Developing Faith - an introduction

This time last year I was finishing a trip to Cambodia. Prior to the trip I was living in Sydney, working for a firm I loved, doing the kind of work I had always wanted to do, I was falling for a man who reminded me of who I truly was but who would never be mine (disaster). At the time I thought I was pretty happy, at the very least I was living my life to the fullest and taking every opportunity that presented itself but I had this feeling that something wasn't quite right. This feeling that this was not my life, that this was some other person's life and I just happened to be living it. I remember praying before I left, I remember that I asked God to change my life, I asked that I would come back from Cambodia different.. Oh how little did I know, this simple prayer sent me on quite a journey!

Now just over 12 months on, that prayer has been well and truly answered! I am different and my life is soooo different even my dreams for my future are different. I am honestly happy but the journey to here hasn't been simple or easy, I have had to trust God completely, to block out all of the noise and listen to what's in my heart. I've had to develop my faith and become rooted in God. I am so thankful that I am rooted in him.

In the last few days my family has just been rocked by some pretty awful news (the kind with the potential to destroy lives), we are in the midst of a storm, it seems like just when the wind calms another sits in the wings waiting to rage against us. I know that this storm will ultimately clear but when it clears we will all be different, each of us will have been moved in some way. As we face this storm together I find myself leaning into my faith and drawing my strength from God, my faith is strong and has become the rock that I am standing in. This immediate need to rely on my faith got me thinking about where my faith has come from and how it has developed.

I am not 100% sure of how I went about developing this faith but there were definitely some key moments, decisions and people that have helped shape it and I would like to spend the next little while reflecting on some of these moments.

To me faith is fundamentally important and you could say it's because I am religious but it's not. Faith is something we all have but we don't necessarily understand or even question, that is until we are forced to rely on it.. Where do you place your faith? Is it in God? In money? In your job? In your family? In _____?

We are all given the same measure of faith, what's important is what we do with our measure... It's about what we place our faith in, how we build it and whether it is going to be there when we need to rely on it.. As I share and examine my faith, I pray that each of us will take a moment to consider our faith, to examine it and to try to work out how to build this precious gift xo