Faith in Word and Action

I don't believe my faith is something I should keep tucked away or only bring out on Sunday morning. It is a part of who I am. I enjoy talking about what God has done in my life, sharing what I believe, and hopefully encouraging someone else through my own experiences.

But I also believe that if I am going to talk about my faith, I have a responsibility to try to live it.

My words and my actions should go together.

That doesn't mean I always get everything right. I don't. I have made mistakes, said things I wish I had said differently, and handled situations in ways I could have handled better. I have had moments of frustration, disappointment, doubt, and discouragement just like everyone else.

My faith doesn't make me perfect. It reminds me where to turn when I realize I'm not.

Some of the times I have leaned on my faith the most have been during the trials of life.

We all have them. There are seasons when everything seems to be moving in the right direction, and then something happens that we never expected. Plans change. Doors close. People disappoint us. We lose something we thought was certain. We find ourselves facing a challenge we didn't ask for and don't completely understand.

I've had those seasons.

I've had times when I wondered why things happened the way they did. I've prayed for answers that didn't come when I wanted them. I've experienced disappointment and had to decide whether I was going to allow it to make me bitter or allow God to use it to make me stronger.

Those are the times when faith becomes more than words.

It becomes a decision.

A decision to get up the next morning and keep going, to keep doing what I believe is right even when the outcome isn't what I wanted, and to forgive when holding onto anger would be easier.  A decision to trust God even when I don't understand what He is doing.

That is where faith becomes action in my life.

I believe there is value in sharing our faith with others. There have been people throughout my life whose words encouraged me at exactly the right time. Sometimes hearing how God brought someone else through a difficult season gives us the encouragement we need to keep walking through our own.

That's one reason I don't mind talking about my faith.

If something I have experienced can encourage somebody else, I want to share it. If telling someone how God has worked in my life can give them a little hope during a difficult day, I believe that is worth doing.

At the same time, I know people are watching more than they are listening.

If I talk about grace, I need to try to show grace.

If I talk about forgiveness, I need to be willing to forgive.

If I talk about loving my neighbor, I need to care about the people around me.

If I talk about integrity, I need to do the right thing when nobody is looking.

If I talk about trusting God, then when one of life's storms comes my way, I need to remember the same faith I have talked about during the good times.

That's not always easy.

There are days when faith requires something from me. It requires patience when I'm frustrated. It requires humility when I would rather prove a point. It requires me to look at myself before pointing a finger at somebody else.

And sometimes it simply requires me to keep going.

I've learned that I don't have to understand every chapter of my life to believe God is still writing the story.

Looking back, I can see times when something I thought was a disappointment eventually led me somewhere I needed to be. I can see difficult seasons that strengthened me. I can see prayers that were answered differently than I expected.

There are other things I still don't understand.

And that's okay.

Faith, at least for me, isn't having every answer. It's knowing who I trust when I don't have the answer.

That is something I want to share with people, because life is going to bring trials to every one of us. None of us gets through this life without carrying some burdens, facing some disappointments, and walking through some valleys.

When those times come, I want my faith to remain the same faith I talk about when life is good.

I want to speak about it and share it.  But most importantly, I want to live it.

Because I believe the greatest way I can share my faith is to let people hear what I believe and then hopefully see those same beliefs reflected in the way I live.

For me, faith is both something worth talking about and something worth living out every single day.