Once upon a time, I thought faith was about having all the answers. I thought that maturing in my beliefs meant that I would get to a point where I was always strong and always would do the right thing and would have obtained the new super power of being temptation-proof (like whenever temptations lurked nearby, my spidey-senses would go all tingly). I thought that as a grown-up Christian, I would have my life mapped out in my head and always know what choice to make and what path to take. I think I know better now.

I’ve been a believer for a while. I’m not saying I’ve arrived or even reached maturity, but I’ve learned a lot. And one of those lessons I’ve learned is that I really don’t have all the answers– or even 1% of all the answers. Heck, I don’t even know the questions most of the time.

I’ve figured out that I can have faith without having every answer to every question. In fact, if I knew all the answers, I wouldn’t really need faith, would I? Faith is not that I know everything, but that I know and trust the One who knows.

I can have an active and growing faith without having a complete roadmap for my life. Or, that I have my spiritual GPS planned out for every single step from start to finish. Maybe just knowing the next step is enough. After all, faith means not knowing where you are being led, but knowing and trusting the One who leads and knowing that He has never and will never steer me wrong.

I’ve learned that you really can’t judge yourself in comparison with anyone else. For one, you (or I) tend to have selective vision when it comes to how you see others. I find that I project my own fears, faults and foibles onto others. But the main reason that comparison never works is that there is no cookie-cutter plan. God made me unique with a specific plan for my life that’s different than anyone else’s. And it is a good plan.

So faith for me means trusting without knowing the answers, following without knowing the way, and yielding without understanding the plan. All that sounds a whole lot like surrendering. Faith means not pretending that I know all the answers or that I know the plans I have for me or that I have it all figured out. Faith is honestly admitting that I am weak, but that He is strong, that I am lost, but He is the Way and that I am clay in the hands of a Master Potter.

So I will be the best me I can be. I will be authentic and transparent and honest to God. And you can’t get more honest than this:

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.