Genuine Faith

For the last few days I’ve been thinking about faith.

My son, Justin, came to me two weeks ago, and he said, “Mom thank you for teaching my sister and I about faith.” I looked at him, as we were out running and said, “Amen, Justin, thank God,” but he continued, leaving me in tears as I was running. Try running and crying at same time. It's not a good combination.

“No, Mom! You don’t understand. I mean Ellianna and I learned real faith, not fake faith, the faith that believes in the impossible and trusting God no matter what. Look what God has done in our lives? Mom, we are blessed. It’s because you obey God, and you teach us to obey God too! You don’t stop teaching us no matter what. You have been made fun of, and you have been falsely accused of things you never did. You choose to let people say things about you that are absolutely lies. We all know," as he gave me that look, "you can defend yourself, but you didn’t. You trusted God by faith to take care of their lies. Mom, Ellianna and I have been talking and we know God is real. We see just how real in our lives. God blessed you, Mom. And because of you, Ellianna and I have been blessed too. We know following God brings trials, but we have learned through you God blesses us in the very trials. Mom, we are grateful you taught us that. Thank God, Mom, God gave us to you.”

For all those times my children have driven me insane. Literally, going out of my mind. I was so grateful for that run and that 2-minute conversation.

I can’t help to reflect on this passage.

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

Hebrews 12:2

I believe God takes each of us through a faith journey! You see our faith must be tested and it must go through the fire. It’s in the trials that our faith gets perfected. God is the Author of our faith.

Therefore, He is writing the script into our lives by the trials He allows. He knows exactly how much to give. He doesn’t just write it, but He finishes too. He doesn’t abandon, and He doesn’t leave us. He is perfecting, refining, and bringing it forth as pure as gold. It hurts for sure, but fire purifies the imperfections. It melts just right to bend the gold into whatever shape it needs to be for that beautiful object shape.

Let me explain. I write and co-edit books. So, I have a beginning, and ending to my books. My purpose is to teach teachers and school personnel how to teach in excellence. So many times I hear, “This is great, BUT it requires a lot of work.” They're right. It does, but is there anything easy in life? Everything we do takes hard work and determination, but it pays off wonderfully when we do it. It is the same with faith. We must exercise it. Work it out.

My other writings are children’s books. I’m creating a problem to be solved by my characters. There’s a hardship in all my children’s books. One, or two characters struggle with some problem. However, I always have a solution, and my stories always end in triumph and victory. If my characters were real, they would be panicking because they would not know the ending. They would be clueless to the fact I will solve it for them without breaking them. God does the same for us.

Do you get my point? God is the Author of our lives. My pages are empty before I begin to write. There’s nothing there. I’m writing it. It’s my ideas, my plots, my thoughts to showcase my characters to bring about change, to showcase and model a point to bless those who are going through the same problems. They are my characters, made up by me, with specific personalities, and particular looks. Some of them with learning disorders, living in a specific place, and having a purpose for their lives. I am the one that gets to say the challenges they face, and most importantly, how they triumph in those hard places.

Friends, God is like that. He writes our life stories. The good, the bad, the ugly. He is the one in charge. Except He is the greatest writer of all times. His purpose is to bless us, not to harm us to give us a hope and a future. We must trust and have faith no matter what we go through. His plan is to make your life story a best seller.

So many times I hear and see people make horrible choices. I can see so clearly how bad the ending will be for them. I try so hard to help, but they are stubborn to listen. The reasons are always two. Fear and disobedience. Put these two together and they are fatal. You know why? They write themselves out of the script. You know how many times I have written characters out of my script? It’s easy to do, or in time, they just disappeared from previous storylines.

I don’t know what challenges you're facing or how bad the trial might be, but I can assure you God is in control. God is the Giver of Life and the Sustainer. He wrote everything necessary for your victories and blessings in the story of your life. Even if things are bad, God is still in control when you have faith and you obey. His endings are the greatest surprises and the best of stories.

God is the Author of Our Faith. He begins it, and He finishes it! Trust Him!

Dr. Teresa Allissa Citro

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, You, O God, are the Author and the Finisher of my faith. Thank You for giving me life and for creating my life with significance. You, O God, are my Victory, and You have made me more than a conqueror because You have loved me with an everlasting love that has drawn me to Your side. I trust in You no matter what comes my way. I look to You, and I trust in You alone. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Linda A. Knowles

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