Thoughts flooded my mind as I read Hebrews eleven yesterday for my devotions.  When I started reading about all the people with faith I realized first that everyone of them was required in some fashion to give up something for their faith.  Noah, for example, had to give up his credibility.  Here he was building an ark by faith that the rain would come.  There had been no rain up to this point, so who was going to believe he wasn't utterly crazy?  Abraham had to leave the stability of life in a house with family and friends nearby to live in tents and never have a "real" home all in the hope of having a home with a "foundation" in Heaven. Joseph had to give up the idea of ever living in the land of Israel because he had the faith to believe he would be brought back there when the Israelites returned.  And of course there was Moses who gave up the riches of Egypt to have the riches of Christ in Heaven.

The Bible even tells us in verse thirteen and again in verse thirty-nine that they did not receive the promise meaning they never got back what they had given up for their faith.  And those are just a few of the people mentioned in Hebrews eleven.  As I read those verses, I wondered  if they ever struggled with their faith like I do with mine.  I mean, were there mornings Noah woke up and just wanted to scrap the whole boat building idea to go back to a time when his friends and neighbors greeted him on the street?  Did Abraham ever want to just stay in one place where he would raise his kids and people would know him when he walked into the local barbershop?  Did Joseph ever long for the "home" that had been Israel, or was he content every day in this new life in Egypt just being satisfied that God had brought him there?

I realize that all the people listed in Hebrews eleven are put there for an example for you and I and what our faith should be like, but still I have to wonder when I read of their lives and think of mine, how they did it.  I wonder if, when I long to go back to eating just "normal" food from the grocery store, or when I give into the "lust of the flesh" and eat out, I will ever be able to be like Daniel and just purpose in my heart not to eat of the king's meat and never again touch a piece of cheesecake or look at ice cream without longing somewhere deep in my heart. I wonder if overnight their faith just appeared or if their faith had to take years to grow into what it was when they made their choices to give up something for what God was asking of them.  If, like a grain of mustard seed, it grew then there is hope for me yet.  Maybe I will never attain the faith of any of these and the many others listed in Hebrews eleven, but maybe there is hope for me and likewise for you as well.  I'm not where I want to be, and maybe not where God would like to see me, but there is hope for all of us.