What is Faith?

What is faith? Is it simply belief in a Higher Power? Or is it something more?

For Margaret Chanin, who lost both arms in a boating accident at the age of 24, faith was about searching. As she lay in a hospital bed recovering from the accident, “I prayed to die,” she admitted. “Bereaved, fighting phantom pain that raced down to fingertips I didn’t have, and depressed, I almost lost my faith. But God challenged me.”

“I don’t think it was my faith in God that got me through,” she continued. “I wasn’t mature enough. It was my faith in my mother’s faith in God. She had such a strong faith. When I would be dissolved in tears and grief, and when I’d quit crying and verbalized my fears, my mother would say, ‘If God spared your life when 20 doctors said you couldn’t live, there has to be a reason for it. You may be old and gray before you know it, and you may not know it until you get to Heaven, but it’s your responsibility to keep looking, keep searching for it.’”

At times she faltered. But she could always count on her family and friends to chase the wolves of despair from her door. Their ever-cheerful encouragement, she acknowledged, and, yes, the faith they had in her, bolstered up her courage and made her go on. the Power of Faith uplift and strengthen in darkest moments.

For Margaret, faith also meant action and connection. That’s why she answered the “fan mail” she received from soldiers fighting in France and the South Pacific, and from field hospitals all over the world. They were drawn to this beautiful young woman they’d read about or seen in a widely distributed newsreel—this armless dentist who seemed to have no fear.

Whether she realized it or not, Margaret was a vehicle of faith, a vessel of faith, for others. One handwritten letter from a sailor who had lost his legs in battle began: “I can see why you stuck it out, instead of giving up and retiring to some dark corner to reap self-pity for the rest of your life. You undoubtedly have spirit which, coupled with faith, means everything.

“The truth of the matter is that before my … accident, I was a loud, boisterous individual, moderately successful but without any responsibility,” the sailor continued. “Now that I have had the time to think it over, I may be able to climb back again. And after seeing (or rather, reading) of your accomplishments, I do not feel handicapped.”

When darkness was all around, Margaret leaned on her faith. She looked for the light and the good. She was always open to new opportunities to help others and to allow others to help her. The Importance of Faith as a guiding force resilience, service, and human connection. Because of the way she lived her faith, Margaret was an inspiration to those who knew and loved her, and to the hundreds if not thousands of others who read about her from afar. They were bathed in her positivity, warmed by her light.

As her friend Bruce Richards put it, “Margaret made us all better.”