Flip It Over!

Many of us at some time in our lives has probably collected one kind of object or another. Some serious things and plenty of silly things too. A long time ago this writer was a member of the Bell Collectors Club displaying upwards of nearly 100 different kinds of bells including china, porcelain, metal, and even wooden ones from all over the world. At some point, upon moving to a new home, eighty of the bells were broken and such was the end of bell collecting.

The next collection displayed was a teddy bear collection. Darling creatures they were and so fun to gather. A family member even built two long, wooden benches just the right height for displaying the teddy bears! Again, moving to a different city and not having room for the entire collection prompted this collector to donate them to a children’s shelter.

Heads or Tails?

Now, although there was never a coin collection in this home, we know experts estimate there are ten million Americans who are profoundly serious about their coins (ngccoin.com). That is a lot of people! The largest and most impressive coin collection is in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. that displays more than one and a half million coin objects which probably makes coins the number one collected item anywhere.    

We heard a quote recently that reminded us of all those coins.

The flip side of doubt is faith.

We’ve all seen two people settle a discussion by saying, “Let’s flip a coin.” So, of course, we know coins have two sides--a front (“heads”) and a back (“tails”). [We pause here just to accurately point out that according to experts, technically coins have three sides which include an outer border called the “edge.”]      

What we are concerned about today is that in our single-again lives, it is most likely we will experience both doubt and faith. Matter of fact, we can’t imagine one without the other--they go together—two sides of the same coin as it were. It may explain why we struggle at times with draining doubt or how we can effectively use simple faith. We are only looking at one side of the problem at a time! We are ignoring the other part of the problem and wonder why we cannot solve our dilemma.

Doubt. Period.     

The quote above could be turned around. It could say the flip side of faith is doubt and it would still be true. We all share moments when we have a lack of confidence in believing what is going on in our lives. We pretend everything is okay but truthfully, we have a difficult time getting through the day. Nothing seems right anymore. We simply don’t trust it will ever be different than right at this very moment. We doubt. Period. And we don’t stop to flip over the coin!

What does God say about our doubt? “I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart” (Mark 11:23 NLT).

Faith Is Where It All Begins

Let’s flip the coin over to the front. Primarily, the whole idea of faith is trust. If we honestly believe something good in our lives can happen and place our trust in God to guide us, we will begin to act on those thoughts. We begin to learn and understand by reading God’s Word (the Bible) every day that He loves us and wants nothing but the best for us. Faith is where it all begins!    

“You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete” (James 2:22 NLT).

Do We Want to Get Well?

We may still at times struggle with doubt in our lives. It happens. We must expect it and be prepared because it can make us ill in more ways than one. But if we keep our faith intact and know where to turn when it gets low (the Bible), we can absolutely be assured God created us, loves us, protects us, and provides for us. And the best news of all: we are His daughters! And that will never change. We can count on it!

“And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over” (Mark 5:34 NLT).