“You have no faith, Bailey” – That is something that I never want to be told again. For a person living their entire life out of a place of faith, that is not a good thing to be told. In the midst of stress and confusion, I referenced something “being impossible” with the time I have left until my trip. That is where I got called out for not having faith in God to fulfill what He has said. Since being called out, I have been doing a lot of thinking about faith.
I’ve recently learned that faith is critical for living a life for God. He may call you to things that you don’t understand or don’t see to be possible. Guess what? We serve a God that does the impossible on the daily and when He calls you to something, He will be faithful to complete it. He may not complete it in a way you thought or during the time period you would like, but He completes it on His time (which is always perfect, by the way). The amazing part of being within God’s calling for your life is that it will always work out. Again, probably not how you thought but it will always work out for the good(Romans 8:28).
F A I T H
Faith is defined as a complete trust or confidience in someone or something. In the Bible, it says “Now faith is confidence in what he hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). The definition is to have full confidence and full trust in God to do what we hope for and to do things we don’t see happening. This means not worrying when you do not see a solution or even a possibility of something working out. In all honesty, God has not called me to anything that hasn’t gone through. Now, “going through” can mean many things. I have heard stories where God leads people to places and then the place changes suddenly. That doesn’t mean you weren’t listening to God or you failed at your calling, but that God was done with His work in that certain area. God may move you in different directions with your calling, but you have to remain faithful knowing that God has a plan for you.
This is my journey of faith. It took a huge step of faith to apply for The World Race, a huge step of faith to accept going on the race, and now it’s taking faith to walk out the steps of attending the trip. After the excitement of being accepted into The World Race, reality began to set in for me. I was overcome with fear. For about a week or so, I struggled with whether or not I wanted to do this. The thought of actually going on The World Race was absolutely terrifying. Everywhere I turned, there was something that I thought I could not live without for the nine months I would be gone. Take Starbucks as an example. I was thinking about how awful life would be without a Starbucks iced coffee. Now that is pathetic.
During that time, I called one of my best friends from the internship, Miguel. I was crying on the phone with him because I had reached my breaking point. I was paralyzed with fear and no longer wanted to go on the trip. I was not only afraid, but I was disappointed in myself for being so conflicted. I told him that I didn’t want to go on the trip and that I was scared. The first thing he replied back to me was “Bailey, put your big girl pants on and just go”. Those wise words of advice have been in my head ever since. Of course, the rest of our phone call was very encouraging and helped greatly.
>> I am thankful for friends willing to tell me the truth, even when it’s the last thing I want to hear. <<
After that phone call, I was reminded that this is where God has called me and I have to go. Actually, I GET to go. I get to go on this amazing world race for the glory of God. He called ME out of everyone in the world to go on this specific trip. He wanted me, He entrusted me, and He loved me enough to call me to this. If I am such a follower of Christ like I say I am, how could I not do this? Even though I can’t see how this will happen, God does. I lean on Him for the way and have faith in Him to guide my footsteps.
With ALL that being said: my biggest challenge is to remain faithful in my fundraising. I have $12,491 to raise before I leave in September. I have a little over $1,000 right now. I have several deadlines to meet very soon! Some may say that it would be impossible to raise that much money in such a short time, but I say that God is much bigger than the “impossible”. I know and have confidence that if God wants me on this race, He will get me there. Of course, I still have days that I don’t think that the money will come in on time and I begin to get worried. In those times, God gently guides me back by reminding me of His power and that the impossible to me is a simple task for Him. I just need to remain faithful and fully trust God to provide.
The Title:
The title came from my best friend, Mallory. We were texting back and forth about how life can be difficult and confusing. I shared the Hebrew verse with her and her response was “Faith is hard”. Yes, faith is hard but it is necessary to live a life for Christ.
Much Love,
Bailey
