• Written by Suzan Williams
• Theme:  Blog
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This week, Suzan Williams reflects on what it means to be faithful

Over recent weeks I have been pondering what it means to be faithful, possibly because as a country we’ve been giving thanks for 70yrs of faithful service of our reigning Monarch Queen Elizabeth II but also because as followers of Jesus we are all called to be faithful to the God in whom we place our trust and our very lives. Faithful service in the churches of which we are part and faithful service in the communities in which we are called to live is surely the embodiment of who we are called to be.

In Hebrews 11 a whole chapter dedicated to the faithful who have embodied faithful service to God across the generations we read ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.’ It then goes on to commend individuals who have been faithful from Abel to Enoch and Noah to Abraham.

What strikes me with this passage is that Abraham was called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance but he didn’t know where he was going. 

This to me is the epitome of faith, a need for our trust and experience of who 

God is and has been to take us out to places that on our own we would never even consider. In the song Oceans by Hillsong it’s the opening verse that encapsulates what I’m trying to describe.

‘You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand’

That’s were our confidence in who God is and has proved himself to be kicks in and despite the uncertainty we place our hand in his and are given the courage to step into the unknown.

During the last season many of us have been stretched far beyond that which we would have considered possible and yet God will not leave us there. We serve a God who is always calling us on and into what is achievable through the prompting, equipping and enabling of his Holy Spirit. Not just in our lives but also through our reaching out into the Rural communities in which he has called us to faithfully serve. 

When we entrust the future to God and believe 1 Thessalonians 5:24 where it says ‘The one who is faithful, he will do it.’ to be true. Then we leave space for the Holy Spirit to be ahead of us stirring peoples hearts and bringing into being that which is unseen into the realm of the natural. 

Its certainly what I have experienced since moving to Whittington in the spring of 2020. In no way could I have known or predicted how 2020 would pan out but I very quickly found myself having no choice but to pray in a way that I don’t think I have before. 

As groups of us gathered online across a number of different networks we sensed a call to pray and to keep praying for our communities, our school and hospitals and all those impacted by the Pandemic and to be honest that sense of call has not subsided. It has been more challenging to keep that intentionality and focus but I sense that as we commit to keep that focus paramount in our day to day activities and tasks. We will see the Kingdom of God come in a way that we haven’t to this point.

My prayer for us is that we will lean not on our own understanding but trust in the one who has called us to a life of faithful service, to show the love of the one who has first loved us to the broken hearted and those who feel trapped in circumstances beyond their control. Amen