With Gratitude for Faith

Last month we discussed finding and building trust in God; this month, I’d like to discuss Faith – I believe they go hand in hand. In fact, I think faith is what helps us attain trust in God and keeps us aligned with that trust along the way. Yet, I also think faith is a by-product of trust – it not only leads us to trust and sustains that trust, the trust we’ve attained and sustained then enriches our faith even more deeply.

Faith is one of those nebulous words, yet it carries such depth. It’s hard to put a finger on it because it’s not something objective – it’s more ethereal. The person who taught me about faith initially was my Dad. I can literally remember feeling his faith emanate from him. He didn’t have to say anything. That was a very fortunate experience, one that I’ve never forgotten. Once again, however, even that experience was nebulous and hard to explain.

Faith basically means if you realize how much trust God has placed in you, as discussed in the previous post, you would then find trust in Him to be easy. But, in order to get there, I believe we have to go beyond our mind’s thoughts. It’s much deeper than thoughts.

In our earthly world, we show up with our “labels,” as discussed in the post from May 2016 – this is also our personality, our ego – what we put out there for all to see. Sometimes, we actually display different personalities, depending upon the situation. But now go more deeply. Faith is the knowing deep inside that it doesn’t matter what happens on this earth, God is ever present and we can trust His Plan.

So, instead of worrying or being fearful, we can have faith that God created a specific plan for each of us; and when we feel that deeply and feel His love, faith becomes like a little child holding his/her Dad’s hand crossing a street. We walk together in trust. It is not a mindset, however, it is within us, deeply within our heart and soul.

Patience with others is love.

Patience with self is hope.

Patience with God is faith.

(Adel Bestavros)