FAITH IS WHERE THE BIGGEST BATTLES ARE FOUGHT

I need not go far to write bout this subject. This is right on my turf. It’s not that I have become an expert in this. Rather that I have fought so many battles on its front. If I were to sum up the whole of my life I would do it in just one word --- FAITH. Because that’s what it was then, is now, and always will be tomorrow and thereafter. It is how I connect with people, family, do my job, and manage myself. And I look to the universe believing that it would do what is best for me arranging the odds and ends of my blotched life so that it would make some sense to me at least.

Now you probably wonder, if faith is already there so then where would the battles be fought in all that?

The battles fought are in trying to keep the faith.

Those times when the pricks and thorns of life hit us at every turn, when people we trust suddenly are unkind and betray us, when we stand correct and yet still be misunderstood, when we are beaten down on the ground and nobody stops to pick us up, when we lose our fortunes homes family and then friends suddenly are nowhere to be found, when opportunities are nil and we stand on flimsy chances, when our health fails us and strength slowly ebbs away, or when our own thread of faith slips away and we begin losing faith in self --- these are the battles where faith is put to the test. Or maybe it should be said this way --- these are the battles where a person is put to the test. Sometimes when things get so rough and tough and there’s nothing or no one in sight to help us stay on track… faith fizzles out. That’s when we need a good boost quick. And where will it come from? From that tiny voice from within which says that all is not lost. And that all that’s needed is to set our gaze unto heaven and there we will find help and refuge. Yes, it’s that steady flame of faith – the mustard seed of faith just waiting to be summoned to the fore of our lives.

Faith is never lost. Because faith, I believe, is always there inside the person. But alas man is more often unable to summon faith when and where needed. Always it’s a struggle with rousing that tiny bit. Maybe it’s because we have so little confidence in our selves or we don’t trust our fellowmen enough. Maybe we’ve been wired to believe only those things we can see, touch, and hear. Maybe we don’t fully understand our God? Maybe we aren’t truly convinced that He can do something with so little? Sometimes even with nothing at all. Are we not often coaxed to muster up faith even the size of a mustard seed? That shouldn’t be hard to do, right? It’s only a teeny weenie size of faith and not a huge dramatic portion to bring forth our prayed for desires hopes or dreams. It must have been us being referred to with these words ‘O ye of little faith’ –thus spoken in utter frustration but by a very patient God. Wow, He sure loves us so much to put up with our foolishness and stupidity.

I am that stupid fool too but I have learned through my battles that I can’t live without faith --- Can’t go around disbelieving, not trusting, not hoping nor ignorant of possibilities that could happen anywhere anytime with anyone or anything that’s out there just waiting to be tapped or called forth to serve its purpose in my life. Faith is here simply within me in the core of self lit like a small candle in the dark… steadfast in its glow, unbending undimmed. It’s all up to me then to bring it forth and make it shine. So can you.

So then let it shine --- in all of our days, on everything we touch with our own lives, with every little word that comes out of our mouths, or every new thought born in our brains. Let Faith illuminate the space or every nook and cranny of our being… drench our souls with its sweet fragrance. Henceforth let’s make this faith ours – and a worthy offering to a patient loving merciful God.