In honor of Thanksgiving, I want to share an exert from my devotional, Beauty From Ashes! Beauty from Ashes is a 40-day devotional I wrote in order to encourage you on your cancer journey. Because, lets face it. Cancer can leave you feeling alone and in despair. Treatments can be draining – both mentally and physically. Trusting God in this journey can be hard! It is my prayer that Beauty from Ashes will strengthen your faith during cancer recovery with Scripture-based devotions, prayer, and journaling prompts. I truly want every person battling cancer to know that God can use this trial to bring about something beautiful. He truly can bring Beauty from these Ashes!
To purchase a copy of Beauty from Ashes for yourself or a friend, simply go here!
Enjoy – I am so thankful for you!!
Day 16 – Building Muscle
“Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:7
A few years ago I set a goal of running a half marathon. Although I had been active for most of my life, I never really saw myself as a “runner”. I didn’t think I had the endurance to be able to withstand the 13 (point one!) miles. However, I was looking for something new to try and was willing to give it a shot. So, I began to train. I started out pretty slowly, only being able to run for about 90 seconds at a time. Gradually, I worked my way up to 2 minutes. Then 5 minutes. Then one day, I ran my first 10-minute stretch and was so excited that I snapped a selfie right there at the track and shared it with all my friends on Facebook! Finally, after 5 months of training, I completed my first half marathon! It was so exciting to see that all my hard work had paid off. All the conditioning built muscle that was able to withstand a tough challenge!
Isn’t that how our faith is? Unless you exercise your faith, it will never grow! Muscles aren’t built instantly. Training takes time. It would be foolish to expect a couch potato to run a marathon without ever stepping foot on a track. Godliness is the same way – it requires consistency! It must be put into action several times each week. We must continually claim God’s promises over our lives and trust Him for all things. Nothing is too big or too small for God. Putting your faith in Him for small matters will train you to trust Him with the big stuff.
How has He helped you in the past? Was it an unexpected gift card when your finances were tight? Maybe it was a perfectly-timed word of encouragement from a sweet friend. Perhaps it was the energy to persevere when you felt like giving up.
If God is faithful to help you with the small matters, He surely can be trusted to deliver you with the big things, as well!
If you are struggling to trust Him in your diagnosis — if you are feeling like your faith muscle is just too weak — then lets start to exercise that muscle! Begin with a faith journal. Every time you see God as faithful in your life, write it down! Even if it seems small and insignificant – don’t be afraid to write it down. Train your mind to look for blessings in your life. As you do this, you will renew your strength! You will learn to trust God. You will see Him as a good dad who lovingly cares for you. You will live out Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”