What is it? What is faith?
How many times in our lives do we say, "Put your faith in God" of "Just keep the faith"?
I don't know how many times I've said something like that.
Countless.
But what in my life really takes a lot of faith? What do these words actually mean?
These questions swirled around my mind and heart after I met Brenda and Jane.
These two sisters, 17 and 20, live together in a small house, with their siblings Rogers (13) and Fidel (3). Jane also has a one-year-old named Travis.
Their mother lives with them as well, but she's usually out working, selling chips (french fries).
That's her job.
Frying and selling chips.
You can only imagine how much she makes in a day.
You can only imagine the hardship.
Why doesn't her husband provide? Where is he in the picture?
Well.
He's an important businessman who works long hours.
The rest of the time he does have is spent between his three wives and families.
Yes.
Three wives.
Three families.
So.
There I was.
With my teammates Kayla and Scott.
Sitting on a couch.
Listening to Jane tell story after story of their father's failings.
Of how he wouldn't pay for her older sister's medical care after she was in an accident.
Of how Jane came home from school one day to her sister, dead in her bunk bed, because of her father's neglect.
Of how her father comes around, only to yell and mistreat her mother and the rest of the family.
Of how he just sends a measly check in the mail every once in awhile.
Of how life. is. hard.
With tears running down her face,
"Life is a struggle."
What do you say in a moment like this?
"Just keep the faith" doesn't quite cut it in my book.
The words that come from my mouth are something like this:
That God, the Perfect Father, desires her, wants her, loves her, pursues her, wants to restore her.
That God, the Father, calls her his daughter, provides for her, knows her, sees her, hears her, wraps His arms around her.
That when all else fails, when her earthly father fails her, when her family fails her, God, Abba Father is and always will be there.
Jane heard these words and knows in her heart that they are true.
How's that for faith?
When everything else around is crumbling down, knowing in your heart of hearts that God loves. No matter what.
I pray that the truth of God's love would never leave Jane or her family.
I pray for faith such as Jane's.
