How can we ever get enough faith to be faith full—enough faith to, not only call on God in every situation, but not doubt Him? There is only one way, we must react in faith, and then we will receive more faith when He comes through! A faith reaction is achieved when we have an impulse to faith rather than fear. Fear is usually our first reaction to any unexpected situation—you know, the knee-jerk reaction—but can be overcome with faith!

If I can learn to turn to God and trust Him for a favorable outcome no matter what’s happening in my life, anyone can! Even when our knees are shaking and our stomach is full of butterflies—even when nothing seems to be going right and fear is eating us up inside —we must call on God and trust that He will come through.

When we truly trust in God we can be certain that He will take care of our every need, we won’t doubt for one moment. He shows me this truth every single day. Yes, we must row, (pray and paddle) but He’s the one that guides us to the shore. All we bring to this equation is our faith . . . He’s the one that provides every solution.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”   ~Proverbs 3:5-6

He is the one that directs us, if . . . we’re trusting in Him. Just this morning I had an affirmation of this very thing. We had just moved across the country, and my husband is now out of town. Me and my little Buddy puppy were there unpacking and holding down the fort.

It is now early morning and we awake to a very cold, very dark apartment. I instantly knew the power was out. We had a bad ice storm the day before as well as freezing rain all night which inevitably leads to a power outage.

This isn't good, I'm thinking, as I jump up and try to quickly get dressed in the dark. Now, what am I gonna do? We live in an all electric apartment . . . no heat, no lights, not even a hot cup of coffee to warm me up.

What can I do . . . ?

I’m new in town, don't know anyone, all alone, and really don't have the first clue who to call or what to do. With no other ideas, I just start praying!

As soon as I finish praying, I instantly start worrying again. I've heard of how the power can go out and stay out for days with these ice storms here in Oklahoma. I’m really getting scared as I hear the ice covered trees falling down outside all around us. And now things are getting even worse, the alarms on the cars in the parking lot are all going off as the trees begin to drop onto them.

It's in the low twenties outside and it's getting really cold in here really fast. I finally find a lighter (in the dark) and get my one and only candle lit. Getting cooold! So now I sit down and I begin to pray again. I know God says He will never leave me, so I ask Him to please turn the power back on.

As soon as I'm done praying I can’t help but think I should call someone, but who'm I gonna call? Now I'm really starting to panic, starting to think the worst. My imagination is working overtime, it’s only been a few hours but in my mind I’ve already got us froze and mummified before anyone ever finds us. As I begin to cry, I force myself to get a grip and then I start to pray once again.

As soon as I finish that prayer (I kid you not) I immediately start to worry . . . again! I'm still trying to figure out what to do. I even start talking to the dog, “Oh Buddy, what are we gonna do?" as I wrap my little, shivering guy in a blanket.

Now I feel a sense of utter panic hit me as another fear-filled tear runs down my cheek. What am I gonna do? There is simply nothing to do but pray, so I start to pray . . . again!

. . . to be continued next week

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”   ~James 1:6

Please join me next week for the ending to this story as we gain a deeper understanding of how to get more faith.

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