Keep your eyes on...

Have you ever been told that you need to look in the direction you want to go?  My husband and son are kayakers, and my husband tells Code-man to look where he wants to go when they're on the river.  I've been told to look in the direction I want to go while roller skating, ice skating, skiing, biking, even driving.  And it's such good advice, isn't it?  If you're looking the way that you want to go, it's much more likely that you'll get there.

In A Grand New Day Marilyn Meberg writes:

My mom was the faith person in our family. Both my father and I would seek out the encouragement of her gentle but unwavering faith. Early in life my thought about faith was that some have it and some don’t, and I believed I fell into the “don’t have it” category. For that reason I wanted always to be near my mom’s faith center....

Somehow I felt I had to find a “faith person” to help me with my challenges because I wasn’t sufficiently faith-endowed.... 

We must remind ourselves of a very basic truth. Our faith source is Jesus. He is the author of my faith. He is the giver of my faith. I am not. My mother was not. Any other person is not. Jesus gave me faith when I received him into my heart and life. That faith is totally, personally my Jesus-given faith.

This week's Women of Faith Talk Back question, in response to Marilyn's words, is: Do you have a “faith person”? Are you someone else’s?

I have to admit, when I first read this blog post, I skimmed it, got to the question and thought, hmmm, who brought me to faith?  But in reading the comments and blog post responses by other women of faith, I slowly realized that I was misinterpreting the question, and suddenly it dawned on me that I've been trying too hard.  Here I've been, putting myself at the center of my faith, thinking that my faith isn't good enough, that it's somehow inferior; that I need to try harder, do better, that it's my responsibility to make my faith, and therefore myself, worthy of God's affection.   I've been looking in, when what I should have been doing is looking out, looking up, keeping my eyes on Jesus. Jesus is the giver of my faith--not me.  Jesus is the author of my faith--not me.   My faith, given by Jesus, is enough.  Jesus is enough.  All I need to do is keep my eyes in the direction I want to go--toward Jesus.

My friends, where do you want to go?  Which direction are you looking in?

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus,

the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)