What is Good Faith?

One of the things I struggle with most is the letting go of control. Those who know me well know that I am very organized. I like to have my life planned out, and when something does not go according to plan, Amy is not happy. I like to have it all together, I like to be calm, and all of this is probably part of the reason I am sometimes referred to as "Mom." It is simply my inner nature to take hold of the situation and form it to fit my life and plan. The problem is that I'm not giving up that control to God. Instead of letting Him control the outcomes of my life, I make the plans and get upset when He interferes.

I've realized this so much more since I've been in Ecuador. I had a whole plan, a whole idea for Ecuador. Guess what...I don't have a plan anymore. All my expectations have either been completely crushed or exceeded. I can't plan in the future, because anything they tell us can change, and they don't have a whole schedule for us...how frustrating! What's more is that all the feelings I expected to feel, I don't. There is no way I could have prepared myself for this. And you know what? I'm glad. This experience has forced me to fully rely on God and put my whole future in His hands. Every question about tomorrow, every sickness and loneliness I have felt I have had to pray about and put in His care. You can not go into a foreign country without Him...you'll be lost.

I know what you're saying....I'm not in a foreign country! I don't care. Same rules apply. Do you really think that the plans you have for tomorrow can't change within an instant? Do you really think that you can go throughout your whole life without giving up control to God? Because you're wrong. Eventually, you are bound to stumble and fail. And if you hold the expectation that all your plans are going to be perfect 100%, you are going to be disappointed. Because our plans don't turn out that way. We always make a bad decision, we always lack something, we always need God.

What's even more ironic is that when our plans fail, we get angry at God for letting it happen. Obviously if your plans failed, they weren't God's intended plan for you in the first place. God should be upset with you for not putting your plans under His control and not trusting Him. I think one of the biggest tests of faith is not in praying about health or other things, it's about praying for God to take control of your entire life, regardless of your desires and what you planned for you life. That is giving up EVERYTHING. But God tells us that He has everything under control and we don't need to worry about anything about the future.

Instead of worrying about the outcome, about getting everything finished, or having enough time/money/clothing/food etc...our concern should be on living life today, as it is. Furthermore, our concern should be on the things that we can control (which is very, very little), because worrying about the things out of our control gets us nowhere. God has past, present, and future in His hands. He (and He alone) has control of everything, including those things that are out of our control. So we have to let go, trust God, and let Him take care of it. Our job is to take care of today, remembering that every day is a new day, and every day is in the loving care of our all-powerful God.




"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
-Matthew 6:25-34