What Is Faithfulness?

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us, one hike at a time. Yep! You heard that right.

We’re venturing into the great outdoors this season to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus. Why the great outdoors? I’ll tell ya in a sec.

But first, answer this: have you ever had a hard time sticking things out? Maybe your closet is overflowing with the clarinet you promised to play forever, the ice skates that you knew were going to take you to the Olympics, and the paint kit that was sure to make you the next Picasso. If so, I think you’re good at quitting . . . and this season is just for you.

Dannah Gresh and Staci Rudolph are gonna help us learn about faithfulness. We’re going to look at the life of a faithful woman from the Bible. This season is based on a Bible study Dannah wrote called Mary: Becoming a Girl of Faithfulness. 

While we learn about the mother of Jesus, we’ll go on a crazy camping adventure! Dannah, who spends a lot of time outdoors, will teach city-girl Staci how to faithfully brave the unpredictable wilderness. So, get your backpack, sleeping bag, and hiking boots ready!

It’s time for episode one of season ten, titled, “What Is Faithfulness?”

Here’s Dannah.

Dannah Gresh: Where is Staci? I feel like she should be here right now. Don’t ya think so, Cassie girl? 

[Donkey bray]

Dannah: Exactly! We’ve gotta get moving on our camping adventure. Daylight’s a wastin’! 

What . . . is that? Oh, wow! What in the world is that coming up my driveway?!

Staci Rudolph: Hey! Sorry I’m late! Where should I park?!

Dannah: Over there by the tractor!

[Engine shutoff]

Dannah: You think you’ve got enough tied to the top of that thing, Staci? I could hear you rattling in all the way from down the road.

Staci: Hey, I gotta make sure I have everything I need for this camping trip.

Dannah: Where’d you get the RV? When you said you had a few things to grab before the trip, I thought you meant like sunscreen or a hat . . . not a whole vehicle!

Staci: If I’m gonna be outside all day, I at least need a comfy place to sleep at night. My friend lent it to me. And let me just say this is top of the line. It has all the bells and whistles. Plush bunk beds, a coffee maker, and quite literally, a bell and whistle. 

Dannah: I have to admit, it is a nice RV. But if we’re gonna do this, you’ve gotta leave your city girl ways behind. None of that glamping. This is camping . . . REAL camping. I’m talking bugs, campfires, tents, the works.

Staci: Aww, man. I don’t know if I can do it! 

Dannah: You can! I promise! My farm is very big, but I know it like the back of my hand. We’ll camp in a few different spots over the next couple days and trust me, it’s gonna be a blast! Plus, I’m bringing Cassie with us to carry some of our supplies. 

You’ll love Cassie. She’ll help ya make it through.

Staci: Aw, is that a little donkey backpack!

Dannah: Yep! She’s a packing donkey!

Staci: I do love Cassie. She’s the best donkey in the world!

[Donkey bray]

Dannah: She thanks you. Staci, do you actually know any other donkeys?

Staci: Um, you’ve got a point there.

Dannah: Alright! Let’s get moving! We’ve got no time to waste. Daylights burning fast! Now, I did you a favor and packed an extra rucksack for you. It has only the necessities. And I had a feeling you’d overpack like you usually do, and boy was I right!

Staci: A rucksack? What is that?

Dannah: It’s basically a backpack meant specifically for hiking and camping. It’s got lots of pockets for storage and extra support straps to help balance the weight. 

Staci: Ah, I can see I’ll be learning lots on this trip.

Dannah: Yes ma’am. Let’s make sure we have everything inside our bags.

Water bottle?

Staci: Check!

Dannah: Food?

Staci: Check!

Dannah: First aid kit?

Staci: Check!

Dannah: Compass, sleeping bag, tent, flashlight, batteries, sunscreen, utensils, and binoculars?

Staci: Uh . . . check!

Dannah: Alrighty, let’s get our packs on and head towards the trail. It starts just over that-away on the other side of my gardening shed.

Let’s go! You too, Cassie. 

Ah, do ya smell that?

Staci: I don’t smell anything. Exactly . . . nothing. Nothing but clean, fresh air out here.

