Faith

About a few months ago, one of my mom’s friends had an aneurysm while at home with her three kids. Her oldest child―who was about six at the time―called her dad, who called the hospital. At first, people thought it might have been an allergic reaction to something she had that night. But once it was diagnosed, her husband was told that she wouldn’t survive through the night.
The news about her got around my church―and other places―really quickly. At times like these, we knew that we should pray, and we did. We all prayed for her.
Surprisingly, she survived that night, and from there, her progress was improving in a matter of weeks. Praying only made her progress even better. Pretty soon, she was able to come home in good condition.  

~*~

Faith is a tougher subject to discuss than most others. We all already know what Faith is―it is believing without seeing. A different definition of this would be Hebrews 11:1:

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

I’m sure it’s a familiar feeling, right? Like, when you see your younger sibling for the first time, and you have faith that they’ll live a happy life. Or after trying out for the school play, and you have faith that you’ll get a good part in it.
But sometimes, these faith feelings sometimes fall through, and become disappointments. And that’s what happens in life. All of these bad things get thrown at you, and you wonder why God’s flinging these situations at your life. Turns out, they’re just tests for your faith, to see how much you trust God during those times―whether it’s mild, like when you don’t make it into a sports team, or more serious, when you or someone you care about is badly injured.
The perfect passage is Hebrews 11. I’ll start with verse 6 and go from there.
 
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

I love this verse, because it’s speaking serious truth. If you wanna love God, you have to believe that, even though you can’t see him, He’s still there to help us in our dark days. I’ve got a good example, too: Less than a year ago, I met an eight-year-old girl named Jessica, who had stage 4 Acute Leukemia, via Internet. A month after knowing her, she got into a coma, and during that coma, her kidneys were failing. I prayed every night and decided to throw away my doubt and know that God’s gonna heal her. She woke up three weeks later, and her hair was even starting to grow! Although she’s in Heaven with Jesus and no more Cancer, I still recall that day when my faith was personally put to the test.
As the chapter of Hebrews goes on, it explains what people in the Bible did by faith. By faith, Noah built an ark for the flood, even though he didn’t know what the flood was gonna look like. By faith, Isaac blessed his sons in regard to their future. By faith, Moses led all of the Jews out of Egypt and through the desert, believing in God, but not knowing exactly what he’d face while in the desert. By faith, Joshua and his people marched around the walls of Jericho, believing that God would bring those walls down.

There’s one section of verses―13 through 16―that I think is notable:

“13  All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things they promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country―a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

This section of verses is summarized in the last two verses of the chapter:

“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what they had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

Do you get where I’m going? It’s true―during our faith tests, we don’t always get what we hoped for. But our plentiful faith in God will be rewarded in Heaven.
 So, how do we get faith? Simple―believe that Jesus will help in hard times. Quit doubting. Get on your knees and pray about it. Hold your head up. Know that every thing’s gonna be alright. Because there’s something better waiting for us, that God has prepared for when we come with him―a place called Heaven.   

“Sorrow looks down. Worry looks around. Faith looks up.” -Unknown.

Rachel is a 12 year old Christian homeschooler from Maine and is the daughter of one of our writers and message board administrator, Karen. She loves to write Christian fiction and devotionals for tweens and teen girls. When she’s not writing, Rachel loves photography, blogging and listening to music. She desires to encourage other tweens and young teens through her writings.