, live in faith, give your life to God. We simply cannot out-give God in His blessings, and even our sufferings shower us with blessings, as we draw closer and closer to The Holy Trinity. God is SOOOO good! ❤️ 🙏🏻

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  12. “Abraham knew that God wasn’t going to make him go through with the sacrifice.”
    I am inclined to disagree with this statement. Interpreting Scripture with Scripture, Hebrews 11 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead…”
    It appears Abraham WAS going to kill Isaac. However, his faith had already been expressed to the servants BEFORE they went up the mountain, when Abraham told them, “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Genesis 22:5

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  13. As for Isaac’s age, there is no indication of it in the Genesis 22 passage, but as you note, he was NOT a child, as he carried the wood, and Abraham was over 100! So Isaac must have been at least a strapping teenager or young adult. Why would he cooperate with his aged dad and allow himself to be placed on the altar!? This speaks of Abraham’s tremendous faith also as well as his fatherhood. He had so thoroughly taught and demonstrated his faith in YHWH that Isaac must have believed as Abraham did that God would raise him after being sacrificed! What a testimony to Abraham’s leadership as a parent! ❤️&🙏, c.a.

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  14. Hi Caralyn, I am so happy for you and Steven! Your faith in God and love of Jesus is wonderful! I am praying for you and, yes, God is in control and that He will provide for all your needs. Rest easy dear one.

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  15. Hey Caralyn 🙂

    I saw this post, I saw the previous post, … but I didn’t READ them. 😐 They were in the TL;DR category. :/

    But now I was reviewing the WORLD’s “I want” posts — and there it showed up:

    “And so even though I wanted to maintain that control over my body — and the false god that it had become in my life, I had to completely surrender it.”

    Yes, “I wanted” matches “I want”. And yet even now, I still searched for “want” in this post … and didn’t read everything. This is a difficulty I have with TL;DR … I have a very short attention span, and I feel like I lose interest in long stories quite easily.

    Is this my problem, or your problem, or OUR problem?

    Who knows? (LOL — maybe that’s also a case of “be careful of what you ask for” 😉 )

    🙂 Norbert

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  16. Yes, your faith will carry you through!! Today is Thursday and you are doing the “reveal” tonight with family. How exciting! I am praying with you that “…you [DO NOT] have to be on bedrest and [DO NOT HAVE TO] get a cesarean section!!” But even if that happens, I know God’s gotcha in His divine care through all of this! YES!!

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    1. Hi Jan! thank you so much for your prayers and kindness! yes! that’s what we’re praying for too! but you’re absolutely right – God has carried me through everything in life, and if that is part of this journey, I know he’ll carry me then too! 🙂 Hugs and love xox

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