Rising Above SEE Level

This morning I am thinking about how, when I was a little girl, I used to love to lie down on the grass in the yard and look up at the sky.  I watched the clouds forming and transforming into various shapes, driven by the unseen wind.  With my eyes scanning the vast expanse, I tried to fathom just how high and how wide it must be.  Beyond the immeasurable blue veil, I envisioned that there was a glorious place I had been taught about called Heaven.  And I would speak from my heart to the awesome God Who created all things, as far as my eyes could see and beyond.  I talked to God about everything.  It never occurred to me that any concern or request might be too silly, too small, or too big to share.  For instance I remember once praying for my puppy to be healed because he was very sick, and I didn’t want him to die.  I was fully convinced that God was real, that He knew me, that He cared about me, and that He was great enough to do absolutely anything.  It was as simple as that.  I must confess, however, that it didn’t stay that way.  Truthfully, my faith walk got to be ridiculously complicated over the years.  As I reflect on the possible reasons, it all seems to come down to this—my focus shifted from God to myself.  I spent less and less time praying and trusting, but more and more time trying to figure and work things out on my own.  Gradually and increasingly, I bought into the faulty idea that there was a dichotomy between spiritual things (which God cared about) and all the other stuff (which I needed to handle).  Moreover, I abandoned the practice of diligently seeking an invisible God as I adopted a mindset of “seeing is believing.”  Rather than walking by faith, most of my decisions and actions were based on what I could see with my natural eyes.  But lots of times, what I could see definitely did not lead to believing.  Instead it led to fear, confusion and discouragement.  Today my faith has been quickened upon hearing this precious, loving exhortation in my spirit:  “Trust Me.  Every sincere desire of your heart will be realized, the more you rise above SEE level.”  I know exactly what this means.  It means I am being called to a revival of childlike trust, through which I am convinced that God is real, that He knows me, that He cares about me, and that He is great enough to do absolutely anything...if I will just BELIEVE.  Right now, I believe I am going to find someplace with a view of the sky.