Do you ever struggle in your faith or find it difficult to trust God’s sovereignty, grace, or purposes?  Is it sometimes a battle to rely on God and rest in him in every circumstance of your life?  If so, you are not alone.  And author Michelle Merrin believes that these struggles are often ordained by God in order to help deepen your understanding of and dependence upon him.

Openly sharing her own experiences of moving from a simple and easy faith through difficult circumstances that produced a different kind of trust, Merrin uses a transparent and practical Bible study approach to illustrate her strong belief in both the power of God’s Word to transform lives and the need for Christians to be honest in their relationship with God.

Studying A Faith of a Different Color alone or with a group of fellow believers can help you navigate your own set of life circumstances that demands a new level of trust in God.  Regardless of what the path ahead of you involves, you will be encouraged to let God complete the work of faith that he began in you.

From Lesson 6 – Trusting God’s Purposes:

Let’s start this chapter with complete honesty: most of us have struggled at one time or another to trust God’s purposes. In fact, most of us have struggled to even know God’s purposes, much less trust them. The apostle Paul addressed this in Romans 11:33–36, pointing out that because of God’s great riches and wisdom and knowledge, “How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!” (NLT). Some of our experiences in life don’t make sense from our perspective, and we have a hard time getting to a point of trust apart from understanding (which is, of course, what real faith is!).

I have found, through much hard work (and trial and error), that trusting God’s purposes involves stepping outside of my perspective and trying to look at life from God’s perspective. I have also discovered that trusting God’s purposes cannot be separated from knowing and trusting the other parts of him: his sovereignty, his love, his thoughts toward me, his grace and mercy, and everything else that his Word tells me about his character. Truly believing what the Bible teaches me about God’s heart and motivation helps me to trust his purposes when they don’t match my purposes or seem to make any sense.

Trusting God’s purposes begins with the truth outlined for us in Ephesians 1:4–11:

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son . . . He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.” (MSG)

God has an overall purpose for every part of his creation, and we are a part of that purpose. But we are only a part.

God is all about relationship, and his overall purpose is to bring everything in creation into meaningful relationship with himself and each other under Christ. We need to remember that this purpose can NEVER be thwarted regardless of the evil that Satan brings or the present view we have of a world that lacks sense and is in a state of confusion. In 2 Peter 3:8–9, Peter also reminds us that God isn’t in a hurry to accomplish his overall purpose but is willing to patiently wait for every single part of his creation to have the opportunity to be a part of that purpose. What God has planned for all of his creation is far beyond our planning abilities and far more purposeful than anything we can imagine because it is an eternal purpose: “For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory.” (Romans 11:36a, NLT). In order to begin trusting God’s purposes, I need to trust his overall purpose of meaningful relationship and be a willing participant in bringing him the glory he is due.

Michelle Merrin was raised in a Christian home and came to know Christ as Lord at an early age. She further personalized her faith in God during her first year of college and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Seattle Pacific University, where she met her husband, Ron.

Her most fulfilling role in life (so far!) was as a fulltime, stay-at-home mom for nearly twenty-two years for their two sons, who are now grown. During this time, she spent many years leading numerous women’s Bible studies and serving in various leadership positions within the church. Also a musician, she served in worship ministry for twenty-five years and was a private piano teacher for fifteen years.

Michelle’s journey through several difficult life experiences, including infertility, times of unemployment, major health concerns like cancer diagnosis and treatment, and the failure of a business, has challenged and transformed her faith as God has shown himself to be faithful and his grace to be sufficient. She has a passion for God’s truth and desires to help others grow spiritually and realize their full spiritual potential.

She and Ron live in Olympia, Washington, and enjoy traveling to visit their children and then returning to their quiet empty nest.