Anchored Faith

Struggling to make sense of my newly shaken faith, I looked at the once beautiful pieces of my known walk with God now strewn about like a debris field in my heart. I was dealing with the deep pain of what can happen when a church goes wrong. Holding my seemingly crumbling faith in my hands, I felt shards of disappointment and fear pierce my heart. While sorting through the broken pieces of what had been a strong and unquestioned faith, I found a treasure; a diamond hidden in the dust of what had been. When I found this little truth, I didn’t understand it would be the means through which a more deeply anchored faith would grow.

This diamond in the dust was Romans 10:11. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” Some translations use the word ‘disappointed’ instead of ‘put to shame.’ This verse became my lifeline and the road on which my deeper faith was built. I knew if I kept believing and trusting in God, I would not stay disappointed. He had promised and I believed Him. Faith is what is built in the ‘not-yets’ and in the places in life where what we know to be true about God doesn’t match our current circumstances, feelings or experience.  

Hebrews 11 will always remain a favorite chapter of mine and is known by many as the ‘faith chapter.’ The chapter is filled with examples of beautiful lives lived by faith. All of them lived in the tension of the ‘not yets’ between the promise and the promise fulfilled. The chapter begins with Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (emphasis mine).  Faith is standing in the space of the ‘not-yet’ and anchoring ourselves to who God says He is. Faith is the bridge we walk on when our experience does not yet match the promise, when we feel disappointment in God, when we feel we have been left alone, when we feel as if we are not forgiven, when we feel unloved by Him or any other way that is contrary to what is promised in Scripture. 

I love Hebrews 11:11, “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise” (emphasis mine). Sarah considered God faithful despite what she could see. She didn’t have faith in faith or her ability to believe, but centered her faith on the faithful God. She considered Him faithful. This little statement is the foundation of true faith. This is the question we must answer in our lives if we are to live faith-filled. Do we consider Him faithful? If so, we can anchor our lives to Him even when things go dark. When questions are large, the God who knows all continues to hold our lives in his hands. We can be confident and sure of this even when we can’t see.

Our faith is anchored to the good God, who even when things turn out differently than we expect or hope for, is still good and has our best in mind. God is strong enough to anchor our faith to no matter what is going on in our lives. Let’s put our faith in the God who holds our lives and trust Him in whatever season or circumstance we may find ourselves in. He will be faithful.

"And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.” Hebrews 11:11 (NIV)

About the Author

Hi! I'm Wendy Gerdes and I live in Omaha, NE. I've lived here most of my life except for a few years in Florida where I attended Bible school and started married life with my husband, John. We moved back to Omaha with our oldest two sons and had two more children shortly after. We have 3 sons and 1 daughter. I am passionate about motherhood and love the creative work of partnering with God to help our kids develop into who He designed them to be! I love to write, read, hiking and being outdoors. I am most passionate about learning and writing about God's heart for us because when we see his heart for us, it changes everything! Connect with me at wendygerdes.com.