With my love for chocolate donuts, this bakery sign “spoke to me”, not only recalling the luscious smell of the fresh dough and the rich taste of the gooey chocolate, but as a spiritual tenet, as well.

This play on words reinforced just how important faith is to us on our earthly journey. Don’t Stop Believing!

Each and every day before my feet hit the floor I pray for a strong faith.

We need a strong faith just to get through each day. We need an abundance of faith to embrace the seen and unseen, the known and unknown, in this life and the next.  Developing this belief calls forth our faith in God’s abundance – His caring and loving of us.

Faith reminds us that God made us for a reason. Faith that God will see us though anything. Faith that all works out for the best. Faith in our fellow man. Faith in our own capabilities…..

The unknown and doubts can eat away at faith pulling us away from what we believe to be true.

We know the feeling of dashed hopes and shattered expectations pulling the rug out from under our faith as we struggle to make sense of it all. We sometimes lose our faith and call out, “Where are you God? Don’t you care at all?”

Relying on faith can bring a peace and happiness into each day, no matter how bleak the day may be. Even in the face of troubles and adversity God has given us the inner tools of the heart (sometimes at odds with what the logical mind is thinking) that will enable us to carry on.

So let us pray for one another to strengthen the faith we all need in God, in one another, and in ourselves.

Lord, all we have comes from you, and without you and your help we are nothing. Flood our hearts with humble faith and utter reliance on loving ways. Wash away all the fears that isolate or separate us, and sweep us forward to share your gifts with open hands and joyful hearts. Amen.

“Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectations.”  – Andrew Murray