Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is

and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

– Hebrews 11:6

Remember when you first discovered God?

Remember praying for the streetlight to change or the car to make it to the gas station? I remember praying as a young girl for God to help me find a cheap ring I had lost. I immediately found it after praying and was sure I had witnessed a miracle.

And I had. I had experienced my first baby steps in trusting God. These early simple lessons give us the foundation to fall back on as the trials get harder and God pulls us deeper into the mysteries of His love.

But God doesn’t intend for us to splash in the shallow creek of faith forever. Walking with God is a terrifying and exhilarating adventure that begins with training wheels and ends in the rarefied air of the heavenlies. Often, along the way, there will be many treacherous crossings at the abyss of despair, heartbreaking treks along the valley of Baca (weeping), and lonely journeys through the shadow of death.

In the beginning, God doesn’t give us more than our new natures can handle, just as we don’t allow a child at the controls of a plane. But as we grow up in Christ, God begins to take us up higher into new and more difficult territory. With each step toward Him, we wind up throwing away the baggage hindering the climb. This includes our own pre-conceived notions about Who this God is.

God intends for the true believer to grow in faith.

Since faith is, by definition, believing in that which we have not seen, the only way to grow in faith is to be pushed beyond what we know.

As we grow up in God, we begin to understand His personality, His ways, His expectations. We learn to recognize the sound of His voice. But if that is such a large step for us, it is but a baby step for an infinite God. He always has a new adventure of faith to reveal to us. The riches of His life are unfathomable for us, and completely unsearchable.

We don’t even know how to begin. And we are always surprised when He brings us to the next door of growth and we discover that it involves a greater exercising of our faith, more walking blindly toward His voice.

Like the early pioneers to America’s West, we find ourselves lurching along in the heat and desperately pitching the beloved remnants of the old life that we tried to bring along with us.

And that involves pain.

In the middle of nowhere, when we can see neither beginning nor end of the trail, we forget that we truly are heading somewhere, and it’s easy to lose both our heart and our trust.

But God is never confused, lost, or uncaring. He knows the end from the beginning, and He knows where we are headed. His timing is impeccable. He does everything perfectly, even when we haven’t a clue what is happening. Once again, God surprises us with deliverance, and our trust in Him is renewed and strengthened. We learn more about Him; we lose some unnecessary baggage along the way; and we get a bit closer to Home.

Excerpted from Song in the Night by Pam Thorson.