I am thinking these days a lot about faith.
Not because I wrote about it.
Or speak about it.
But because right now, I have to live it.

Imagine that.

You know it’s bad when one of your best friends opens your book and says “You need this quote right now.”

There are reasons my life is challenging my faith during this season.
And I’m betting some of you have big challenges you are facing right now too.
Whether your challenge is in a relationship (or lack thereof), your financial security, your health, or your children, not seeing the path ahead can be a great disturbance to your well being.

I personally prefer to see the path.
But Hebrews 11 says Faith is “being sure of what you hope for, and certain of what you do not see.”
So you have to not see in order to have it.
And as God would have it, the more you don’t see, the greater your faith can become.

Dang it.

I’m reminded of a story I heard that has stuck with me through the years. Back in the 60’s, a large group of college students gathered around a wise old woman as she spoke truth into their lives. The place was Forest Home Conference Center. The woman was Forest Home’s founder, Henrietta Mears.

Growing up in the early 1900’s, Henrietta Mears had defied the limitations of a woman in leadership. She influenced some of the most powerful Christian leaders our country ever had– from Billy Graham to Bill Bright (the founder of Campus Crusade); Bob Munger to Jim Rayburn (the founder of Young Life). Her impact was felt in books and organizations, and she touched thousands of people who came to believe in the God she talked about and loved.

Now in her seventies, Miss Mears had acquired a wealth of wisdom and experience that had elevated her to great heights. These college students wanted to pick up the crumbs of any life lessons she had learned, because her life had been a testimony to everything they believed and wanted to be.

But in the middle of the evening, someone from the crowd yelled out a question that made everyone cringe. “Miss Mears”, the person said, “Now that you are nearing the end of your life is there anything you would have done differently?”

There was an awkward silence in the room at the audacity of asking that question to this great saint. However Henrietta Mears wasted no time in answering it.

Her nearly eighty year old eyes looked out on the crowd and said,
“Oh yes.”
Everyone waited with baited breath. And then she spoke.
“I would trust God more.”
Coming from a woman who lived her life in such close proximity to God, her words lay there like a challenge.

 They still do.

It strikes me that I haven’t heard anyone get to the end of their life only to say “I wish I hadn’t trusted God as much as I did.”
But someone like Henrietta Mears proclaims the opposite truth, I, for one, want to listen.

And here on my unlit path, God is giving me that chance.

Maybe today, He’s giving you that chance too.
I’d love to hear how.

To order Finding Faith in the Dark, follow this link:http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Faith-Dark-Story-Takes/dp/0310337119/ref=la_B00IKAGCDG_1
For more info on Henrietta Mears, follow this link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Mears