Faith

I've been thinking a lot about faith recently, mostly because I know that right now I really need a lot of it. I'm going into a very scary time in my life- I don't have a job, I really don't know where my future is heading. I have absolutely no idea what is ahead of me and if I don't have my faith that my Father knows exactly what is going to happen to me, I will be absolutely lost. So that's pretty much what I'm leaning on right now, my faith.

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On Sunday afternoon, up at Hume, we experience the ropes course. This was an amazing metaphor for my life right now. The ropes course was absolutely and categorically terrifying. I have never been so afraid in my life. Navigating the ropes takes a huge leap of faith- faith in this dinky little harness, faith in the cables, faith in the ropes, faith in the instructors and certainly a faith in Jesus that He's not going to take you home at that moment. It was such a good exercise for me to participate in. There is absolutely no way that I would have made it across some of those ropes if I didn't have faith in so many different things. Faith takes so much courage but I also realized that you can't go it at completely alone. Having friends that you trust and love and that love you back are so incredibly vital. I would not have made it without friends on the ground calling up encouragement nor without the help of those coming behind me, constantly encouraging me and helping me continue and having faith in ME that I could do it. Even sometimes a physical helping hand is needed, as when I crossed the balance beam.



It seemed like a little theme of the Hume Lake weekend was on faith, which was also so wonderful. On Sunday, Josh Riebock, our speaker, talked about the Jesus walking on water and how Peter took a leap of faith stepping out onto the boat. He made some awesome points which he said a lot of Christians miss. First of all, Peter asked Jesus if he could walk out onto the water. He called out to Jesus and that is the first step. Jesus also then said to come out onto the water. Any other human would have said, "don't be crazy, stay in the boat where it's somewhat safe". But Jesus calls Peter out into the storm. Jesus wants us to live in faith with him. God calls us to be where its unsafe because that exactly where we are supposed to be. He also said that so many of us today are like the disciples who stayed on the boat. We've lost our edge, we've lost of faith, we've lost the relience on God. We need to get out into the water and become fully, 100% dependent on God. Josh also made the point that when Peter was sinking, he didn't look back to the boat, he looked ahead to Jesus. The process of stepping out of that boat- or in my case that afternoon, out onto the single rope- was a leap of faith but it is a leap that will result in being caught in the strong arms of my God.



I did it. I survived the ropes course. And I know that with the knowledge that I am secure in my faith in God, I will survive this scary time ahead.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.