Hebrews 11:1
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him…”
Sometimes we ask ourselves what is the point of having faith. Some people see faith as a synonym top Religion, others as a belief system, and others as a force that keeps them going forward.
The way I see faith is as a daily walk in which we show both our compromise with God and to ourselves. Some people believe having faith implies not taking some kind of action in what they are hoping for, because God wants us to lay all into Him. Here’s something you might have not thought about before… God wants us to be active in our faith.
The bible tells us in the book of Hebrews that it is impossible to please God if we lack faith. Each of the stories we read on the bible about people who took a leap of faith implies these people reached their goals, no matter how improbable. Taking that leap implies acting on our faith. If we are going to apply this to a chronic condition, it means that we will need to take a step forward and visualized ourselves as healed, even if the road ahead looks difficult.
You’ll need your faith strong even to start a treatment, to see the results we are waiting for, to stay strong through a remission. It is all part of a process.
What is God expecting of us?... you might ask.
He wants us to believe Him, to see ourselves whole, to walk in faith, to set goals and reach them.
This is in no way escapism. I’m not asking you to deny a pain that is obviously there. However, we are called to rise above it. Even in the midst of pain or any health related situation, we need to come to an understanding that it is all just a step along the way and in the bigger picture; there is a chance at overcoming.
My hardest experience with lupus was not only my initial diagnosis, but the development of nephritis. Those were scary, painful moments. There was so much stress, pain and swelling that I could not even walk. Even through those times I saw myself getting better. Giving up was never an option. For three years I lived through the harshest of scenarios. Three years with high Sed Rate and DS DNA until it reached Nephritis. Those were also three years of increasing my faith, of not looking back or feeling sorry about my condition. I decided to hold on to my faith, follow my treatments and give it a fight. Today, I am in remission, symptom free and although I need to keep monitoring, so far the protein secretion is gone and my kidneys are functioning at a normal rate.
Talking about following treatment, we need to keep the faith even when taking our meds. Sometimes I received medications which secondary effects were enough to make anyone cry, but through that as well, I decided to tackle it with faith and give it time. Eventually I found the treatment that was best for me. I trusted my doctors and my medications, sure. My faith though kept telling me that through this, all ends well that is well. I felt the strength of my faith beach time I saw results improving. It pushes me to reach out to others as help them as well.
To have faith is to understand that we are bigger than our condition, stronger than we thought we were.
It is waking up every morning knowing that it all will pass, that we have a hope to act on; that illness is part of life, but that does not mean that God is not present at the moment of healing. In His mercy, He always stretches out his hand.
Acting upon your faith also implies a responsibility. As I always advise, once you get it, don’t take it for granted. Make sure to follow up and keep good habits that will prevent any fall back. Taking good care of ourselves and being responsible for our welfare, we see the culmination of our faith journey.
God will help us through, in all ways.
