I have a precious friend with an amazing Granny that she lost a little while back. Despite not being on earth anymore, her Granny continues to inspire others with her quotes and devotion to God. One of her fantastic quotes she used to tell others is that "Worrying is faith in reverse."
Stop and think about that for a minute. Worrying is faith in reverse. We worry about money, our health, our family, our future....and what good does that do? It keeps us from God. Worry is Satan's way of putting that doubt in our minds. Satan LOVES to do anything that would separate us from God, anything that would make us doubt for even a second that God is in control. Worrying is faith in reverse.
When we worry and say we trust God, it is like saying I believe God will take care of this, but just in case he can't, I'm worried. Can you imagine that!? There is nothing that God cannot do. So when we worry, we are not showing faith that God is in control of our situation.
Well, here is where the tricky part sets in. Let's just say for example that you pray and pray for someone to be healed, and they continue to get worse and suffer through the illness before passing away. Some people would say that God didn't answer their prayers. Well, who are we to say what God is doing? See, what I learned from my own Mother's disease and death is that God's will doesn't have to be mine. My mother taught me to look for God's answers every where. So when it doesn't go "my" way, then I should look for how God answered my prayer in another way. Often this is hard because it takes so much time to see the answers. Especially when you are hurting. Sometimes the answer is the lesson you learn through the hurt. Sometimes the grace that someone demonstrated through suffering is the example you learn from. Sometimes, you learn how to help others through the path of suffering. The one thing that is true, is that God is there always. He waits for us to ask Him to help. He finds no joy in our suffering, but he can see where it will lead us. Hind sight is where we finally see what he was trying to teach us.
Do I get scared? Yes. Do I feel anxious? Yes. Do I stress? Yes. Do I worry? Yes. But, I pray for God to take these feelings and replace them with faith. I will continue to open my eyes and pray for God to show me the answers to my prayers. And He will...... That is Faith.