By Joanna Samantha Alexander –
Understanding of Faith: Faith is the trust and confidence you have, in God and His promises. In knowing that you may be slipping out of life’s reins but His outstretched arms will be right there to rescue you. Faith is in knowing without doubt that no matter how horrible situations can get, He holds the future and is in control of even the minute details of our life, right from the number of strands of hair on our head to the days of life allotted to us.
Growth in Faith:
It is true that it is in the deepest and darkest moments of my life, that I find myself face to face with God’s love and power. It takes moments like these to make me realize that I am not just me. I have been created by a Master Worker for a purpose. Realizing this purpose is man’s ultimate mission. At these milestones, which may seem like moments of misery and end through the human eye, at these very instances we find our faith never remains the same. We grow stronger in faith, gaining more clarity of the life we have been leading and are meant to lead.
Faith and Meaning in Life :
Problems always exist, whether small or big. On the flip side of it, this is what makes life challenging and interesting. We overcome them and learn from them and grow intellectually, spiritually, thereby becoming wiser.
It takes faith to get you out, clean from the messy situations. I cannot imagine a life without faith. Faith is that one last rope that keeps me clinging on to life when everything seems to be falling apart. It teaches me resilience. It is faith that tells me there is a light at the end of the dark, unending tunnel, I just have to keep moving forward and never give up. You never know, you may just be an inch away from your breakthrough.
Struggles in Faith :
Ironically, I tend to forget God and His mercies upon us when all goes perfect in life. This is the test of faith. I tend to get so involved in accomplishing our ambitions, in keeping ourselves happy and satisfying our entire human pleasures, that I side-line God. God takes care of even this folly of man’s and steps into the scene to remind me who I am. The closer I am to God, the tougher my trials and temptations. However, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that can happen to us without the knowledge of God. The Will of God will never take us where the Grace of God will not protect us.
Models of Faith :
Mother Mary is the most celebrated example of steadfast, unwavering faith with the grace to always say yes to the Will of the Father, even to accepting the Will of the Father to see her Son bleed on the Cross for no fault of His. She is the most ardent and devout disciple of Jesus. There have been many prodigies of “mountain-moving” faith right from saints to the people around me. Every other person’s faith motivates me and prods me on to believe that God is always in control. My faith gets acuminated and increases whenever I attend Mass, listen to the sermon of a well-studied theologian, listen to people who bring forth anecdotes of faith. It’s in sharing your experiences that your faith is made stronger.
Faith and faiths :
Faith is my personal encounter with the God I believe exists. Irrespective of religion, faith in my opinion is extremely personal. As for myself, I know the truth and believe in it will all my heart. I’ve come across quite a few atheists and agnostics and I’m very sure that sooner or later at some point in time they are going to know the truth. This is inevitable. No man can live by his own grace; there will be at least one instance in every one’s life when they realize they cannot rely on their own abilities always, if only we begin to rationalize. It’s a universal opinion that there are situations beyond the understanding and control of man. Therefore, there has to be a stronger force. I believe the stronger force is God. However, different people have different beliefs but one thing remains, the same God created all and He knows how to bring His children back to Him.
Knowledge of Faith :
The Bible is the best resource to strengthen my faith. However, there are so many portions of the Bible which prove to be beyond human intellect and understanding. Interacting with resourceful people, priests and theologians help shape my faith.
Matters of Belief :
As a Catholic, I believe in praying the Creed and not just mouthing it. The Creed defines our faith and belief. It reminds us of God’s benevolence and of the greatest act of love, the death of His Son on a Cross. The fact that in Him we have eternal life is the greatest promise of unending hope!
Likes and Dislikes in Faith :
Faith should be spiritual and not ritualistic. Whatever you do, do it with your heart and not hypocritically. One of the best ways to teach faith is to draw parallels between the parables of the Bible and current scenarios and circumstances.
Practice of Faith :
The best practice for faith is to read the Word and apply it in your daily life. I read the Bible regularly and try to realize it in my life. “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you your heart’s desires” (Psalms 37:4).
The author of this article, Joanna Samantha Alexander, hails from Bangalore and she works at Cognizant Technology Solutions, Bangalore.