Faithful Fridays - "Living By Faith"

It's Friday again! I'm kind of glad to see Friday roll around! I've had a sick little girl here all week and I'm so glad she's feeling better, not running fever anymore, for the weekend!

I also enjoy participating in Joy's Faithful Fridays and I'm so glad Joy came up with this idea. It helps me to stop and reflect on what God has done and is doing in our lives, even though we get so busy sometimes! If you'd like to share on Faithful Fridays, please grab the Faithful Fridays button and visit Joy's blog and let her know in a comment, so we can all stop by!



While thinking about what I wanted to post for this week, I was just thinking over how much my faith in God really is a major part of my life. I really can't imagine living a day without it....not that I'm loaded with faith or anything like that, because I have a long, long, way to go, but to realize how I totally depend on God's work in my life.

I once heard someone tell this story that is a great example of what faith really is. There was a man at the Grand Canyon who intended to set a record by taking a challenge to walk across a tightrope stretched from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other. Well he did this fairly easily. After watching this, the crowd roared with applause. Next it was asked, "Do you believe this man can now walk across this tightrope pushing this wheelbarrow?" When everyone cheered their approval, he asked, "Okay, then who wants to hop in?" You could have heard a pin drop!

Now I tell you, it's easy to "talk the talk", but when it's put to you like that, it's not quite so easy.....and I'm speaking to myself here too! :) That illustration always stuck with me. Having that kind of faith is tough, but as Christians we are supposed to exercise our faith and make it a lifestyle.



Here's just a little bit of what the Bible has to say about faith:

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

".....Because you have so little faith, I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV)

Those verses pretty much let us know that we have to exercise our faith. I suppose it works just like exercising our bodies. We build up our muscles by exercising. It's not something we do every now and then and expect the best results. We work on it a little day by day, and before we know it, we're building up muscles we didn't know we had. I think that's how it works with faith....we exercise our faith...in little bits....trusting God to handle little things throughout our day....and before we know it, we've built our faith muscles up! That's what I want to do....how I want to be....and I realize I have a long way to go!

On a personal note, I thought I'd share a few of the times in my own life that I've had to exercise my faith and honestly I don't know where it came from at the time, but I can tell you that I know these things came to pass because of God and trusting in Him. Although one thing I want to point out is that God's timing is not always our timing, as a matter of fact, nine times out of ten, it isn't! I'm impatient...I want it all NOW! :)

I prayed (along with my mom) that God would prepare the man He would have for me to marry and I honestly just turned that over to Him. I knew God had all of this in the works and I just had to wait on His plans and God led Jason and me to each other (in His timing).



Our home also came to us by faith. Looking back, it's hard to see how all this came to be except by the grace of God and our faith in Him. I remember pouring through magazines and dreaming and then putting faith behind that dream and trusting God. He was so good to provide the means for us to build our home.......just in time for our family.....and we lived in it ever since!



Jason and I were married for seven years before our son, Colt, came into the picture. Now seven years definitely wasn't my timing for waiting for children....I wanted them right away...several of them! :) Even though circumstances weren't looking good, all we could do was put our faith in God and trust Him. Adopting was expensive and looking back, I know it was God opening doors and providing the finances. He gave us a beautiful baby boy....our son, Colt.



During the years to follow, of course I wanted more children. I was very happy and thankful for the son we had been given, but the desire of my heart was for more children...at least one more......and a little girl would be nice.....a brown-eyed girl to be specific. :) And so we prayed....and trusted God more. And ten years later (DEFINITELY not my timing), God gave us a beautiful baby girl....our brown-eyed daughter, Joy. In addition, a test showed that she had a pretty good chance of having Down's Syndrome. The Dr. wanted me to have an amniocentesis to be sure and we wouldn't hear of it, or allow it, because of risks involved. It didn't matter anyway. We trusted God. It was in his hands. I can honestly tell you that after a week or two of being told this news, I never thought of it again. When she was born, I never even thought to ask that question. I knew all was well. God was in charge.



I didn't tell you these things today to build myself up in anyway...because I didn't have a thing to do with it and wouldn't have wanted to do it myself! I just wanted you to know that things haven't always just fallen into place for us, naturally. There were times I wondered why me....why us.....and all I could was pray and trust God. I know I couldn't live a day without God and putting my faith in Him..........and I wouldn't want to! :)

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Please also remember our country in prayer. I'm so concerned about the direction our country is taking and the moral decay....and prayers of repentance are our only hope for healing our country! God's Word makes it clear:

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)



What better day than today, in remembrance of 9/11, to come together as Christians...as Americans....and lift up our country in prayer! People all over America are gathering (or praying in their homes) between noon and 1:00 p.m. Will you join in lifting up America in prayer?

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I hope you're blessed richly by exercising your faith and living it on a daily basis! And have a great weekend too! :)

Blessings,
Tammy