Part of our homeschooling routine was Bible reading.
I’ll never forget the first time I came to Hebrews chapter 11, often referred to as the “Hall of Faith”.
It begins:
Now faith means putting our full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see. It was this kind of faith that won their reputation for the saints of old. And it is after all only by faith that our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God’s command—that the world which we can see has come into being through principles which are invisible.
Hebrews 11:1-3 PHILLIP
From there the writer lists those who followed God even when the path was dark, even when the promise was beyond sight and even when it cost them their lives.
I cried.
I remember thinking that maybe one day the children looking at me around that table might face a crisis of faith and I prayed that they would always choose to believe.
I never dreamed that it would be ME that had to wake up each morning and make that choice over and over again.
I’m not talking about the single, life-changing commitment to receive forgiveness through Christ’s blood.
But rather obedience to keep following His lead and strength to walk in His footsteps day after day regardless of how I feel or what I can or cannot see.
The choice I have to make is whether or not to turn my heart toward His, to open my ears to His voice, and to bend my will to accept whatever storms He allows in my life.
Suffering is NOT a choice, but faith is.
thelifeididntchoose 