Mary Farag writes: Faith

I know why now, why I’d always be trying to escape from reality. It’s because nothing ever went my way. I’d get mad and shut out the problem, never realizing that the struggles were supposed to make me stronger, how over coming them would give me experience, how it would give me the knowledge to help others facing the same thing in the future. But again, itwas because I was afraid. Afraid I would go down the wrong path, abuse the freewill that’s been given to me and do the wrong thing; that was my biggest fear. Subconsciously giving into

temptation without even realizing what I’m doing. Sinning without thought as if it were my second nature. Again and again, no one ever stopping me to tell me I’m wrong. I’ve spent years in the darkness not knowing the truth wondering why I was always so lost and confused.

Pretending to be someone I’m not, refusing to be myself because I believed I was not good enough for others. Running away was all I knew how to do, I never faced reality, never learned the truth, until one day. I looked into the light, realized that I shouldn’t be running away from fear, I shouldn’t be hiding from things that seemed frightening. I then learned how to “walk by faith rather than sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), closed my eyes and took a step into the light. I was no longer afraid, I faced everything that was in my way because I knew Christ was with me and helped me through every problem I’d encounter. The cross I was given to carry was not a burden, but a blessing. To have fallen, but being picked back up. “Having faith does not make things easy but it makes them possible.” (Luke 1:37). I now know that I can, and will pull through with the help of Christ, no longer having to hide in the shadows of others or escaping from reality, I now breathe in truth and walk in the light of Christ. I’ve put all I have in his hands and now know how to love and work in his name, all because I found a little seed of faith and a

ray of light that grew within me. Now I can close my eyes and walk without fear of falling because I know Christ is here holding my hand.