Saturday, February 25, 2012

Dear God,

I have come to realize that faith is based on a thin layer of trust. I trust what I believe, what I see, and what I perceive.  Through a variety of personal experiences, teachings of trusted people, and beliefs about the bible and the characters of the bible, I live in faith.

I wake up in the morning feeling gratitude, the same gratitude I went to bed with because I live in faith.  I get up believing that I live in a world where you are a loving, living, powerful, and friendly presence.  I pray because faith tells me you care, you listen, and you answer prayer.  I am not silly enough to believe that I simply tell you what to do and you do it but rather prayer puts me in an attitude of faith, helps me care for others, and gives me a way to act in the world.  I am made a better person because I pray.  I become a more faithful person because I come to you as an act of love and obedience.  The word obedience doesn't bother me because I would expect to be devoted to One whose love created and creates more love in the world.

My faith increases as my awareness of you in the world deepens.  When I walk with open eyes, I see the wonders of love all around me.  Yes, I see evil and darkness and the like; however, my faith whispers to me that light always has the final word, no matter the condition.  When I listen with open ears, I hear the sounds of faith, the gush of love when one person helps another.  Faith develops daily as I trust in you to ultimately lead me in my daily living.  Faith grows richer when I discover how you have been in the daily turns and twists in my life and in the lives of others. When I live as a faith-filled human being, I am acting on the trust I find in you.

Forever grow
my faith
in you,
Glorious God;
let the gift
of your
Son's love
daily reach me
so I
may reach others.
Teach me
to be
more faithful
to your purpose
in human living,
I pray.
Teach me
to trust you
more and more.

Love, Andrea