Foundation of Faith

I originally wrote this for Christy's blog at http://safe-haven-blog.blogspot.com/
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When going through a hard time, I instinctively know how to cling to God as though my life depends on it. It was while my first son fought for his next breath that I learned how to pray without ceasing. But I don’t think I really knew how to build a foundation of faith until after my second baby died.

Now, it wasn’t until after our third baby died, that I realized the importance of building that foundation before tragedy strikes. I’ve outlined some steps I took to set my anchor – my life – in the rock that is Jesus Christ and hope to share a bit of my journey.

Read the Word of God. Pull up your sleeves, tune out those pesky distractions and immerse yourself in the Bible. In it are the literal keys to your life, so prayerfully ask God to unlock the truths you’ll need to embrace, so that you can know Him and He can transform you.
Remember what you read and look for opportunities to apply it to the situations you encounter throughout your daily life. If you read about patience than YES the lesson still applies whether you are in rush-hour traffic or if you struggle with infertility or insensitive doctors in the NICU.
Take your focus off of self. Don’t interpret this to mean neglect yourself. It just means take breaks from intense mental focus on your personal woes. Yes, grief is incredibly painful and draining and the process does require your careful attention. BUT, allow yourself to care about others and what they are experiencing, as well. If a quick prayer on their behalf is all you have the energy for – do what you can. When you can do more – do more. Read about situations in which Jesus grieved and follow His example. Three examples that stand out for me are when Jesus learned of the deaths of John the Baptist, Lazarus, and when He was on the cross. There are other examples in scripture, as well.
Pray, pray, pray. Spend time in meaningful prayer. Sometimes just thank God for being God and don’t ask him for a thing. Ask Him to teach you and guide you. Ask for help; for strength. Open your soul to Him. I think the book of Psalm is such a powerful example of how we can talk to God.
Decide to trust God and stick by Him no matter what happens next. Read Romans 8:28.

So I encourage you to build your faith on The Rock. If you put your faith in experts, family, modern medicine, or things – those foundations are destined to eventually fail. If you put your faith in prayer – without an actual faith in God - you will be crushed if you don’t receive the answers you expect.

For with God, nothing is impossible!