Holy Habit: When Faith Laughs
Trusting God in the Places That Still Look Impossible
One of my favorite things to do is laugh. It always has been. I love the kind of laugh where you can’t catch your breath, your stomach hurts, and whatever was so funny probably wasn’t even that funny to begin with. LOL!
But I got to thinking about something: we really don’t talk about laughter very much when we talk about going deeper with God.
We talk about prayer. Surrender. Obedience. Studying Scripture. Fasting. Worship. Serving. Forgiving. Persevering. And yes, every one of those things is an incredibly important and beautiful part of growing deep roots in our walk with God.
But somewhere along the way, I think we can start believing spiritual maturity is supposed to look very serious all the time.
And yet… God created laughter.
He created that ridiculous belly laugh that makes your eyes water. He created the ability for joy to bubble up right in the middle of an ordinary Tuesday. He created those moments when you look across the table at someone you love and one little glance sends both of you over the edge.
There’s something wonderfully human about laughter.
And I think there’s something holy about it too.
One of my favorite pictures of Jesus is an image of Him laughing. Of course, we don’t have a photograph telling us exactly what Jesus looked like or a verse that says, “And Jesus laughed until He cried,” but I love the reminder that Jesus was fully human. He sat around tables. He went to weddings. He loved people. Children wanted to be around Him. I have a hard time imagining all of that without warmth, delight—and yes, laughter.
And then there’s Sarah.
Oh, Sarah makes me smile because her story actually has two kinds of laughter in it.
The first one came when God’s promise sounded completely impossible. She overheard that she would have a son in her old age and laughed to herself. I mean… can we really blame her? She knew how old she was. She knew how old Abraham was. She knew what her body was capable of—or at least what she thought it was capable of.
But then Isaac was born.
And Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” — Genesis 21:6
I LOVE that.
God took the place where she had once laughed in disbelief and filled it with a completely different kind of laughter.
Look what God did.
The impossible became the baby in her arms.
And suddenly laughter wasn’t doubt anymore.
It was testimony.
I can relate to Sarah.
Well, not fully. Let’s get real—I’m not in my 90s about to have a child. LOL!
But I can relate to that moment when God speaks something that feels so completely impossible that your human mind almost doesn’t know what else to do but laugh.
I’ve done it more than once.
There have been times when I knew the Lord had spoken something into my spirit about what He was going to do, and my immediate response was basically, “Uh…there is absolutely no way that can happen.”
And then I laugh.
It’s definitely not because I don’t believe Him. It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s my human lens catching up with God’s lens….
It’s the kind of laugh that says, Okay, Lord. So I realize I’m about to watch You do something I would never have believed was possible.
I know that laugh.
Last August, God gave me one of those moments.
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know this past season has included a very real financial drought for us. But what you may not know is that God prepared me for it before I ever knew what was coming.
I was at a two-day retreat at a dear friend’s house with a group of women who had gathered for one reason: to pursue God.
No big production. No complicated agenda. Just women hungry for His presence.
And somewhere in those two days, the Lord began speaking very clearly to me that He was taking my husband and me into a season of utter trust in Him for our provision.
Not trust in my day job.
Not trust in another opportunity showing up.
Not trust in what we could figure out, create, hustle for or control.
Trust in Him.
And guess what I did when that revelation hit my spirit?
I laughed.
Because if there is one area of my life where I really have no desire whatsoever to walk out on a wire over Niagara Falls and practice blind faith, it is finances. LOL!
Seriously, Lord?
Can we practice radical trust somewhere else?
But even in that moment, there was something incredibly beautiful about realizing God was giving me a heads-up.
How kind is that?
He knew what was coming, and before we ever stepped into it, He was already whispering, You are going to have to trust Me here.
And every time I have one of those moments with the Lord and laughter rises up in me, I’ve learned what it usually means:
Get ready, Tracee. God is about to step right into something you have deemed impossible and show you that it never was impossible for Him.
Now here we are nearly a year later.
There still isn’t some perfectly predictable stream of income where I can sit down every month, open a spreadsheet and say, “Wonderful. Everything is accounted for.”
Would I prefer that?
Absolutely. LOL!
And yes, if you go back a few articles, you’ll also discover that somewhere along the way I pulled a little Sarah move of my own and decided I should probably help God out.
Because apparently the Creator of the universe needed me to assist Him with His provision plan. LOL! Aren’t we so like that???
So what did I do? I added more work to my plate and it about took me over the edge.
It only took me six months to finally step away from it too. LOL! I know. You would think somewhere around month three I would have caught on.
But I’m human.
Finances and trust don’t always sit comfortably beside each other.
Sometimes faith looks incredibly spiritual from the outside, but when you’re the one actually living it, it feels more like, Okay Lord, You said You’ve got us, so I’m going to keep walking even though I cannot see where the next step lands.
Sarah understood a little something about trying to help God fulfill His own promise too.
But eventually, she held Isaac in her arms. The promise she once laughed at because it sounded impossible was suddenly breathing right in front of her.
And Sarah said:
“God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” — Genesis 21:6
I love that verse so much, that’s why I had to repeat it again.
Because her laughter had changed. The first laugh came when she couldn’t imagine how God could possibly do what He said. The second laugh came because He did it.
And I think that’s the laughter I’m walking in right now.
We may still be standing in the middle of the story. I may not know exactly how every month is going to unfold. There are still moments when my very human brain wants numbers, plans, guarantees and preferably a detailed financial forecast from heaven.
But underneath all of that, I know this:
God’s got us. Every single part of us.
So what else can I do but laugh?
Because one day, when people hear the whole testimony of how God carried us through this season—how He provided month after month while teaching us what it really means to trust Him—I already know what I’m going to say:
Look at what God did.
And maybe that is one of the most beautiful kinds of laughter there is.
The laughter that comes when you realize you are in completely over your head, you have absolutely no idea how God is going to do what He said He would do…and somehow your spirit already knows:
He’s got this.
There is a kind of laughter that rises in the freefall of trusting God beyond what we can see, calculate or comprehend.
And perhaps that laughter is faith finding its voice.
Additional Scripture to Sit With This Week
Proverbs 17:22 NIV
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Ecclesiastes 3:4 NIV
“A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
Psalm 126:2–3 NIV
“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy… The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”
Holy Habit Reflection Questions
When was the last time you really laughed?
Have you been making room for delight, or has life gotten a little too serious lately?
Is there something God has spoken that feels impossible right now? What would it look like to trust Him instead of trying to figure out how He’s going to do it?
What is one “Look what God did” moment you can laugh and celebrate over today?
Holy Habit Practice
This week, make room to laugh on purpose.
Call the friend who always gets you going. Watch something that makes you laugh. Tell the ridiculous family story again. Laugh at yourself when you do something completely human.
And when God whispers something that feels far bigger than what you can see or understand, remember Sarah and simply say:
“Okay, Lord… I have no idea how You’re going to do this, but I can’t wait to see it.”
Then laugh.
Sometimes laughter is simply faith making room for the impossible.
Keep on laughing,
~Tracee