Renew.org White Logo
Get Renew.org Weekly Emails

Want fresh teachings and disciple making content? Sign up to receive a weekly newsletters highlighting our resources and new content to help equip you in your disciple making journey. We’ll also send you emails with other equipping resources from time to time.

An Untossable Faith

An Untossable Faith

An Untossable Faith Anchored in Christ

  • An Untossable Faith shows the danger of doubt, comparing it to waves that toss and spin us, while pointing to Scripture as our anchor.

  • Grounding faith in God’s Word brings stability, ensuring we are not swayed by false teachings or shifting circumstances.

  • True strength comes from looking to the Light, where Jesus turns turbulent moments into confidence rooted in His truth.


I hadn’t been to the beach in years. Until, at long last, we took our first college tour. We were so close—we just had to make the detour, to bury our toes in the sand. The sight . . . the sound . . . the smell . . . the first sensations brought back memories like a flood as we drew near.

One look at the churning sea and I quickly recalled a scary lesson learned . . .

For almost a dozen years I had lived but a few miles from the ocean. In those early days of beach life I gained both a fear and a respect for the power of the ocean’s waves . . . the hard way. Having lived many of my childhood years lakeside, my experience with waves was far less dramatic than those of an angry sea. My first visits to the beach were when it was calm and friendly. I was naïve to its Hyde-side (as in Jekyll and Hyde). I ventured in when, several feet from shore, I had reached a depth barely over my head.

The churning undertow flipped and tossed me about like a rag doll.

I felt panic rise when I couldn’t tell which way was up and the waters grew murky. Through the funnel of bubbles and sand, I fought to look for the light of the sun to guide me out of the dizzying spin. Remembering the mishap even now causes me to gasp for breath. I state with absolute confidence that I hate that tossed feeling! In the early, budding stages of faith, I remember praying James 1:6—that my faith not be tossed about:

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt,

because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea,

blown and tossed by the wind.

And I prayed that my faith would be grounded in truth, the truth of His Word according to Ephesians 4:14:

Then we will no longer be infants,

tossed back and forth by the waves,

and blown here and there by every wind

of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness

of men in their deceitful scheming.

Because when faith is grounded in the Truth, Jesus Christ, how can one possibly be tossed about?

To know Him is to believe Him, and to believe Him is to abide in His Word—that amounts to an untossable faith.

Did I pray those verses more than once? YES! Whenever things got a bit tumultuous and murky, I had to train myself to prayerfully look up to the Light to get turned back around. It’s fine to toss a ball, toss a salad, or toss a coin. But I want my faith to be untossed.

(For more from Debbra visit her at debbrastephens.com.)

Join the Conversation

Leave a Reply

Renew.org White Logo
Get Renew.org Weekly Emails

Want fresh teachings and disciple making content? Sign up to receive a weekly newsletters highlighting our resources and new content to help equip you in your disciple making journey. We’ll also send you emails with other equipping resources from time to time.

You Might Also Like