Faith

	I actually wrote this 174 days ago, but it has new meaning to me today and I thought I'd post it on this blog. I originally published it on Bebo.com.
	FAITH: *Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. *Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters. *The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will. *A set of principles or beliefs. The single most important thing I have learned...Faith. This, to my surprise, was the one piece of the equation that was missing. True, I had been a Christian...believed in God, believed in the Word. Great, but I never lived out in faith. I must say, that the first thing that I found out about myself during this time has been that my biggest hindrance was that I did not "feel" ready for anything. SO many people wait around thinking they will have some particular feeling that lets them know what they are supposed to do or when they are supposed to do it. But I finally thought: How can you know what it feels like to do something you have not done? So I learned that to live a full life, you have to learn to do things by faith and not by feeling. This does not come as a natural thing to me. I am so driven by my emotions and by my feelings...and I have so many of them. While I've been over here, in Iraq, I have realized so much about what faith means to an individual. I didn't realize before how many things we put our faith in everyday. I put my faith in my left and right feet...that they will not trip one another when I walk. I put my faith in my eyes, that they are not deceiving me when I look around. I put my faith in my tongue, every time I open my mouth, that it expresses what my mind has been thinking. I put my faith in my alarm clock, that it will wake me up at the hour I set it to wake me. I put my faith in the water that I brush my teeth with, that it did not come from the porta-pottie pond water and that it's not going to grow algae on my teeth or hair on my chest. But when did I ever put faith in myself??? Never. That was step number one. So, once I learned how to have faith in myself, I learned how to have faith in others and in God. It didn't come easy, but God showed me over the last 545 days or more how to trust that He knows what He's doing in my life...a very difficult lesson for me to have learned, but I finally feel like I have. I have no idea what lies ahead in these next few weeks as I head back home, but I have *FAITH* that God has it all planned out and under His control. This leaves my mind and myself a lot more available to helping others around me and to enjoy the time left with all my new friends. I actually will miss this experience for all it was worth to my growth and development. God Bless! See you soon!!!