The Trouble with Realism

⁹ “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

– Genesis 18:9-15 NIV

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We lack the faith to believe the impossible.

We aim for “realistic” instead of supernatural.

When everything looks awry, we succumb to consternation.

But really, we simply can’t see what the hands of God are doing behind the curtain of his love.

I don’t want to sound dry, but this is how the preponderance of humanity gazes upon life on this earth. And more often than not we take simple matters into our own hands and turn them into monstrosities than could’ve remained non-existent.

And so it was with Sarah.

She wanted a son. God had promised her a son. She most likely wanted to believe God, but in reality, failed to do so. In fact, it seemed so ridiculous that she laughed. The truth that God promised to her appeared so absurd that it was humorous. Thus, she laughed.

And so it is with us.

I suppose we aren’t eighty years old and incapable of having children yet, but our faith in God is rather the same in comparison to Sarah’s.

When faced with a difficult situation, we freak out most of the time. At least, I do anyway. Maybe you don’t, but I sure do.

Sometimes I look at the situations in my life and I more often than not take them for granted:

• My mom had my two brothers after seven miscarriages after another for eight long years of prayer and doubt.
• Me and my sister and both my brothers were born after the doctors told my mother at age twelve that she’d never have children.
• My father taught my sister and I to play a game on the road called “slugbug” where whenever you see a license plate from another state, you hit your opponent’s shoulder and yell “slugbug.” On the way home from California, we had been driving since three in the morning. Dad started to doze, and none of us noticed. There was a large semi truck in front of us and Dad wasn’t slowing. But still, we didn’t notice. Suddenly, Ally saw that the license plate of the truck was Idaho (and we were in Utah). “Slugbug!” she yelled and dad jolted awake as she hit his shoulder. Dad swerved out of the way just before hitting the semi. Ally only wanted to play slugbug and didn’t even know that God had just used her to save all our lives. Dad always reminds us that “Slugbug saved his life.”
•  When my sister Allison was about two years old, we took her to a pool party. Ally was just sitting by the pool letting her feet get wet. My mom turned to talk to my grandmother and didn’t see Ally drift slowly under the water. Suddenly, my cousin Tina spotted Ally’s hair atop the water floating towards the deep end of the pool and scooped her up before she ran out of air.

Those are only one of the many miracles my family and I have experienced. And yet, when my mother tells me that God has told her that we will receive money during this tough week from some source, why do I laugh and smirk? And should I be surprised when God did provide money for us? No.

When I look at my own life and at the lives of others around me, how can I dare think realistically?

I was watching the Olympics recently and my favorite events to watch are Equestrian (:D) and Women’s Gymnastics. When I was looking at Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Gabby Douglas, and Madison Kocian, I really thought that they can do the impossible.

 

I can’t say I have a favorite, because they’re all amazing (and that’s just mean 😛 ), but Simone is just amazing. When you think about her story, and all that she’s been through and accomplished, her journey to Rio 2016 is mind blowing. Especially knowing that she’s a Christian, relies on prayer before each event, and studies the Word, gives God even more glory. Her life, her story, and her sport. The feats she performs are simply stunning and I don’t think I’ve loved gymnastics more than I did this year. Simone, if you ever read this, just know that you’re awesome (ahhhhhh 🙂 ) and God is totally using you in amazing ways.

Simone Biles is a miracle.

I am so ready to stop believing realistically. It’s like Susan in Narnia:

Susan: I’m just trying to be realistic!

Peter: No, you’re trying to be smart – as usual!

I love Susan to pieces (she’s stinkin’ gorgeous), but she was always thinking realistically. And, in the end, she even stopped believing in Narnia. She began to think that it was only something they used to play as children and decided it was made up and it couldn’t have been a real world. It wasn’t “realistic.”

My whole life isn’t realistic. Look at it front to back, and it just doesn’t make sense. Nothing in my life makes sense. If Susan looked upon my life cover to cover, this is what she’d say: “I mean, logically it’s impossible.”

But the Father begs to differ.

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

– Matthew 19:26 NKJV

In God’s book, there is no impossible, and through the years, through all I’ve seen, he’s erasing the word impossible out of my dictionary.

Namárië,

Emily Greenleaf 😛

P.S. I’m getting ready to do my cosplay photoshoot for Leggy super soon. I know I keep saying that guys, but this time I think it’s happenin’!
P.P.S. I’m writing a story called Avengers: Eclipse that I hope to post soon, as well.

P.P.P.S. The Legolas Cosplay Tutorial will probably be released once the cosplay photos come out. Like five days after.

P.P.P.P.S. Ok, last postscript, I promise (I love postscripts; they’re so fun haha). My little sister Ally said she really loved it when I put polls on my blog, so here’s a fun one:

Ok, I’m officially done. Dare to erase live unrealistically! Love you guys…muah. :*