Faith enough

    “Do you have a Bible?” he asks her. With a soft smile the woman turns and digs through the piles of clothes that cover the weather beaten mattress  and emerges with an old Bible whose wrinkled pages are yellowed from age.

       It was just the 4 of us sitting in this humble mud hut in the hills of Kisumu, surrounded by chickens and flies as we prayed with this sweet widow. Mother to 5 children this woman had recently lost both her husband and her daughter. Now, with full responsibilities for her family, she is trying to start up a small business to provide for her children and pay tuition fees for the 2 oldest. Yet in spite of her circumstances her faith is astoundingly strong.

      Driving back to town I was meditating on what I had just witnessed. “How is it that this woman who has seen so much tragedy can still be so strong in her faith? How could she have such a large measure of faith, so much trust and confidence in the Lord while going through such hardship yet I immediately start worrying and questioning God’s plan when a small wave comes my way? Why can’t my faith be as strong and unshakable as hers?”

        Then it hit me. My faith cannot be like hers because it is not her faith, but mine. My faith can never be as strong as other peoples.. Each of us are given  a measure of faith for the measure of hardships we will face. God gives us the faith He knows we need in order to stand strong under trials, no more and no less. He has not called us to compare our faith but wield our faith as a weapon against this world. We are to use and strengthen the faith He has given us, not compare or doubt it. God alone knows what we will face in this life and He will strengthen our faith accordingly.

          This woman could not have my faith or she would not be able to stand strong in these circumstances and I could not have her faith since I have not gone through what she is going through. Often times it in the face of opposition and trials that we grow the most and quite often God allows these things to happen so that we might grow stronger for the storm that is around the corner. My faith is my own. No one else's. It is enough for what I am going through now and as I grow, I grow strong enough for what lies ahead. Faith is something that will never be strong enough, yet by God’s grace it is always enough for the present situation.

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials

 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” James 1:2-3

‘For the glory of God!’