Owning Your Faith

I recently was talking with a woman about her faith. I would say that she is around 60 years old, give or take. She was raised going to church and her mother had a strong faith. Well, this woman's mother had passed away a few years back and now this woman finds herself in a position where she is examining what it is that she truly believes. Does SHE actually believe the same things that her mother did? Does she have faith in those same things?

Well, this got me to thinking ... (whenever you see this written you should have one of two reactions: Jumping up and down yelling 'Yippee' OR You should feel nervous! LOL)

Anyway, it got me thinking about the faith of my children and my husband. Are they just riding on the coattails of my faith? I am somewhat of the Spiritual leader in our house. I am giving over more leadership to Matt as he grows in his faith. I believe that as the head of the household, that it is ultimately his responsibility. But I was a single mother before he came into our lives so the pattern was already set up. And he works several evenings a week when I am home with the kids.

Zoe is very strong in her faith. She always has been. She is just drawn to the things/people of the Lord. It comes very naturally for her. Colin struggles in his faith. As his mother, I feel such a strong desire for him to love the Lord and to have his own desire to live for Him.

A few weeks ago at church, we were doing communion. Pastor Dan gave a great message about why we do communion and the sacredness of it. It is not to be taken lightly. He said that you need to work out for yourself how you feel about Jesus. It has to be your own faith. You cannot assume that just because you live with a Christian family or came to church with Christian friends that you are automatically a Christian. You need to work it out for yourself. On that day, Colin chose not to participate in communion. As his mother, it was a time of very mixed emotions. I was so saddened by his decision. I didn't say anything to him. I simply let him be. On the other hand, he was very wise in choosing NOT to participate if he wasn't completely settled in his heart about how he feels about Jesus. But again, I so strongly desire for him to love the Lord.

So what does this have to do with the woman I was talking to earlier? Well, it made me think that maybe, for many years of her life, she was living off her mother's faith. She had never taken the time or the freedom to make her faith her own. And so now she is doing that. Yes, I strongly desire for Colin to love Jesus. But even more so, I desire that he can claim ownership to that faith. It may not  come on my timeline or it may not look like what I think it will, but it needs to be his own. And I need to allow him the time, space and freedom to develop it.

Here's a funny thing! As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across this verse and put it in my pocket:
Let not your heart be troubled. Trust in God. John 14:1

Don't you just love God's sense of timing? And His sense of humor?