We are rocked by faith!

Ok, this is the kicker for me. I hope this will inspire you, too. I've shared this a number of time with an on-line community of Christian women (also going through infertility) of which I'm a part. This is why I'm Rocked by Faith!

Guys, the sermon at church on the weekend was so great. I prayed before the sermon and asked God to share something that was directly related to the whole baby schmozzle that we're all dealing with. Because I thought maybe I needed to learn something new and interesting.

As it turns out, the sermon was focussed on the concept of faith. Funny, eh?

Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

My pastor said that, a few years ago, an excavation in the Holy Land uncovered a bunch of civic documents that referred repeatedly to the Greek word for faith. Why in civic documents? Because they included a bunch of title deeds to houses, land, etc. Apparently, the Greek word for faith means title deed.

So think about that in context of Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It means, then, that we already own what we have faith in. Faith IS the title deed. So when we have faith, we have to believe that we already own it; whatever IT is: in this case, a family. And I do believe that this desire for a family comes from God, so, in my opinion, we are required to believe that we already 'own' it. Isn't that fascinating? It put a great new spin on that word for me. (But then again, I'm a word geek.)

My only concern with internalizing this point of view is that it's too easy to think that, just because we want something, that God's desire will line up with ours. That's not a good road to travel. So, when I wrote the previous paragraph and then went back to it, I was worried that that was what I sounded like, because that's not what I know to be true: I definitely don't think that God necessarily wants me to be a mother just because that's my inclination right now. I guess the main idea for me is that I'm doing my best to accept God's will for my life. I'm interested to know what others think about all of this.

Anyway, here's another passage that is useful for me:

Romans 5:1-5: 1: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

I'm at the point of hope, people.