Faith worth the leap.
Have you ever heard someone say, “I have faith”? Have you caught yourself saying this at times too? I say it as well, but I think it’s important to clarify what you put your faith in.
Some put their faith in politics, expecting a regular Joe to fix all of the country’s problems. Some put their faith in a preacher, and the moment that flawed human slips, so does their belief. Some put their faith in crystals and chakras, and the moment life goes sour they have nothing to cling to. Some people put their faith in the “universe”, without even acknowledging the creator of the universe. Some people put all their faith in their spouse, excepting all their love and happiness to flow from them, and then when it doesn’t, they become hopeless. Your soul can’t move forward without putting your faith in something…which is why many end up jumping on a road to nowhere as they put their faith in things that are not worth the leap. As a result, they can get lost and discouraged.
Think of your life as a story. You can choose to write that story and be the main character. Or you can choose to let God write your story, where he’s the main character using you for his purpose.
You might get nit-picky with the things you choose to give to God. With the things you choose to put your faith in God for. The truth is you should put your whole life in the hands of God. You shouldn’t be holding anything back from Him. The things you desperately want full control of, are the exact things he’s asking you to give to him. He’s asking you to put your faith in him as your faithful provider and He will be a better steward of everything he has given to you. Everything you have, God has given to you. It’s not your hard work that puts food on the table. It’s the ability God has given you to do the hard work to put the food on the table. I know at times you want to take all the credit, because you put your whole heart, sweat and tears into said thing. But the truth is, your faithful creator helped you. Without him, nothing good or worth having is possible. God is the one who gives you vision, and even though you don’t know exactly how everything is going to pan out, you could put our faith in the goodness of God. So even if you fail, you know God has a backup plan. God always has a plan, and he finishes everything he starts, just like Jesus finished what he came on earth to do on that cross. Jesus walked by faith. It wasn’t easy as his humanly flesh didn’t want to go through with it. It burdened him. However, the moment Jesus prayed to God and vented how he felt about the road ahead, God gave him the strength to move forward. And the same is true for you. You can vent to God about your circumstances. In prayer, you can tell him how you can’t see where and how he’s going to use the mess in your life. He will listen to you and fill you up with what you need to continue faithfully walking with him. He will strengthen your faith, in his plans for your life.
Life will then become adventurous for you. Then road bumps become…interesting, as you begin to wonder how God is going to turn it all around. You begin to see how he can, and you get excited about how he’s going to do it. And then when he finally reveals his grand plan, you can’t stop talking about how amazing his works are. It becomes a testimony for someone who is struggling with the same frustrations you were struggling with once before. It is all a part of a plan, and it is a good plan. Everything you go through is a piece of the bigger picture that only the artist knows how it will come together. He’s so powerful, that he’s not only working on you, but he’s also working on many others.
In the Waiting.
Oh, how you lose faith rather quickly when it seems he has forgotten you. You begin searching the google for answers on what the next steps of your life should be, based on your current issues. You begin mindless scrolling trying to figure out how the fakeness on IG or TikTok can become your reality. You start losing your faith in God and his word, and you try pinning your faith to other things like your career, your business, your spouse, family members or your children. You start looking in all the wrong places, because you refuse to put your faith in God and obey what he’s telling you. When you do this, you delay where God is trying to take you. Most times, he is asking you to go down the difficult, yet pleasing road- The road that will lead you to sustainable health, love and success. Yet you’re not willing to go through hard things. God is asking you to let go of how you feel and trust him with whatever you’re trying to keep from him. God can only show up wherever you are willing to surrender. The bible tells says that wherever you are weak - God is strong. I know you want to be like Destiny’s Child and sing about how independent you are, but God is asking you to depend on him, and him alone. And that means, putting your faith in the unseen desires he has placed in your heart. That means putting your faith in the promises of the words he has spoken to you during your quiet time with him. Put your faith in his direction for your life. Forget about this “I am the boss of my life” way of living, and switch it to, “God, you’re a faithful boss. I trust you with my whole life.”
God is the one who gives you unshakable faith.
Psalm 62:2 “He alone is my rock and my salvation. My fortress where I will not be shaken.”
The world is filled with deceiving and shinning ways of living that have nothing to do with putting your faith in God. You can be easily swayed to put your faith in yourself or other sources that will not stand the test of time. When you stray away from the presence of God, your foundation becomes like sinking sand. You will eventually fall. And since you haven’t been putting your faith in God, it will be hard for you to bounce back. The opposite is true for those who put their faith in God. When things go bad and the unfortunate events happen, if you have put your faith in God, he will help you get back up quickly. Essentially, he will never let you feel the fall because you have allowed yourself to be in the palm of his hand.
A faith worth the leap looks like taking steps that lead you closer to God, by giving him permission to run your show.
Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will work out his plans for my life – for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.”
When I read about this verse, I think about how much I love my children. I want to see them happy and see them make the right decisions according to God’s word, because I want what is best for them. The same is true of God. He loves you so much that he wants the very best for you. And even when you stray away from him, he is patient with you, because he loves you. No matter how much you screw up, God still loves you and he STILL has good plans for your life. He will never stop chasing you.
When I was 16, I was what you call a “rebel without a cause”, I guess you can say. I got caught up with drugs and ran away from home. My parents didn’t know what to do with me, so they sent me away to a place called Teen Challenge. For a while, I questioned why they sent me there and not my sister. I questioned why they didn’t want to deal with me, at home. But as I have matured in my walk with Christ, I can see what God was doing then, and how he is using it now. When my parents sent me to that place using a huge chunk of money they had saved up - that was their act of faith. They were basically giving my life to God, in hopes that he will save me. On the flip side of my parents’ perspective, is mine. And my perspective is this – God handpicked me and removed me from my environment to draw me closer to him. The program was awful, but what got me through it was staying close to him. He got me through each day – just like he continues to get me through each day, today.
My point is this. You might not know why things are happening the way they are. And you might still not understand why things have happened in the past, the way they did. But you can put your hope in God and trust that he will use it all for your good and his glory.
When it’s hard to stay strong in your faith and life seems to be punching you right in the heart - remember this verse.
Psalm 56:8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book”
You see, he is a God that remembers. A God who is faithful and he will not let your tears go to waste. Your tears will not me shed in vain. Therefore, when you feel like giving up, remember to put your faith in God and he will never let you down. Putting your faith in him will all be worth it.
With all my love,
Alicia Eve Varela.
