Your "By Faith" Story
- Michelle Buchanan
- Jan 20
- 3 min read
I just finished the book of Genesis, and I’m struck by how much it speaks into life today—thousands of years later. Story after story unfolds a glimpse of imperfect people who made really unwise decisions, and yet God uses them as examples to teach us about living by faith.
Eight stories found in Genesis are mentioned by name in Hebrews 11—the great “by faith” chapter. Each one starts with the same phrase “by faith…” followed by a life-altering moment of surrender, obedience, or courageous trust.
Abel
Enoch
Noah
Abraham
Sarah
Isaac
Jacob
Joseph
If it’s been a while since you read their stories, I encourage you to read the full story in Genesis. Their stories are imperfect. They struggled. They doubted. They wrestled with fear, and waiting, and trusting God when it didn’t make sense.
What is your “by faith” story?
Right now, mine is unfolding in the ordinary, day-to-day choices: how I spend my time, my money, my energy, my passion. The hardest part of my story is that my income is supplied entirely by faith. Honestly, there are many days I wish it wasn’t this way. I long for the security of a regular paycheck, the comfort of feeling more stable. Instead, I live by faith in God who has proven that He will provide what I need exactly when I need it.
The truth God continues to speak into my heart is this: If I had a steady, predictable source of income, it would lessen the beauty I experience as I walk with Him in child-like faith. I can say I want my faith to grow, but walking it out is difficult. My soul craves security, but my spirit thrives when God is literally the Source of all things—physical and spiritual.
This morning, God impressed something deep in my spirit—living by faith is a gift.
I often ask God to “do” something: provide, heal, restore, fix. But faith shifts my posture into a confident belief that He already is at work and I don’t see it yet.
Your "by faith" story is still being written.
Every one of us is walking some kind of “by faith” story right now. Can you see yourself in one of the “by faith” stories listed in Hebrews 11?
Leaving what is familiar and stepping into the unknown (Abraham)
Believing the promise to conceive and give birth that only God can make happen (Sarah)
Offering to God the very thing or person you hold most dear (Abraham)
Believing that God can bring life where you’ve only seen loss (Jacob)
Releasing something fragile onto the waters into God’s hands (Moses)
Refusing comfort and ease to follow God’s direction (Moses)
Persisting in obedience around a wall of that feels impossible to break through (Rahab)
Choosing faith over fear when surrounded on all sides and there appears no way out (Gideon, David, Daniel)
Faith is not passive.
Faith is courageous trust in motion.
Hebrews 11:1 defines it clearly: “Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.”
The chapter continues to say that it is by faith that we understand God created the world simply by speaking a word—bringing the visible out of the invisible. God still speaks. In His time, His order, His way, things become visible. At the right time, the Word became flesh—Jesus—and lived among us (John 1:14), revealing the Father and showing us how to live fully surrendered to Him.
Is there something that you are trusting God for, but can’t see yet?
Good! That’s where faith grows.
Faith is strengthened when we fully rely on God and trust that He is always working for our good—at just the right time. Be encouraged by this truth that God brings something about “at just the right time.”
Romans 5:6
2 Corinthians 6:2
Galatians 6:9
Isaiah 60:22
Habakkuk 2:3
Daughter of God, keep waiting with a heart anchored in faith. Trust the One who holds all things together (Colossians 1:16-17). He is faithful. He is trustworthy. We can live fully surrendered to His care… by faith.
Don’t walk this journey alone. Join an upcoming Connection Conversation and let’s grow in faith together: https://www.beinterconnected.org/connection-conversations
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