Faith to Keep Trying
Do you have the faith to keep trying? Even when things aren’t going your way or even when you’ve fallen off the horse a dozen times, will you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again?
#QuoteoftheDay
Focus on faith
to find the strength
to push through
to possibilities.
– Kathryn Lang
I learned to ride bareback at horse camp one summer. The pony was the tallest one in the stalls and had a gait that was a lot like a jackhammer. My first attempt ended up with me in the dirt. So did my second attempt. And my third. By the end of camp, I wasgetting the hang of it.
Every year, we held a horse show and competition. One of the competitions was a bareback obstacle course. I figured I had gotten so good, I entered. My pony, Mambo, stole the limbs out of the first obstacle and carried it with us through the rest of the course. At one point, he upped his gate rhythm so much that I bounced right off his side.
Nothing went the way I wanted or expected, but I got back up and finished the course.
Eventually, I got comfortable enough riding bareback that I could ride through jumps without a hitch.
I had to keep trying and I had to have the faith to take one more chance.
Faith to Believe
Faith starts in trusting and trusting grows up from relationship. I have to know that the word of those I’m trusting will always hold true.
If I don’t trust then I won’t believe. If I don’t believe then I will find my faith faltering.
I had a habit of believing what others told me.
When a girl in school told me she was my friend, I believed her. When something happened that hurt me, others told me it was her. I didn’t want to believe it because she was my friend.
When another friend told me the guy I was dating had been out with someone else, I didn’t want to believe it could be true. I trusted him.
One too many times, my belief was misplaced until I didn’t have the strength to believe.
When you don’t believe, you struggle to go. Going only happens when faith leads the way. You need the faith to believe, but you also need to be rooted in the truth to grow up the belief that stays strong.
What do you really believe?
Most every morning, I start the day by reminding God of His promises. It’s not like He forgot them overnight, but sometimes I do. So I start the day speaking the words to remember and hold tight to the promises.
And yet, too often by lunchtime, I’m wandering around worrying about how I can fix the very things I spoke of before my day started.
The other day, my husband and I were talking about moving forward with The Abundant Life program. We truly believed in its possibilities and more importantly we believed in the importance of its truth. Despite knowing it was something God had planted in our hearts, we started wondering about the roadblock people were putting up, “How are you going to make money doing that?”
It dawned on me that I’ve never made a penny in my life. I’ve cut a few doing Cutco demonstrations, but I’ve never made any money. I hear the government actually frowns on you doing that.
What we really want to know is from where will the conduit of provision flow?
If we are going to keep leaning into believing then we have to find the faith to stay strong.
Finding the Faith
Rock, meet hard place – just in case y’all aren’t acquainted yet. That’s been my uncomfortable normal for the last . . . well, so long that I’ve quit counting.
I know the Truth.
I study the Truth.
I believe the Truth.
The longer I go without revelation or relief, the harder it is to hold on.
When I was at the end of my rope, a friend connected and told me I inspired him with my Faith. It lifted me up just a little for a moment, but the weight of the world quickly dragged me back down to the end of my rope.
If I focused on the world, I slipped down. If I focused on faith, I worked my way back up.
But when the going gets tough, it can be tough to find the faith.
Believe in an answer
You don’t have to know the answer to believe it’s out there. The more invested I am in the promises, the truth, and the relationships., the stronger I will believe the answer is coming.
Let go of what didn’t work
If it didn’t work, you don’t have to keep doing it. Even if you made a great big show of following that path, if you lose your passion or your peace, you can let it go.
Find support
Get connected with others who are faith walkers. You will become more like what you hang around. If you want to find faith, find faith walkers.
Faith walking isn’t the easiest thing. It gets easier the more you stand in Truth. It grows stronger as you let go of what doesn’t work or the things that stand in your way. And it takes flight when you have the people around you to remind you to have faith.
If you are going to live out BIG DREAMS in your uniqueness in a world determined to force your conformity, you need to find the faith to keep trying.
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What gets in the way of your faith walking?
Share your ideas and thoughts on how to find the faith to keep trying, and if you would like to read about my struggles and revelations, ask me for today’s post link!
