The Faithful Wanderer

I love this image.. The surrounding woods might be dark, but this little guy is safe, because he’s holding onto his daddy’s hand.

A Little Personal History

As a young Christian at Michigan State University, certain Bible verses haunted me. During my childhood, my parents had taken me every Sunday to an Episcopalian church, but when I turned 13, I became an atheist.

My faith level dropped to zero and it wasn’t really strong to begin with.

Proudly proclaiming  I “didn’t need a religious crutch” I nevertheless found a downside to not believing in God like my other friends.

The stark reality? If anything bad happened, I had to cope. There was no God to pray to. No Divine Being that I could cry out to for help.

Then, in my second year of college, I received Jesus as my Savior and Lord.

Haunted by Certain Scripture Passages

Coming to Christ at 20, I’d never studied the Bible before. Now I started to read it every day. Soon, certain passages began bothering me. Like when James says,

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:6-8 RSV)

Terrifying.

As a new-born Christian coming out of an atheist background, my faith wavered all over the place. If the Lord required rock-solid faith from me before granting any of my prayer requests, I’d be a disappointment to Him for years to come.

I panicked over Jesus’ words to the two blind men in Matthew 9:28-30, “According to your faith let it be done to you…” Uh-uh.  I probably would have continued bumping blindly into trees. And when He spoke of a faith that could move mountains? My level of faith, metaphorically speaking,  couldn’t even move dust,

But soon I developed a pretty good strategy. I asked older, more experienced Christian students to pray for me.

Because I figured God would certainly listen to my friends; they had more faith.

Then one day, I had a personal breakthrough.

Seeing the God who Delights to Answer

Something happened and I desperately needed a miracle for my family. But I didn’t feel free to tell anyone else about it. It was a very private matter.

So with my feeble level of faith, I prayed, expecting nothing to happen.

Imagine my astonishment and joy when God answered me!

I began to learn that day, that we serve a tenderhearted God, who delights to answer.

So in answer to my main question, “How much faith is enough?” I’d ask you, “Well, how much faith do you have?”

This image came from Pixabay.com