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 develop even more faith when He comes through! A faith reaction is achieved when our impulse is to experience faith rather than fear. Fear is usually our first reaction to any unexpected situation—you know, the knee-jerk reaction—but we can overcome this instinctive reaction by growing our faith.

If I can learn to trust God 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 over and over every single day. There will be storms in this life but He will always give us the strength to get through every single time.

We must simply know, without any doubt, that He is there at the helm! Yes, we must row (pray and paddle), but He’s the one that guides us through the storms. All we bring to any tenuous situation is faith; He’s the one that provides all the solutions. Once we get our heads wrapped around this fact, we'll finally be able to just row and allow Him to lead us to the shore. 

“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

Yes, He is the one that directs us if we are trusting in Him. Just this morning I had an affirmation of this very thing. We had recently moved across the country, and my husband was now out of town. Me and my little Buddy dog 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 quickly try to 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.

Oh no, what am I  gonna 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. 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.

The temperature is in the low twenties outside and it's starting to get really cold in here, really fast! I finally find a lighter, (in the dark), and get my one-and-only candle, lit. I sit down, try to regain my composure and say another little prayer. 

I know we can't go anywhere because there's too much ice on the pavement to drive. ​Getting colder! 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 help me! 

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 I can do but pray, so I start to pray . . . again!  

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