Where do we place our faith? Do we have faith in our cars to get us where we need to go? Do we have faith in our jobs to continue to provide for us? Do we have faith in our loved ones to do what they promise? Do we have faith in ourselves – that we’ll succeed in what we’re trying to accomplish? How often to we put our faith into something and get let down?

This Sunday, Pastor Zedick spoke about faith in God and how that faith comes from trust. He made the correlation between a relationship with God and our relationships with loved ones. We gain trust with those close to us by their actions. And it’s the actions they take during hard times that speak the loudest. I find that when I’m in the middle of a hard time, it’s difficult for me to trust anyone. I tend to want to take control of the situation and fix things on my own. But when something is outside of my control, that’s when I need to trust others. It’s during those times when trust in God is most important.

Pastor Zedick went on to say that our faith grows the most during hard times. The term “Faith that moves mountains” is an analogy for believing that nothing is impossible with God and that he will carry us through whatever we are dealing with. These actions are referred to as miracles. And it’s not the TV preacher slapping a blind man in the forehead and he suddenly sees that Pastor Zedick spoke of. Miracles are happening all the time, and when you think about it – we’ve all witnessed it. One week someone has cancer spread throughout their lungs and the next week their MRI is completely clear. An EMS worker goes on-site to a horrific car crash where the car is completely flattened, and the driver is sitting 150 ft away from the vehicle, completely unharmed. A young woman escapes an attacker in her car and makes it all the way home with no battery in the car. A man picks up a hitchhiker that is leaving his wife and drives him right back to the front door of his home without being told the address. These things really happened – and are still happening all the time. No matter what is going on in our lives God is greater. We can trust that he will take care of us – every time. We can put our faith in him.

After church, we were talking about praying to God during struggles and someone brought up prayer with Thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6-7 says “Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace which transcends all understanding shall guard over your hearts and minds…” I thought about what this meant. Does it mean that we need to approach God with a thankful spirit before he’ll listen to us, or is it something more?

While I was on my way to church that morning, I was having a hard day. No excuse to be in a bad mood – I just was. I was worried about how my two boys were going to act in church that day, and my husband reassured me that he would be there and help. However, on the way to church, he got a call from a friend that needed help and we had to turn around. My husband took our 2 year old to help our neighbor and I took our teething infant and headed back to the church. Usually, I would be upset, but instead I thanked Brooks for taking our oldest, and acknowledged want a hug help it was. It changed my entire attitude about the situation. I think that’s why thanksgiving is so important – especially during difficult times. It forces us to look at something positive that God has done for us, which reminds us that he does take care of us and will continue to do so through our current struggles. And that’s where that inner peace comes from. God’s already on it and all we have to do is trust him.

Click here to hear the sermon.