Growing in Faith
Posted by Danielle Bean in Faith on Monday, August 11, 2008 2:52 PM
I absolutely love the insight that Therese shared about “having faith” versus “living by faith” in the comments of the post about this week’s Gospel. Here it is in part:
Those who have faith trust in God, believing that all eventually will work for the good; those who live by faith, on the other hand, depend upon God for their moment-to-moment existence, knowing that however close to the edge they might get, God will stand with them to save, to comfort, to heal.
The transition between those two kinds of faith comes through experience, especially through hardships and difficult times. A sheltered, carefree life makes it easy to assume that God will continue to provide more of the same; only by surviving a few “storms”, however, is it possible to throw oneself upon God’s mercy, crying out, “Lord, save me!”
When I was young and stupid, I had faith. It was easy. It was comfortable. Most of the time, it felt good.
I will never forget the turmoil of feelings I had when God first dared test that faith, when he first dared challenge me by (gasp!) allowing me to experience hard times—emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
It’s at times like these that we can feel kicked in the teeth. Abandoned. By God. And that’s an awful feeling.
But it’s a growing feeling too.
When we are hurting, the temptation is to harden our hearts and to rely on the illusion that we are in control of our lives. But if we throw ourselves on God’s mercy, trusting Him to hear the desperate, angry prayers it hurts too much to pray, we grow.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth.”
Proverbs 3:11
God loves us. The suffering He allows can be an invitation to a still greater love, greater holiness, and greater faith. If only we will allow it.
Thanks, Therese!
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