What comes to mind when you hear the word faith? To me, faith is the having strength and complete confidence in things that you may not always be able to see. Faith is believing in something, even though there may not always be proof. It’s standing up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone.

Faith isn’t praying for God to help you with something and then just because it doesn’t happen, you give up and stop praying. Every bit of faith involves some sort of decision. For example, a person can set a goal for themselves any day, but in order for them to achieve their goal, they have to have faith in themselves and in God. A goal that I’ve set for myself for the future, is finding a college that I feel will be the best fit for me. I have to have faith that even though it will be expensive and it may be difficult to pay for, I have faith that everything will be okay and God will provide. Faith is also trust and experience. We live by faith every single day without even realizing and thinking about it. We have faith in The Lord because we have seen the miracles that He has done and that He continues to do every day.

If you were to look in The Bible for the definition of faith, Hebrews 11:1 has the perfect answer. It says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” You have to believe that something is true and accept it as true for yourself. I asked my Youth Group Director, Kirsten, what came to mind when she heard the word faith and this was her reply, “When I hear the word faith, I think of a God that I believe in. It is something that is sometimes unexplainable, but I just know that I believe in a higher-power, God, who has my whole life in His hands. Faith to me is believing, hoping, and knowing without concrete evidence that God exists. I base my whole life on faith. It is how I treat people, what my values are based on, and who I am as a person.” Faith is a belief; it is believing without sight. My pastor gave the perfect example of this in his sermon last year. In his story he said, “In a way, faith is like eyesight – it must have an object. Suppose you are walking through the woods, and you come to a stream. A single board goes across the stream. As you look at the board, you must decide if you will risk walking across it. You noticed that others have crossed safely, so you decide to trust it. The moment you step out on the plank, you are exercising faith. You may have a lot of faith, but if the board is rotten, you will fall in. If you don’t have a lot of faith, but if it’s a good board, you will make it across safely. You see, the real value of faith depends upon its object. Faith must rest on facts.”

Faith is not faith until it’s all you are holding onto. Faith can strengthen our ability to meet challenges and face hard conditions. An individual without faith is like a deflated balloon. Everybody has had difficult times in their life when it has been hard for them to keep the faith, to not stoop down, and to not act out. Being able to stay strong and to have faith in God helps us to be able to face our giants with boldness.