A Journey Through the Faithful

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This honest and encouraging post from Anne Marie from future. flying. saucers. is a great addition to the Cultivating Faithfulness series! I pray you are blessed by it as I have been.

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in the midst of a stressful change in life. My family has chosen to adopt a little girl. And while that is great and wonderful, it comes with its challenges. Along with those challenges, comes faith testing. If you think about what “cultivating faithfulness” means, then faith testing makes sense. A farmer will cultivate the land, pull weeds, add fertilizer, and do what he has to do so the soil is ready to be useful.

The same goes with our faith. The Lord will do whatever is needed to make sure we are prepared for His work and to be useful in His kingdom. That is what has been going on in my heart over the last 5 months and it hasn’t been pretty. Sin after sin has been ripped from my being. Revelation upon revelation has been given to show me who I am in the midst of a Holy God. I’m being sifted like wheat. It isn’t fun, and my faith has felt miniscule.

The other day I decided to sit down and learn from those whom God considers to be of GREAT faith. Reading through Hebrews 11 is like walking down the hallway of a museum. We read about the Old Testament pillars of Christianity and we glean wisdom from their successes and failures.

Abel: He gave a more excellent sacrifice and obtained a witness that he was righteous. God even testified of his gifts.

Enoch: He had a testimony that pleased God and was taken away so he did not see death.

Noah: He was moved to action by his fear of God and he became an heir of righteousness.

Abraham: He obeyed when called to go out and he waited for a city with foundations built by God Himself.

Sarah: She received the strength to conceive at an old age and judged God to be faithful.

Isaac, Jacob and Joseph: These passed down the blessing and promise given to them through their father, Abraham.

Moses: He considered the reward of Christ as being greater than the riches of Egypt.

What is it that these great men and women shared? VISION. The scriptures tell us that without a vision a people will perish. Perhaps on these days when we feel our faith is smaller than a mustard seed and that we might just “die” if we hear MAMA cried one more time, we need to remember that we are on the other side of the vision. We know that Jesus walked the earth, died, and rose again. And now our faith, our vision, is in waiting for Jesus to return.

What would God say about my faith during these days of challenge? What about your faith? What sacrifice are we giving? What testimony would God give of us? Are we moved to action because of our fear for God? Do we consider God as faithful? Are we passing down the blessing of Jesus to our children? Do we consider the rewards of heaven and the fellowship with Jesus as greater than anything this world can offer?

LIFE IS HARD. It’s supposed to be. If everything was easy and you could do life on your own, why would you need God? He wants us to totally depend upon Him. He wants to grow our faith, after all, it’s His goal to turn us into the image of His Son. And He is PERFECT. So even though the past few months have been hard, I bask in the hope that Jesus will return. That’s the ultimate vision. And a vision of Jesus saying, “Well done good and faithful servant,” can be very motivating!

Which Faithful Giant do you need encouragement from today?

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Anne Marie is an Austenite and the author of the blog Future.Flying.Saucers. She is a southern belle who is married to her Mr. Darcy. They have three of the silliest children in South Carolina. Anne Marie has a passion for Bible study and teaching the Word to adults and children. On Wednesday nights you will find her teaching Biblical concepts to Awana clubs at her church. All of her Awana and Bible lessons can be found for FREE on her blog. You can also find her on Facebook and Pinterest.