You really like hiking and camping huh?

Dannah: I sure do. It allows me to be in nature, simply enjoying God’s masterpiece of creation. And you know? It also helps me practice one of God’s characteristics. One that I’ve been wanting to live out. 

Staci: Which characteristic is that?

Dannah: His faithfulness. 

Staci: Hmm, how does that relate to camping?

Dannah: Well, I’m glad you asked, Staci. But first, let’s get a better understanding of what faithfulness is. And let’s have some fun with it.

Okay, so imagine you are on a huge, long, super-fantastic camping and hiking trip. You have your headphones and some new sunglasses. Mom packed all the delicious snacks, and your favorite True Girl water bottle is full of icy water. 

Staci: Oooo, just don’t drink too much. I don’t think there are facilities out here!

Dannah: Exactly! Now, as you make your way up a super big, rock mountain trail, you can barely contain your excitement. You can’t wait to see the view, but it’s hard to tell exactly which path to take to get to the top. You’ve got that covered with your trusting hiking GPS—that’s Global Positioning System. But suddenly, the unexpected happens. 

Staci: What?!

Dannah: You lose the GPS signal!

Staci: Oh no!

Dannah: “Oh no” is right! If the GPS has stopped working, and you have no map to rely on. You’re in trouble. Today’s super awesome digital maps are incredible, my friend, but they aren’t failproof.

You might think that things like your smart phone’s GPS, or this amazing hiking GPS, or even your mom’s super-dependable brain are “faithful.” Well, those things are usually dependable, but they sometimes fail. They can be unfaithful. They cannot be relied upon on their own.

I think if I were to give you a simple definition of faithfulness it would be: being able to be trusted or relied on.

Staci: That’s a great definition. It’s one that definitely relates to God’s character.

Dannah: Yep! 

Hey, here’s the path. It’s a little bit hidden behind these branches but it’s back there. You ready to tuck into the woods? Head into the great unknown? Put your wilderness woman skills to the test? Live off the grid? Rely on the . . .

Staci: Okay, okay, I’m ready. Let’s do this.

Ouch! These branches are scratching me.

Dannah: Come on, you can do it. We’re almost through . . . just a little further . . . and . . . voila. Here we are! Let’s head that way.

Okay Staci, back to faithfulness. So, being faithful means sticking it out. It’s showing loyalty in a relationship with a friend during rough times, or a family member, when it’s not easy. Or even being loyal to a task, staying committed to it and finishing it well. Unlike that GPS that wasn’t reliable, you know what I’m saying?

Staci: Yes. 

Dannah: And the truth is that as humans, we can operate just like that GPS. We can be pretty unreliable at times. We do things wrong, we go back on our word, and give up when situations get tough. But God wants to develop faithful hearts in us. He wants us to be committed to Him. 

Staci: I believe that, but it can be so hard to be faithful

Dannah: Well, you’re right about that. But thankfully, we don’t have to do it on our own. The Bible tells us that faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit, meaning that it comes from the Spirit of God. When God is with us, He helps us to be faithful. We can rely on Him and use God’s Positioning System, the only reliable GPS. See what I did there, Staci?

Staci: Yeah, I caught that. So, because of God’s Spirit, being a girl of faithfulness is possible. That’s what you’re saying, right?

Dannah: Yes.

Staci: That’s great news! 

Dannah: I’d say so! Now, you know me, Staci, and how I like to make things practical so we really lock it in our hearts. In order to do that, we’re going to study someone’s story in the Bible to help us learn how to develop the characteristic of faithfulness. God had a real specific plan for this person’s life, and this person’s story is full of Spirit-given faithfulness. Wanna guess who I’m talking about? 

Staci: Someone who God had a specific plan for . . . Jesus? 

Dannah: Nope.

Staci: Really? I mean, I know He’s one with God and absolutely shares in His faithful character, but even in His humanity He was faithful to go to the cross for us despite how painful and scary it was. 

Dannah: That’s very true. Even though He felt fear and other heavy emotions, Jesus was extremely faithful to God the Father. But I’m thinking of someone different. Someone who was really close to Jesus. Someone who may have even been related, like His mom . . .

