Keeping Up the Faith

I have to confess it has been a little hard keeping the morale up in my house these days. With all the unpleasant news on TV, it makes even yours truly a bit nervous and sad. But as the caregiver to my mother my husband’s mother our two kids and a busy Pastor husband, I don’t get the privilege to sit around feeling sorry for myself. A woman I follow on Twitter said today, “she has lost interest in keeping a clean house” and I agreed with her. In times of serious trials, the everyday mundane things seem trivial. Too trivial to call us to action. But my family still needs to eat, and even though we can’t go anywhere we still need clean clothes to wear, and the fact that we are all stuck under one roof means there is a bigger mess in all the rooms of the house. So, as they say, the buck stops here. Now don’t get me wrong I have help; my family pitches in, and I couldn’t do it without them, but they can’t help me with my initiative. There is only One that can do that, our Lord. He alone can give me the support mentally and physically to keep up the faith and keep up the good fight. Hebrews 11:1 tells just what faith should be for us, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Faith is believing that God is in control, even when everything seems out of control.

I may not know anyone personally who has contracted the Coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean it’s not affecting thousands of people right here in my state. I also don’t know any of the doctors and scientists working on a cure or a treatment plan, but I know they are. I believe these things are real, and this virus is scary, and has changed how we live our lives. We need faith just to get up each day. Our genuine faith can be found only in the Lord, knowing that He has us in the palm of His hands. Although the world is in chaos, God is in control. God reminds us of this Himself in Isaiah 45:7 that He is “The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.”

Faith is trusting in an outcome even if turns out different than you hoped.

You and I may not see God moving in the middle of this illness, and He may call many home to heaven with Him, but that shouldn’t change our faith in the outcome. When the economy fell apart back in 2009, my husband and I prayed for God to intervene to save our business and home. But in His infinite wisdom God knew that it was time for us to let go of the past and move forward to a new and exciting future. It was very painful when we lost everything, but let’s be clear, we didn’t lose the important things. We still had each other, God still provided a home for us to move to, and we received new work. Work in God’s own house as a Pastor and wife. I don’t know what you are praying for, you may not have those prayers answered in the way you would like, but God will not leave you without a blessing. Jeremiah 17: 7 tells us “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him”.

Faith is doing the work we are called to do even if we don’t feel like it.

As I said earlier, my family is counting on me for their daily needs, so whether good or ill, happy or sad, even if feel like it or not, I have work to do. If you have been feeling the same way, you can’t give in to your fears. My children and your families need to witness our faith in action. As we share the burdens of family life, even in times of stress. Sharing in the joy of trusting in God and His sovereignty, in all areas of our lives. So we can Keep up the faith as we “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3:5-6.