Choosing faith, again!

Faith.

Oh, how I always seem to come back to this topic.

Faith is not a trivial pursuit. Faith is a full-fledge, all-in, life journey. Faith, I am finding, is never static. You do not arrive at a place of great big faith and get to coast. If your faith is not growing, it is fading. There is no pause button when it comes to our relationship with God.

Faith will hold you up when God has called you out into the deep waters. By that I mean, faith will be your foundation when you are called into new territory that you have never been in before. Faith will be your constant when your circumstances are ever-changing.

This is yet again where I find myself. I am in a place where my faith is yet again being tested and strengthened. I have written in the past about how I prayed for faith like Job and how that prayer was answered in an excessively big way.

I walked through the darkest 8 months of my life and my faith grew so big and so bold that I still write and speak about how that journey changed me. Check out my blog post on Having Relentless faith as a woman today to read my full story.

It broke me down, challenged my faith, brought me community, and built a strong, bold faith that I never knew before. When you pray sincerely for God to give you faith like Job, watch out!

That is no small ask.

If you pray that prayer, expect to be tested in unimaginable ways. For strength is formed in the struggle; strength is formed through the fight, and the relentless pursuit of God, even when nothing around you makes sense, it is in this space that you meet your God.

It is in that place where relationship with God grows deep and strong and anchors you in the harshest, or hardest or most challenging storms.

I am being called farther and further then I have been called before. It is in this place that I realize my fear and I bring it to God. I do not have space to dwell on both God and my fear. One must go. I daily make the choice to choose God and seek Him in this season of new challenges.

When you are in a season of uncertainty, fear can easily overtake you. For me, It is a conscious decision to take my fear and surrender all the unknown to my known God. And not just once, sometimes this means surrendering my fears and worries, my doubts and wandering thoughts over and over in a single day.

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Hebrews 6:19 This faith and hope in Christ is the anchor that holds us safe in the storms we face.

Are you in a season of uncertainty? Maybe your season in life is changing, and you are leaving behind the comfortable to pursue a new venture God has put on your heart. I challenge you to hold on tight to God and to surrender your daily storms to Him.

One thing that I have been learning and practicing, is to meet every unknown with prayer. This does not always give the answer right away, but it sure can bring peace into the otherwise stressful situation. There is something holy that happens when we choose to seek God in the midst of our uncertainty. It is a letting go and acknowledging that God is bigger than us and bigger than our problems. It is also a surrender of our hearts.

It is saying, "God, I need you. I do not see the way through this and yet I feel that I am called to go here. Help me and give me wisdom and understanding to make the right decision."

And then let go of your worry and your fear. This is not choosing ignorance, this is choosing to let go of what we do not control and choosing to trust God to see us through. This is where peace is found and faith grows. This is what I call 'the deep water'. It is that place between here and there, it is the in between. My prayer for you is that you will trust and seek God in your deep water. And that in this space of unknown and uncertainty, your faith will grow and so will your relationship with God.

Love, Sarah