What is Courageous Faith

So what is courageous faith?  Is it jumping out of an airplane?  Is it a firefighter running into a burning building (been there done that plenty of times)?  A police officer in a gun battle?   A soldier defending our freedoms?  A diver diving off a cliff?    There are so many things that we could say take courageous faith and they take a lot of courage and a lot of faith in something.

The kind of courageous faith I am talking about is the faith in God to follow a still small voice when he calls you to do something.   To follow when he puts a burden on your heart.   This too takes courage and faith in God.    Often it can take a LOT of FAITH in GOD and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone! 

I believe that often God places opportunities in front of us and there are times that He clearly wants us to go through one door in particular.  Other times there may be 2 or 3 doors and it may not be so clear which one is the right one.    One could be easy and you would still be within God's will.  The other may clearly have challenges, cost and chances of pain but you know that if you walk through that door there are likely blessings that will be bestowed on you if you are just willing to take that first step and follow. 

On some of these doors once you step through you see more of the picture and it becomes more clear what is before you. Other times you walk through the door and a light shines on the next step or two and you have to keep taking steps to have more revealed to you.   These are the doors that often take courageous faith.   Walking in the dark and allowing Him to shine the light where he wants you to go.   Not knowing how it will all turn out or what obstacles lay in the path that could trip you.   At these times you have two choices, to turn back and refuse to follow or to walk slowly and hold the Masters hand and allow Him to show you the way, trusting totally in Him to keep you from falling.   In many ways this type walk takes more courage than jumping off a cliff.

What is He asking you to do that is hard?  What doors are before you?   Do you know which one to select?  Is there a clear path?  Do you have the faith to follow?  Do I have the faith to follow, some days I wonder! 

What does all of this have to do with adoption?  I can tell you from our adoption journeys that we have walked through some of these dark doors and we have seen the hand of God at work.  We have had front row seats to some miracles.   We have seen blessings that we would have totally missed had we taken the easy road.   We have received blessings from our children, from friends that we would have never known had we not gone through these doors.  We may never know all of the blessings that resulted from a simple choice to say yes.    Some other time I may detail out some of these blessings and miracles we have seen.

Could we have taken the easy road and still been within God's will?  Probably!  Did we always pick the right door?  I doubt it.  Are there more doors to choose from?  Sure there are!   Will it be scary?  You bet it will be.  I can say that it has not always been easy, it often does not make sense from an earthly perspective and we usually can only see a short distance ahead.    I can also say that we have no regrets for going down this road.  We are so thankful that we have seen the gospel lived out through adoption.

No matter if it is adoption or another door that God places before you, prayerfully consider the opportunities that God gives you and be willing to walk with Him leading you.  You never know what blessings you will find along the way.