Trusting God leads us to a greater faith

God has been showing me this summer and over the years that the more I trust him with simple situations the greater faith that he gives me.  My faith has been growing as I trust God and surrender my daily struggles to him.  This has evolved into God showing me that he is good, faithful, compassionate, merciful, and gracious toward us daily.
In the Bible, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  He trusted him when an angel spoke to him to build an altar to sacrifice his son, Isaac and listened to the angel when he didn't kill Isaac.  Though this situation, Abraham trusted that God would provide for him daily.  His belief and trust in God's goodness was credited to him as righteousness.  It says in Hebrews 11 that he is in the faith hall of Fame because of this belief and trust in God.
I never really thought of myself as a faithful person until recently.  The other day I was reviewing my spiritual gifts inventory test I took with my small group and realized that faith was one of the fourth or fifth highest on my spiritual gifts.  Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) says that "faith is the confidence of what we hope for and the assurance of what we do not see."  It's an ability to look to the future though it may seem dim.  I feel it can mean an ability to trust in the inevitable as well.  
Everyone is given a certain amount of faith when they become a Christian.  We gain more and more faith as we get older and learn to trust God in different situations that we are put in.  As a serious circumstance comes up, we are called to trust God in faith that he will provide for us and see us through that circumstance.
Lastly, a maturing type of faith is one that will be able to withstand a lifetime.  It is a daily struggle that we are put through in order to conform us to his image (Rom 8:28-29).  Once we go through these struggles, then our faith produces a level of maturity in us.  Then, we able to trust God and he will produce a sense of righteousness as we go about our lives.  This type of faith that I am describing, is a faith that saves us.
How has your faith helped you through tough times? What are the way that our faith can save us? What are the characteristics of a mature faith?