Faith: A Way Forward

So as I spent some time here and there throughout the day typing these thoughts I had on faith, how it affects us or how the lack of it affects us also. I would write for a little while and take a break. For myself, faith is easy to define but hard for me to describe. It is one of those intangibles that can have many different meanings to various people. So this is my way of shedding a little light on the idea of faith, and hopefully, I can give someone a better chance at a way forward.

I believe we all need faith in something; we all need something to believe in. Without this something, the world is a callous and gloomy place, in which I feel far too many of us reside. We reside here not by choice, because seriously, who would choose such a bleak existence? The answer is simply no one. How can we help those in our days find more hope and faith that tomorrow can be better than today? This is my goal for this writing. To hopefully give one person a different outlook on what their days can be made of.

You may be asking yourself why I would be writing on this topic. It is because this is a struggle I have endured most of my life. My faith and the hope for a better tomorrow keep driving me forward. These two things combined with my belief that there is a purpose for my existence, even though I don't feel I have found that purpose. While I believe there is a purpose for my existence, and I have faith in the idea, as long as I keep pushing forward, my purpose will be revealed. I oftentimes lose sight of this and get discouraged to a point I have to refocus on the belief there is a reason I am on this earth. Depending on how far removed from my faith I get, it may take a couple of weeks to get back to my work or take months to get back. However, I always get back because of the faith I have in my purpose. So with this hands-on experience, I feel I can maybe give some insight into why I feel it is important to develop a strong foundation of faith, hope, and belief in purpose.

In my experience, whenever we begin to discuss the topic of faith or the usage of the word faith, it often will elude to religious overtones. While faith is an integral part of religion, faith can also play a vital role in those who are not devout Christians or even to say those who are not overtly religious. Faith can be more than a cornerstone of religion; faith has a role in day to day life outside of the church. Faith's general definition is defined as having confidence or trust in a person, thing, concept, or idea. The definition of religion is the belief in God, the doctrines or teachings of religion. Even though the definition has been broken into a generalized one and one of the religious terms, I feel they are both the same. Confidence and trust are also carried into the religious definition because it is more than just a belief in God. It is the confidence and trust placed in God that creates a person's faith in Him. So when I view faith, it is an integral part of the way forward. I also believe that everyone needs to develop a level of faith and an optimistic hope for their life to find fulfillment in their days.

This writing discusses my view of faith and how we can use it to keep ourselves moving forward even when the world may tell us to give up. It would seem most times the world is in a constant mode of telling us to give up on our dreams, to stop being foolish, and to keep your head down and exist. I can also promise you I have far more voices telling me to forget these crazy ideas about what I want my days to be filled with than I have ones telling me never to stop chasing the life I was meant to live. I have always been susceptible to the opinions of others. Enduring failure is brutal to my confidence but what I have always found keeps me moving on to the next day is the faith or belief that no matter what happens today, tomorrow is a new day, and there is a reason for my existence. There is purpose in me being on this earth; It is an opportunity to improve on what yesterday was or wasn't, and I continue onward with my faith because without it giving up would be far too easy.