Faith, Hope, and Love

 I’m in a holding pattern right now.    I’ve been working a lot recently; reading self-help books, concentrating on working through emotional issues, and journaling like crazy.  Working a little too much.  Last week, I exhausted myself, and decided to take a break from it all.

Giving myself a moment to relax and reflect has clarified a few things for me.  Mainly, that I have been trying too hard to heal.  So I’ve quit trying to get better.  I’m still working.  I’m working on relaxing.  I’m working on trusting.  I’m working on believing in faith for the things that I cannot currently believe in my own power.

I find it incomprehensible that I will ever be free of medication.  In my own power, I cannot believe that this can be true.  But recent revelations have shown my difficulties to be possibly less genetic than previously assumed.  Can I imagine a drug-free existence?  Not yet.  But in faith, I can.

The same can be said about therapy.  I can’t yet see a day when I don’t need it rather frequently.  But I believe in faith that there will come a day when I can say, “Once a month is good.”  And eventually, it will taper off to even less.  I believe this, even though I can’t see it.

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.  Hebrews 11:1(NLT)

Sure, I’m familiar with this verse; I learned it as a child in Sunday school.  But what does a child know about faith?  I had faith that good things would happen to me and for me because I had no other reason to believe otherwise.  Faith is easy when trust has never been broken.   Yet I am called to have a child-like faith.  How can that be, when trust has been beat up, circumstances appear to be in opposition to the belief in a loving Father, and hope is diminished?

Father says, “Jump into my arms, and I will catch you.”  I look in the past and see times that I have been caught in strong arms, saved by grace.  I also see times that appear exactly the opposite.  I feel betrayed by life’s circumstances.

So how do I work on increasing my faith?  Well, it appears that I can’t.  I must allow faith to be built in me.  Looking for faith-building verses, I found this one:

But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ.  This is the unending life, the real life!   Jude 1:20, 21(The Message)

What can I do to increase my faith?  Pray, pray, pray.  And stay at the center of God’s love.  

 But don’t we all live at the center of God’s love already?  How can I move away from God’s love?  The answer is here:

I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.  Romans 8:38, 39(The Message)

Staying at the center of God’s love is simple.  Accept it.  Keep your arms open and outstretched to receive the embrace that Jesus has ready for you!

 Is there really any difference between building faith and accepting love?  If I lived in the assurance that I am fully loved by the One True God, my faith would naturally increase in accordance.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance….Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.  I Cor. 13:7, 13

It always comes back to love.