Faith As Small As A Mustard Seed

If you have been reading any of my writings you will know I have been through some valleys. It happens to all of us which may be why I have such a deep connection to my readers. Some of those valleys were so deep and so dark and lonely it felt like I could never get out. All I had was hope and the belief that I would rise to the top again. But my faith was small.

When you are in the valley its tough to believe, its tough to stay positive and its even tougher to have faith. Christ himself said “if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

If you have ever looked at the book of Exodus when God leads the Israelites out of Egypt you will see that literally days after they saw God deliver all the plagues to the Egyptians and then drown the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, the Israelites were complaining against God because of the challenges they were facing.

I would like to say that I am not like this but I can tell you God has delivered me from some pretty big holes that I had dug. I dug the hole with my own shovel and needed help getting out. I think of a time in 2001 when I got sued for 6.5 million by one of the most unscrupulous bastards who I have ever done business. I felt like I was going to die every day and it seemed like every week I would get a bill from my attorney for 5 to 10 thousand dollars. I was bleeding 30 to 40 thousand a month in attorney’s fees to defend myself from a frivolous lawsuit and after 13 months, when I finally said to myself let it all go, that’s when miracles began to happen.

First, one Friday evening my wife Beth and I had a heart to heart. I remember it so clearly. I came home from work and she could see I was broken and hurting. The money was running out and the desire to keep fighting was waning. That night Beth told me that even if we lost everything we would still have each other so just let it all go.

Those were the words that changed everything. Let it go. The things that mattered most to me were my wife and my kids and Beth was telling me the stuff doesn’t mean anything so stop stressing over things you can’t control. That night I prayed and told God its ok, you can take it all. Then He stepped in. The case settled 3 weeks later and we had “won”. Frankly the only person who won was my attorney but once I let go I was free.

The only way to truly let go is to have faith that everything will work out for good. You can have the Murphy’s law attitude, which tells you if anything can go wrong it will and you will be right. But you can also have the attitude that everything, every challenge, every valley and every dark moment will work for your good and it will. This is the fundamental difference between winning and losing, it’s the attitude which determines what you will get out of it.

I know deep down I am not too different at times from the Israelites, I gripe and moan because I’m not getting what I want at this very moment when a month ago God delivered me from a valley that would break most anyone.

It was a time I was out of money, I had fired all of my employees because I could not afford to pay my bills and have any excess draw on the company. I needed twenty grand and I needed it quick, like in a week. That next week I closed 130,000 in business which netted me 46,000. The week while it was happening I couldn’t see it but I kept working, kept believing. This isn’t hype this is real life. I remember years ago, around 2007 needing 120,000 net by month end and it came 3 days before the end of the month.

Does this stuff happen by accident or does the God of the universe give us what we need when we need it? I can say that in my experience the answer is yes. But I can also say I never expect something to just fall in my lap, I work with the faith as little as a mustard seed.

If you are looking for your breakthrough it often comes when you are at the point when you can no longer give any more that’s when to quote Forest Gump, “and all of a sudden God showed up.” Just take one more step and before long you will be able to look back on the mountain of obstacles you have overcome.

To your lifelong prosperity,

David Mulvaney