MY JOURNEY OF FAITH

How I would love to be able to report that my journey in faith has always been UP if it was to be charted.  As a younger Christian, I came under the influence of a godly woman about my age.  She was my Bible study teacher and a missionary on furlough from Japan.  In her teaching the gifts of the Spirit, I was intrigued with the phrase from Romans 12:3, "in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you".   At that point in my spiritual life, I was struggling with faith which had long been expressed as perfectionism and performance...Pharisee! I also was fraught with the feelings of insecurity and inferiority which only drove the 3 P's: perfectionism, performance, and Pharisee. Faith was a mystery to me, so I began to consider the "measure of faith" that I had been given and I questioned the faith that I demonstrated.  Was the  faith I demonstrated the "measure of faith" I was given or was it the "measure of faith" that I was willing to demonstrate?  I began to ask the Lord for a "greater faith".  I certainly had no idea of how I was going to possess greater faith. My faith was "mustard seed" for sure!

The answer to How I was going to posses greater faith did not come in a colorful and beautifully wrapped package labeled FAITH. Even though faith began to increase in "good times",  however, my faith has increased more out of losses/pain: death of a father, church upheaval which greatly affected our lives, an accident in which an arm of a son was almost removed, death of a husband, loss of ministry, losses in the Stock Market, and the loss of a son from the effects of a stem-cell transplant.  My losses have become gains spiritually for me by HIS grace.  Of course, I would have "druther" had the beautiful package of Faith, but God predetermined that I was going to increase in faith through losses/pain. He has used the losses to instruct, to guide, and to increase my faith....all HIS grace because at times, I have grown weary of myself and the times of what felt like was dormancy.  As you mull over your spiritual life, I just betcha that your greater growth has come from some pain or losses!  As C. S. Lewis surmised, God shouts in our pain. Our long- term response is very key to increasing faith. 

In my reading for this am, I am in chapters 11-13 of Hebrews and 13:1 has grabbed my attention.  The Message reports, "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God; this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.  It's our handle on what we can't see.  The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd."  I love one commentator who declared that  faith is our "sixth sense". My faith journey is the declaration of Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this, that HE who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  The good work will carry on with the ups and well as the downs, spiritually, as I am being completed in HIM.  I am reminded to "Consider HIM" who for joy endured the Cross and the shame is now seated at the right hand of God and HE encourages you and me to not grow weary and lose heart.  PRESS ON AND UPWARD in your faith journey.  Forever learning.  In process.  #IHAVETHREESONS.