Faith Is Not a Feeling

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“Increase our faith!” – Luke 17:5

The first time we went camping, our two oldest girls were three years and 16 months old. My in-laws gave us their canvas pop-up camper and we towed it to East Harbor State Park. That particular weekend, it rained. And rained. And rained. We didn’t let it dampen our spirits. With raincoats, umbrellas, and boots, the girls stomped in every puddle they could find. They danced while the rain fell onto them. They laughed and shared mud pies. They discovered colorful flowers and smooth pebbles as we explored the campground. We had picnics outside under the tarp. And, to my relief, we found a way to keep the mud out of the camper. Yes, we had hoped for sunshine. Yes, our beach plans were canceled. And through it all, we had such a great time we camped every year after that for the next dozen years, with that same camper and the addition of our two younger children.

It’s challenging to not let the weather dampen our spirits. Sometimes I even let the ‘weather’ of my circumstances affect how I live my faith; maybe you do the same thing. When life is sunny and all is going smoothly, we may feel loving, and it’s easy to share Christ’s love and joy with others.

But when difficulties come up, we might not feel Christ’s presence. We mistakenly think that means He isn’t paying attention to us. Or we think our faith must be weak because we don’t have any kind of warm and fuzzy glow inside of us when we pray. 

Faith is not a feeling. It’s a gift we’re given at our baptism. Faith lets us trust Christ, His promises, and the power that His Spirit gives us, even though we don’t feel Him, and even when we still have questions.

“Faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.” 

– Hebrews 11:1 

Our Lord wants our faith to grow. In little increments, He will increase our faith each time we put our trust in Him. As we trust Him more and more, our faith grows, and our ability to deal lovingly with life’s challenges grows stronger. This isn’t dependent on our feelings, but on our decision to trust Him to give us His grace for every situation. The more we exercise our faith, the stronger it becomes.

For example, we thank God for our work and share His love with our colleagues. We ask Him for His wisdom in our work. When we pray, we picture Him wrapping His loving arms around those we’re praying for and trust He will bless them with whatever it is they need most. When happy, seemingly little ‘coincidences’ happen, we see them not as chance but as His intervention – His miracles. 

May our faith in Christ guide our actions, whether we feel Him with us or not.

“Lord, increase my faith!”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2023 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

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