When Faith Gets Down in the Dirt

What exactly is Faith? I could give you a trite definition. Faith is believing when you can’t see.

Or a more Biblical one: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1

Or even a dictionary definition. “Belief that is not based on proof.”

I can toss out synonyms: belief, confidence, trust and conviction.

We have a whole list of people who exhibited faith in Hebrews 11.

• Noah building the ark
• Abraham obeying God to travel without knowing where he was going
• Moses leading the people of God out of Egypt
• David going out to fight the giant

But for some reason faith doesn’t seem to get real until it gets personal. What if God puts some unexpected twists in your road like He did mine?

• He sends you from Texas to Canada to work in a tiny Christian publishing company with little pay
• He calls you to be a missionary in Bolivia, a country you've never seen
• He withholds the natural children you longed for
• He allows an aneurism that leaves your brain reeling for a while

This is when faith gets down in the dirt, sometimes leaving us without a reason to trust…except…well, except God. Sometimes we can wait a long time to until that faith comes to fruition. Sometimes we may not see it until we get to heaven. In the meantime, that “hanging in there” and that “waiting what seems like forever” shines to others around you as a modern day example of faith.  No answers yet.  Just trust.

And for the record, here’s my list of a few blessings that came from the “hanging in there”.

• When I got to Canada I met the young man I would marry! And I fell in love with a whole beautiful new country
• When I went to Bolivia, I saw many people come to know Christ as their Savior. I also received the surprise of my life when God opened the way for us to adopt 3 beautiful and wonderful children!
• The major illness opened the way for me to be with my parents and take care of them in their weakness until God called them home.

I still have unanswered questions and things I wonder about. But that’s the precious thing about faith. We can rest and leave these in the capable hands of our Savior. When we get to heaven, we can ask God all our hard questions. I know He’ll answer them to our perfect satisfaction.

How has faith had an impact in your life? Please share!

(By Teri Smith)