Is Your Faith Unconditional?
My heart truly cries out and mourns with those who have been affected by the trauma in Haiti. Recently, I learned that a friend of mine has a young missionary friend down there and this 18 year old has not been found. My heart is praying and pleading God to allow her to be okay and be reunited with her family.
Now, here is the question: in times of trouble, do you run for cover; or do you stand and face the giants leering down at you? Lately, I have been wondering about "true faith." True faith says: "when the world walks out on you, it doesn't matter," guess what? It was never about "the world." Yes, we are supposed to love others and we should be loving others. The problem comes in putting others thoughts above God's. God is the only one that matters and pleasing him should be at the top of our list of priorities. True faith, at least to me, is knowing God can and will...in HIS timing. It's not just trusting him when things seem perfect in your life; it's trusting him even more when your world feels like it's crumbling. I have gone through a lot in my life and I will probably repeat a few things in the course of writing things on this blog. That is how we learn. Something I repeat at this particular stage in my life may have a completely different meaning to me (or someone else) than it did when I first spoke it. That is how you know you are continuing to grow. When I was younger, I knew that my mom was going to protect me with all she had in her; I knew that God was keeping me safe because she told me he was holding me in the palm of his hands and right next to his heart. Now, 25+ yers later, I have moved on with life, gotten married, and moved away from the physical protection of my mom. However, I still know that God is holding me. He is protecting me and I know tht if something were to happen to the people in my life, God is still there. My mom can't protect me for the rest of my life. She can try, but..she would be doing both of us a disservice. How will your kids learn to fly if you don't give them wings? If we don't fall once in a while, we won't learn how to pick ourselves up. More than that, we won't learn to lean on the ONE who can go with us through everything; who knows everything and the outcome before it happens. What a way to go through life! Knowing that when you fall, you will have a soft place to fall. You have the arms of your heavenly father cushioning the blow. One of the great things about growing up is the family that you make for yourself in the form of those God brings into your life. I have been blessed by the military and what I have been taught in the past several years. I had a dear friend tell me about a year and a half ago that she knew God was holding me in the palm of his hands! Little did she know that years before I heard that same passage from my mother. Again, it meant something more to me now as a grown woman going through a great struggle than it did then. The cool thing is that until God spoke to my heart recently, I didn't even remember the moment with my mom. The concept is the same. We may not always feel God there holding us, but he gives us others in our lives to remind us that he is...he truly is.
So, again I would like to pose the question: "do you have true, unconditional faith?" I know that it may seem odd with the story I shared, but that's where my mind went. Unconditional faith will say, "even if this never happens for me, or even if this does happen to me, I will love you and trust you!" Are you willing to trust God (even more) in the hard times, as much as you trust him when things are going your way? I know that sometimes people don't like to hear, much less answer questions like that; but if we don't, how do we know where our level of faith is? This is how our walk with God gets better. I also believe that this is how God shows us the things that have been hidden or put on the back burner for too long. He wants to reveal himself to you in all areas of your life. Will you let him? Will you be willing to let him search your heart, truly search your heart and work out the issues that you have been avoiding? We are his vessels...how can we spread the light if we are afraid to look at it ourselves?
I hope that something has spoken to you in this passage. I have a lot to work on personally in my faith walk. For me, when I write things out God gives me those, "aha!" moments. When I allow him to speak to me, he reveals things to me that I need to see. God is awesome and I hope that he speaks to you in an awesome way today.
Have a faith filled day!
Now, here is the question: in times of trouble, do you run for cover; or do you stand and face the giants leering down at you? Lately, I have been wondering about "true faith." True faith says: "when the world walks out on you, it doesn't matter," guess what? It was never about "the world." Yes, we are supposed to love others and we should be loving others. The problem comes in putting others thoughts above God's. God is the only one that matters and pleasing him should be at the top of our list of priorities. True faith, at least to me, is knowing God can and will...in HIS timing. It's not just trusting him when things seem perfect in your life; it's trusting him even more when your world feels like it's crumbling. I have gone through a lot in my life and I will probably repeat a few things in the course of writing things on this blog. That is how we learn. Something I repeat at this particular stage in my life may have a completely different meaning to me (or someone else) than it did when I first spoke it. That is how you know you are continuing to grow. When I was younger, I knew that my mom was going to protect me with all she had in her; I knew that God was keeping me safe because she told me he was holding me in the palm of his hands and right next to his heart. Now, 25+ yers later, I have moved on with life, gotten married, and moved away from the physical protection of my mom. However, I still know that God is holding me. He is protecting me and I know tht if something were to happen to the people in my life, God is still there. My mom can't protect me for the rest of my life. She can try, but..she would be doing both of us a disservice. How will your kids learn to fly if you don't give them wings? If we don't fall once in a while, we won't learn how to pick ourselves up. More than that, we won't learn to lean on the ONE who can go with us through everything; who knows everything and the outcome before it happens. What a way to go through life! Knowing that when you fall, you will have a soft place to fall. You have the arms of your heavenly father cushioning the blow. One of the great things about growing up is the family that you make for yourself in the form of those God brings into your life. I have been blessed by the military and what I have been taught in the past several years. I had a dear friend tell me about a year and a half ago that she knew God was holding me in the palm of his hands! Little did she know that years before I heard that same passage from my mother. Again, it meant something more to me now as a grown woman going through a great struggle than it did then. The cool thing is that until God spoke to my heart recently, I didn't even remember the moment with my mom. The concept is the same. We may not always feel God there holding us, but he gives us others in our lives to remind us that he is...he truly is.
So, again I would like to pose the question: "do you have true, unconditional faith?" I know that it may seem odd with the story I shared, but that's where my mind went. Unconditional faith will say, "even if this never happens for me, or even if this does happen to me, I will love you and trust you!" Are you willing to trust God (even more) in the hard times, as much as you trust him when things are going your way? I know that sometimes people don't like to hear, much less answer questions like that; but if we don't, how do we know where our level of faith is? This is how our walk with God gets better. I also believe that this is how God shows us the things that have been hidden or put on the back burner for too long. He wants to reveal himself to you in all areas of your life. Will you let him? Will you be willing to let him search your heart, truly search your heart and work out the issues that you have been avoiding? We are his vessels...how can we spread the light if we are afraid to look at it ourselves?
I hope that something has spoken to you in this passage. I have a lot to work on personally in my faith walk. For me, when I write things out God gives me those, "aha!" moments. When I allow him to speak to me, he reveals things to me that I need to see. God is awesome and I hope that he speaks to you in an awesome way today.
Have a faith filled day!
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You're a peach!
Bruce
Rachel