Harry & Andrea

I am becoming more and more aware of my need for a great faith. My faith is the result of 22 years of being a Christian, but most of all–God’s goodness to keep me in faith. And when I look back at His hand on my life through those years and even before, I am amazed and thankful. Even when I am so prone to wander.

But to go to South Asia, I need a GREAT faith. And not just to go to South Asia, but to BELIEVE and continue believing that God is not only capable of, but will accomplish great things. To believe that God is going to provide what we need financially and that His timing is perfect. To believe that He will provide a way for us to sell our house in an impossible real estate market, to believe that he will make Himself known to South Asians, to believe that He will take care of our parents while we’re away, to believe that He will keep us in Him, to continue to believe that it is He who has led us on this path and it will be He who provides for it.

I’m reading biographies about men and women who lived for decades in cultures that were not their own. People who remain joyful in the midst of hardship, and people who press into God more fully whenever they are tempted to doubt Him. And, these people prayed. I’m inspired to pursue God more deeply and more passionately, to long for and pray for a great faith.

I am also reminded of a friend-of-a-friend. We’ll call her Sara. Sara will pray about ANYTHING. And she is so known for her “ability” in prayer that people will ask her specifically to pray for things…a car that is needed for immigrants who live in poverty, financial provision for business or family that is struggling, the weather, the health of a dying person. People ask her to pray for things that seem impossible. Now, I must admit that I can be somewhat cynical about Sara’s prayers. She doesn’t go to the same kind of church that I do, which means she doesn’t speak quite the same religious jargon that I do. And it feels a little bit non-Protestant to put too much emphasis on someone else’s prayers for me.

But, I’ve realized that they ask her to pray NOT because she has a direct line to God (we ALL have a direct line to God through our redemption in Christ). They ask her to pray because she has a great faith.

Pray believing. God has ordained prayer as a means to accomplish His will. Nothing is impossible for God.

And, of course the desire for a great faith leads me to Hebrews 11. (And please do not hear that I aspire to be included in this list of faithful people here. The canon is closed, people. But I can be encouraged by them to pray for my own weak faith to be strengthened.) I read this again–a somewhat familiar passage–and I am led to pray for great faith. A great faith is not going to come from within me. It’s just not. But it does come from a great God.