Staci: Oh, you’re talking about Mary!

Dannah: Bingo! Mary was faithful to what God called her to do, and we’re going to study her story to see exactly how she relied on God’s Spirit to help her.

Staci: Wow, I guess I’ll be learning about a lot more than just camping.

Dannah: Yes ma’am. Okay, we have just a bit more to go before we’ll stop and start setting up camp for the night. That sun is dropping fast and I don’t want us to miss our window. 

Staci: Yeah, I can’t set up a tent in broad daylight, let alone in the dark!

Dannah: Ha ha, you won’t have to. 

Okay, so we know what faithfulness is now. But Staci, let’s find out a bit more about Mary’s story. 

Oh, watch out, Staci!

Staci: What was that!?

Dannah: Snake!

Staci: A what?

Dannah: Snake. Just a grumpy old black rat snake. He’s more afraid of us than we are of him.

Staci: I doubt it!

Dannah: Hey, that reminds me about the snake in the Garden of Eden. Let’s walk and talk about it. It'll help us with some back story before we study Mary.

In the beginning of time, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were tempted by a snake, which was the devil in disguise. He told them to choose to follow their own sinful desires instead of trusting God’s perfect plan. Sadly, Adam and Eve chose to sin. Because of that, there is a gap between humans and God. You see, sin separates us from Him.But thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. God had a plan. A super-ginormous plan to rescue the world!

So, right after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that one day a Savior would come and crush Satan—the ruler of evil. Then, God kept reminding His special people—the Israelites—about this coming Savior. The Old Testament is full of prophecies about Him. Prophecies are statements from God about what will happen in the future. There are over 300 prophecies about the Savior in the Old Testament. These prophecies were signs that God’s people could look for so that when the Savior came, they could be sure to know it was Him. God’s people studied these announcements carefully and knew some of the things they could expect.

Staci: And Mary lived at a time in history when some of the Jewish people were especially ready for the Savior to show up, right? 

Dannah: Yep. A big, powerful nation called the Roman Empire had taken over their special land. The Romans treated the Israelites terribly. The Israelites wanted someone to release them from their misery, and they knew the promise was that someday that special baby would be born. Some of the Jewish people were waiting and watching very faithfully.

Staci: You know something interesting about faithfulness is that it seems to come in handy when you feel bad about life and are experiencing doubt. 

Dannah: Absolutely. And we’ll see when we first read about Mary in the Bible, she was also struggling with those things.

The path seems pretty easy and leveled here, so let’s stop. I could use some water. I’m thinking Cassie could, too. There ya go girl.

Hey Staci, grab your phone. This is the only time I’ll allow technology on our wilderness journey. I want you to read some of Mary’s story from the book of Luke. I think it’s Luke 1 right about verse 26. 

Staci: One sec, let me find it. Here we go. Luke 1 starting at verse 26.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. (vv. 26–29)

Dannah: Did you hear that, Staci? Did you hear what you just read? Mary was confused and disturbed. Now, that’s not the emotion we get without Christmas nativities, when we see them, is it?

Staci: Nope!

Dannah: Go ahead and keep reading.You’re gonna see that she looks as afraid as she feels!

Staci:

“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israelforever; his Kingdom will never end!”

Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail.”

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. (vv. 30–38)

Dannah: Such good stuff, but let’s go ahead and review. So, Mary was confused, disturbed, and afraid! Does that surprise you? The angel had to tell her that what was happening was actually very good news for the world.

And then Mary had a choice to make. Would she respond to this news according to her feelings, or would she respond faithfully according to the truth of the situation?

Staci: Woah, that is a huge decision to make!

Dannah: Yeah it was! Let’s just consider how difficult this decision was for Mary. I mean, think about how shocking all of this must have been. Mary was just a teenager, probably between the ages of I don’t know thirteen–sixteen.

Staci: Seems a little strange that God picked someone so young to be the mother of Jesus.

