Faith is one of those “Christian buzzwords”.   We say that “by faith”  we will do this or that.  We tell others to have faith and unfortunately at times, we tell others they need more faith.  But what is faith?  According to Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

 “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”.

Merriam Webster dictionary defines faith as

“a strong belief in something or someone”.

So what does that mean to the average Christian?

To me, faith in God, who He is and what he can do,  is part of my belief system; part of who I am.  There are days that my faith is stronger than others, days that I have more confidence than others,  yet I still have faith.

In fact, everyone has faith.  We all have a strong belief in something, whether it’s our favorite sports team, our spouse, our favorite politician or whatever, faith is part of who we are as humans. But faith in God is the faith beyond all faith. It is the confidence(assurance) that things will be alright.

And you know what, faith in God does not depend on our status in life, our intelligence, physical attributes, or any of the things that appear important to us.  Faith in God is His gift to humanity that He gives to anyone who seeks him! Faith does not depend on how good we are, our church attendance, or how hard we try to be a good Christian.

Faith  shows up at the most amazing times;  it shows up when we need it.  We don’t need faith for our past;  it’s already happened.  We need to let the past be the past.  We don’t need faith for the future.  We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future and Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:25-33 not to worry about our lives and that the Father knows what we need.  Matthew 6:34 states:

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own”.

Faith is the confidence in what we hope for TODAY, and all the trouble that comes along with it.  It’s the assurance of what we do not see TODAY!

Michele Cushatt in her new book,” Undone: A story of making peace with an unexpected life” learned to do just that.  Michele planned the perfect life for herself.  She wanted to be a preacher’s wife and live happily ever after, but that did not happen.  She did marry the preacher, but the relationship ended in divorce.  So Michele ended up a single mom for a season.  She re-married and had to adjust to a blended family, a rebellious teenager, a bout with cancer and being a foster/adoptive mom to three abandoned children.

Michele’s transparent, heart ripping memoir will leave you crying one minute and laughing the next.  This book is definitely a page turner and will be an inspiration to anyone going through divorce, re-marriage, cancer, or dealing with the needs of foster/adoptive children.   Michele’s honest account includes dealing with and conquering feelings of rejection, insecurity, disillusionment, fear, and being  utterly overwhelmed as she walked out her faith throughJesus Christ.

“Undone” is available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com as well as at most major book outlets. An audio version is also available from audible.com.

*I was part of the book launch team for “Undone” and wrote this review as a result.