Faith Fairy

Once again I had the great privilege of interviewing people who made a decision to get baptized. And, as always, I was moved by every story that I heard. But there was one thing that stood out to me this time. And it was the number of people who, through God, had discovered peace and joy unlike anything that they ever experienced before and had, unknowingly, longed for. I basked in their peace and in their joy. And, then, on the way home I prayed for them.

I prayed that God would hold off the challenges they would soon face from the hope and joy stealer, himself. Because the seasoned Christian in me knew that times ahead would be tough and their new and untarnished faith would be challenged. I hated the thought that they might turn from their faith because their joy and peace had been taken.

I have spoken and written countless times about my faith, times when it was weakened, shattered, stretched to the point of pain. And how it stayed like that for days, sometimes months.  But, due to the faithfulness of God, I have never stayed there; my faith has never remained in its broken state. There were and are times when I seem to wake up in the morning and my faith has been restored. No, not restored. It has felt new. 

This week I realized that my faith is like a balloon. When you blow up a balloon, it’s big, and colorful and beautiful, but over time it begins to deflate, sometimes faster than other times. And when it returns to its original form, it’s limp and wrinkly and will never look like it once did. That feels like my faith. I stretch it, blowing and blowing into, lasting as long as I can before it begins to deflate. And then I end up feeling limp and wrinkly, just like a used balloon. But, as I said, I never stay like that.

One morning I’ll wake up and it’s as though the Faith Fairy has come. What I laid on my pillow the night before has been replaced with something new, something fresh, something untouched. It’s no longer my former faith. No, this faith feels fresh and new, eager to be stretched.

Isaiah 43 says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Ezekiel 36 says, “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”

God has a storehouse of everything that I need. He does not operate in a recycled world, reusing something over and over again. No, everything he gives me is brand new. Including my faith. And when that happens, I’m just like a kid who found a dollar under their pillow in place of their tooth. I want to tell and show everyone what the Faith Fairy left for me. A fresh faith. A chance to start again. An opportunity to stretch and expand my faith again, without the worry that I’m operating and believing with my old and weakened faith. 

So, as I return to praying for those who were baptized, I pray for myself, as well. That we can move forward in confidence, that our faith, yes, will be stretched and pulled and exhausted, but that’s not what we’ll be left with. Because when the time is right, when we shove our worn-thin faith under our pillows and when we least expect it, we’ll be visited by the Faith Fairy and wake up to discover a brand spankin’ new faith ready to be used and stretched. For the very first time.