Dannah: Yes a lot of people think that. But let me clear that up. During the time that Mary lived, a teenager had reached adulthood. Twelve-year-old boys were considered men and had full-time jobs, while the girls were fully trained and prepared to start a family and care for a household. The reason for this is because people typically didn’t live as long in those days because they didn’t have the medicine and knowledge that we have today. So, if someone lived to be forty, they were considered su-u-uper old. 

Staci: Well, that is pretty much s-u-u-uper old!

Dannah: Yeah, maybe but today people live to be much older, like seventy-five!Anyway, adulthood started a lot younger! Does that make sense?

Staci: Yep, that makes sense. Gotta get on with life when time’s a wasting!

Dannah: Yes. Now, how did Mary respond to what she’d heard the angel say? 

Staci: Well, it seems like she showed faithfulness right away when she said . . . let me find it here: “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you say come true” (Luke 1:38). 

She was basically saying, “Yes, Lord!”

Dannah: Yes, she was! I think we forget how hard that would have been for her. I mean, let’s face it, Mary had plans of her own! 

She was engaged to Joseph, and they probably planned to settle down in Nazareth where he would continue his work as a carpenter and Mary would care for the household. Eventually, after they were married, they would have children together.

But now, God was inviting her to be part of His super-ginormous plan to save the world. The angelic messenger invited her to become the mother of the Savior that the Israelites had been waiting for. 

God was going to use her to do something He hadn’t done since the beginning of time. Just like Adam and Eve weren’t created by a mother and a father, Jesus was not created by a mom and a human dad! The Bible tells us that God intended to place life inside Mary’s body through supernatural powers. 

The Savior needed to be born this way so He would be fully God and fully man. You see, being fully God gave Him the power to defeat sin and death. Being fully man allowed Him to die in place of all men and women who ever sinned.

God had a super-ginormous plan He wanted Mary to be part of, and she changed her plan to faithfully follow God’s plan!

And that’s our first faithfulness lesson:

One sec . . .

Staci: Whoa! How did you fit that thing in your rucksack?!

Dannah: It’s the travel sized version! Got it online.

Staci: Nice!

Dannah: Why thank you. Okay, back to the faithfulness lesson. 

A faithful girl trusts in God’s plan. That’s our first lesson.

We all have plans for our lives. Things we really want to happen. But let me ask you this: what happens when the plans in our heart aren’t the same as God’s plans for us?

That’s when we’re faced with the same decision Mary was: to either keep following our own path or stop and trust God to guide us down His path.

Staci: That is good. “A faithful girl trusts God’s plan” I’m gonna write that down as soon as we get to our campsite!

Dannah: Get to writing, because here we are!

Staci: What?Oh wow! We got here faster than I thought we would.

Dannah: Yep! And now it’s time to faithfully set up our tent, faithfully collect wood for our fire, faithfully feed that hungry donkey who faithfully carried all our stuff . . . and faithfully see this camping trip through to the end! 

Staci: Ah, now I see why you said camping helps you practice being faithful. Hey, once we get the fire going, think we could faithfully make some s’mores??

Dannah: You got it! Cassie loves s’mores.

[Donkey bray]

Claire: Well, a s’more-eating donkey is probably not the craziest thing we’ll experience on this camping trip. I’m sure there’s more fun to come!

I can’t wait to learn more about faithfulness from Mary’s story, too!

And you know what? This fall, you can join Dannah and Staci on Monday nights for their online Bible study: Mary: Becoming a Girl of Faithfulness! You’ll enter Mary’s story and learn how you can be faithful, too. God doesn’t need the best athletes, the most beautiful girls, or the exceptionally talented to do great things for Him. He just needs an ordinary girl who’s willing to say “yes!” Go to MyTrueGirl.com and click on the Bible studies menu to learn more!

Faithfulness is a quality I want to develop more each day. This week, I hope you’ll practice trusting the plans God has for you. Look for ways He might want to use you, and faithfully say “yes,” just like Mary did. 

Now, what’s a faithful girl do when the days get difficult? Join us in the next episode, where we’ll find out how a faithful girl handles tough days.

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

All Scripture is taken from the NLT.

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