I LOST MY FAITH THIS WEEK...
...thank goodness I found it Sunday, just before church.
This past week I had been thinking about God's involvment in my life. I came to realize that I was resolving to believe that God watches what is happening in my life and does care about it, but does little to involve Himself. I accepted that He hears my prayers and knows the desires of my heart, but He only acts when He feels like it. I almost started to feel like life in general was a crap-shoot as to whether God would work to bring about the desires I long for in life.
Just before church, I engaged in a conversation with a woman who I had used as an illustration just last week, for placing our faith in God and counting on Him to respond. She helped me remember that God indeed cares about every aspect of my life. She said that she expects that God is often looking at us an laughing at our anxiety, saying, "Don't worry, I'm taking care of everything."
Personally, I have to remember to balance my belief that God gives us choice and expects us to do the best we can in our lives, and that He is heavily involved in making our dreams come true.
This past week I had been thinking about God's involvment in my life. I came to realize that I was resolving to believe that God watches what is happening in my life and does care about it, but does little to involve Himself. I accepted that He hears my prayers and knows the desires of my heart, but He only acts when He feels like it. I almost started to feel like life in general was a crap-shoot as to whether God would work to bring about the desires I long for in life.
Just before church, I engaged in a conversation with a woman who I had used as an illustration just last week, for placing our faith in God and counting on Him to respond. She helped me remember that God indeed cares about every aspect of my life. She said that she expects that God is often looking at us an laughing at our anxiety, saying, "Don't worry, I'm taking care of everything."
Personally, I have to remember to balance my belief that God gives us choice and expects us to do the best we can in our lives, and that He is heavily involved in making our dreams come true.
posted by Tony at
3:52 PM
2 Comments:
Faith...
As a relatively new believer, or rather a stagnant Christian who finally realized it was time to practice my beliefs, I struggle with faith constantly. My Christian friends tell me a good measure of my faith is my growth from this time last year. Looking at yesterday or last week would show too many of the bumps, and not the gradual slope of my growth. If this is a good measure, then my faith is growing.
Genesis would indicate that faith is believing God. Trusting God. A good friend of mine had his faith tested last week. He was traveling, and his son fell and sustained a concussion, and Post Concussive Seizures. His son is just 2-1/2 years old. On his way home during the storms (he was almost 6 hours late due to the weather here); my friend prayed and prayed for his son. He asked God not to test him with his son, who he loves so much. He thought of Abraham, taking Isaac on a walk up the hill to sacrifice, with no lamb in sight. He prayed to be spared that test. He was. His son is just fine now.
For me (a newbie), sometimes my faith and my knowledge are like a pendulum; swinging to the left and to the right, trying to find equilibrium. I have faith in what I know, and as I am reading the Bible for the first time, what I know is under constant modification. I accept this as part of the learning process. My faith swings somewhat on a different plane, but is definitely affected by what I know. It is also affected by how I pray. I could use more prayer time. I would say that the time I spend in prayer is an area I need to increase.
I realize that my feelings are not a good indicator of my faith. My feelings are very fickle. Sometimes I feel close to God; sometimes far away. I know, however, that God is not moving, so if there is any distance, it is of me.
Lately I have been praying to God that He help me to be whatever it is He wants me to be, to be sanctified. At the same time I pray that He be gentle. Strange. If my faith were measured on a line, which hopefully slopes upward, then the point on that line that shows where I am is quite a distance from the point that would show where I would like to be. For the moment, however, I just want to keep moving in the right direction.
By
cliffmeister2000, at 11:03 AM
Thinking about my comment, I decided I needed to make one modification. As I learn, my faith grows, even though my knowledge is being modified. Because what I read strengthens what I know and whatI believe. But this is only true about what I read in the Bible. I read a lot of other sources, but if I cannot verify them in the Bible, they become, for me, interesting opinions.
By
cliffmeister2000, at 6:53 PM
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