Friends Guest Blog Week- "Faith" Jackie

Jackie and I met two years ago at my first CCM retreat. I do not only consider her a mentor but a great friend. Her passion to train up the next generation of ladies blesses my heart. I cannot thank her enough for her wisdom, guidance and accountability and time that she has invested in my walk!



If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:13

In my walk with the Lord, over the last 20yrs, I have had to experience different situations and obstacles where my faith has been tested and built up. I have learned to surrender my marriage to the Lord and trust that He would build it up. I‘ve taken steps of faith in homeschooling, for the last 14yrs. I have trusted the Lord with daughters, as they themselves have faced some difficulties in their own personal lives. I’ve also witnessed the Lord provide for numerous financial needs. And, I have experienced the Lord heal my body during a near death situation, when I delivered my last daughter.
Today, I can look back on my life and see Gods faithfulness in my life. Its what makes me confident in the Lord when I share about Him or in the times I come in to His presences during prayer. When I read in Genesis, in the beginning God was. I believe, with all my heart, that God is today the same God He was in the beginning. He is the same God who created the heavens and the earth. The God who met with Moses and did miracles before his people. The God who asked Noah to build an ark in the middle of a desert. The God who asked Abraham to leave his home for an unknown land and who gave him a son in his old age. The God who heard the cries of Hannah and blessed her with a son. The God who used a young shepherd boy to kill a giant, win wars, and become a king. The God who called twelve ordinary men to walk along aside His son and later be used to further the gospel.
Early in my walk with the Lord my faith wavered and it was during a women’s bible study we were asked to memorize Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Over and over I would read this scripture and wonder, am I pleasing God? Do I have faith in God like these men and women I read about in Hebrews 11? Over time God began to reveal Himself to me in ways I had never experienced before. He began to remind me of His character and greatness from the beginning of time and His faithfulness to me. As I looked over my lifetime even before I met the Lord, God had his hand upon me. It is because he allows me to experience His presence in my life that I can say my faith daily increases, as I watch life around me. As I watch my husband being used by the Lord. By watching my daughters grow up, serving and learning to depend on the Lord. As I will soon celebrate my youngest daughters 11th birthday, which I will be thanking the Lord for, for allowing me to be alive to witness another year of life for both of us.

Do I have faith as a mustard seed to be able to move mountains? No, but I am learning each day of His faithfulness. God doesn’t ask us to walk by faith because of what He shows us, but to be obedient to what He asks of us. He desires our obedience as we learn daily to trust in Him. Our God is faithful and each day as I seek Him He confirms He is faithful which increases my faith daily. My faith is stronger today because I have learned to obey Him before asking the Lord why or how, trying to figure out my future or controlling it. God has asked me to walk by faith and serve Him with a reverent fear. If I should become weary in my faith I will remember His faithfulness, which will allow me to continue to press on.