This is a devotional I wrote for my speech class that I'm going to give next Wednesday. It doesn't quite make complete sense yet, but I'll finish it:

"Torn apart,
Lying still,
Snatching for my Father's will.
Crying loud
To be heard:
'Bring Your focus back to earth.
Pick me up,
Cure my tears,
Wake my hopes and kill my fears.'

Torn apart,
Grabbing still,
For my Father's hidden will.
Finding love
Seems to me
A harsh impossibility.

'Trust in the Lord'--
This verse I hear
Ringing ever in my ear;
Waiting for
The latter trait:
'All your paths I will make straight.'

Fin'lly light
O'erwashes me,
Offering a way to see.
Mended back (but)
Searching still
For my Father's perfect will..."

This is a poem I wrote during one of the darkest times of my life. It was a very low point in my faith, and I had no concept of what trusting God meant whatsoever.

Though I wrote it before the situation I was going through was resolved, I finished it with a verse of hope: "Fin'lly light o'erwashes me, offering a way to see." I hoped someday I would be dragged out of this ditch I was in.

I didn't know it then, but essentially, that is what faith is. It's hope even during the darkest time of your life. It's trusting things will turn out okay, even if they look pretty bleak.

Paul writes to the Romans: "We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don't yet have--for a man who already has something doesn't need to hope and trust that he will get it." (Romans 8:24-25, TLB) That is the definition of true faith.

Granted, at a really low point in life, you may not have a whole lot of faith. But as long as there's that little bit of hope--Jesus said that, with faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. (Matthew 17:20) All it takes is a little bit of hope.

-Stephanie