Fueled by Faith

About a month before "the day that everything changed," the day we got the diagnosis of Wayne's condition, my newest book was relelased. So during all of this, I am in the middle of a book launch. How interesting that my new book is called Fueled by Faith.

I did my first of many radio interview about the book on the very day that we learned the bad news, sandwiched between the neuroligist and the neurosurgeon. It was a show out of Portland, OR. The last question the interviewer asked me was, "And what is God teaching you about faith today?"

In the book, my premise is that we are living in a faith lab. Every day, we take what we think we know about faith and put it to the test. Every day affords the opportunity to apply the reality of faith with a new set of variables in place. Faith never changes, but the circumstances in which it is applied change in the blink of an eye.

Every day as I do radio interviews or am bing interviewed for articles, or as I speak to audiences at engagements scheduled long in advance, I am talking to myself. I am hearing out of my own mouth the things God has taught me over my lifetime and is reminding me of on a daily basis. I am able to speak confidently about the truth that life is fueled by faith.

Here is an excerpt from my book. When I wrote these words, our current situation was not even on my radar screen. But this is what I am talking about to people all over the country every day. God has impeccable timing.

Let’s listen to the apostle Paul: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength”(Phil. 4:11-13).

Paul had learned a secret. This secret caused him to live every moment of every day in a state of contentment. He had learned it by experience., not in theory. He had learned that the unchanging presence of God satisfied him. It is the same when God allowed adversity in his life as when God supernaturally intervened to circumvent difficulties. All the same.

Let me explain what I think Paul discovered. It starts with realizing how our human nature works. We are all busy trying to arrange outward events in such a way that they will produce inner contentment—a sense of safety, of being loved, of satisfaction. If this would happen, or if that would go away, or if this would change, or if that would stay the same…. Then we would have the inner contentment. So we think.

Paul had learned that it’s not what God does, but who God is that produces contentment. What happens on the outside of him did not add to or subtract from his inner rest. How did he know such a wonderful thing? He learned it. How did he learn it? He learned how to be content when he was in need by being in need. How did he learn how to be content while being hungry? He learned by being hungry.

Paul’s faith was focused on God, not on an outcome in any given circumstance. Faith knows that God is working toward an outcome that is beyond anything that we could ask or imagine. Faith is future focused. "Future focused” describes a person who is so fully focused on the goal that he is blind to the discouragements along the way, oblivious to the bumps in the road. Faith keeps its eyes on God, who is definitely moving all circumstances in a forward direction, bringing to completion a good and loving work. When He allows difficulties to come into your experience, you can be sure that He is doing something beneficial by means of them and He is doing something He could not accomplish without that very challenge. His plans are always for your benefit. His plans are always well thought out long, long in advance. Let me remind you something about God: He is very smart.

(From Fueled by Faith by Jennifer Kennedy Dean)