Meet Adeline {a strong and sweet contributor}

A few weeks back I sent my friend Adeline a Facebook message. I asked if she would be interested in writing something for Strong and Sweet. I was so happy that she said yes, because for weeks I had been telling Luke how much I'd love for her to share something here. She is the kind of person you could just be around all day, so full of intelligence, kindness, and peace. Not to mention, her twitter feed is awesome and makes me laugh so much. So here we are a few weeks later, and today I get to share Adeline's post with you! Enjoy, friends, and meet my friend, Adeline. 

Faith isn’t something you need to take notes on and observe. You don’t get Faith by absorbing it from others, & it’s not necessarily something you understand. Faith is a powerful thing; so powerful that with only a mustard seed of faith, you can move mountains. (Matthew 17:20) Imagine what you could do with a handful of mustard seeds! (Metaphorically, of course; you cannot wish upon mustard seeds.) There is no magic spell or special formula for gaining faith. It is a process, with a sort of method. The beginning of having faith is to have hope, which could be considered “baby faith”. Hope is wanting something to happen, & that is the first step to believing it will, and that is faith. You can’t simply believe something will happen on its own; you have to work for it. You won’t be all on your own, though. God provides; ask & you will receive. (Matthew 21:22 & Luke 11:9-12) 

This isn’t meant to all sound terribly difficult, but it is not particularly easy, either. There will come times when your hope wavers & your faith begins to wear thin. You can find comfort in God, and knowing that he will always remain faithful to you. Having & maintaining faith is a process, & quite possibly a long and tiresome one. Don’t let that deter you, though; the rewards of having & maintaining faith are great. And to have faith, you must have faith in something; in God, of course, but also in a goal. Dream an amazing dream, & fathom that dream into a goal. Don’t set a boring, tiresome goal that will leave you disappointed once you’ve met it. People often set 2 to 3 year goals & feel lost once they’ve met them. Once you’ve set an attainable (or not so attainable; the better to test your faith with) goal, start working towards making that goal happen. Keep adding to your goal, & thinking of ways to make it bigger & better. The bigger the goal, the more it will test your faith. Testing your faith is a fantastic way to build your faith. Continue to ask God to give you more faith, & He will. 

 -Adeline Shanaberger-

I was so encouraged and challenged by that last line... "Testing your faith is a fantastic way to build your faith. Continue to ask God to give you more faith & He will". Thanks for sharing, Adeline! 

Was there a particular line that challenged the way you think about faith? I'd love to hear about it!