Monday, October 27, 2008

If you lost everything...

Fred asked our SS this past Sunday: if you lost everything-car,house,job- and you only had your spouse and kids left, would you be ok? I mean, will you have faith that God is still in control and it will be ok?
That's a tough question. I would love to be able to say "yes". But do I have enough faith? God has blessed me in ways that cannot be measured. I look back when I was younger and I would have never imagined my life being as full as it is. I am concerned that I have lived such a good life that I wouldn't be able to handle it in the bad times.
So, how do I get to the point where I would be confident that in rough times, I will be faithful?

2 SS lessons ago, there was a story in the quarterly about a man who came to know the Lord through a missionary. When the missionary came back years later to visit him, he asked the man how his walk with God was going. He said " it's a constant struggle. I look at it as 2 dogs, 1 white(righteousness) and one black (evil) battling within me". The missionary asked "who wins?". The man said "the one I feed the most".
That really struck a cord with me. In order for me to grow in Christ, grow my faith, I have to "feed it" by getting in HIS word, by praying, by making a conscious effort to keep Him in my thoughts throughout the day.
I am not good at having a quiet time and studying/reading my Bible. That has always been a struggle for me, even though I know my life would be MUCH fuller/richer if I did...
but I am like Paul : I do those things I shouldn't, and don't do those things I should.

I started reading the Karen Kingsbury books "Redemption" series. Just finished the first one. The characters go through situations where scriptures come to mind to help them go through the problems they have. I want to know that it can happen to me as well... I want to be able to recall scripture that will help me through struggles or even at times where I need to make a decision. But that can only happen if I put them in my head to start with.

There is a lot of talk about how things are going to get pretty bad here in the US, no matter who gets elected... Is it time for the US Christians to have their faith tested? I pray we have prepared and stand strong.

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