There are no guarantees in life. You know that & I know that. No one, especially Him, has ever said that if you follow the rules you will live a life free of pain & suffering. That life would be a little more easy on you because you are going word by word. Because then people would be using the Bible for actual personal application & not for insight, which I believe is the actual purpose of the Bible. To show us how people were faced with challenges. About how disciples, people who actually followed Him whole heartedly for the most part, were still given a series of challenges. And not just challenges of time & patience but of pain and suffering. Just like we are but in a different life & world. And the stories are about how they muscled through. About how they chose what’s next based on God’s Will & not their own. Because no one is going to chose to sacrifice their children or give up all they have unless it was for a reason. With that reason being God. Because I’m so very sure it still hurt. Even though they knew they were following His word, the choice didn’t come without pain & sorrow. So we should take those words & stories & reflect on how they are so similar to our lives. And then, that’s when we should apply them. Not word for word, but for the meaning of the story as a whole.

Like I said before, there is no guarantees. Nothing is ever promised and that’s just how the cookie crumbles. However, there is narcissism. That’s the point of this post. Because people have no problem following God when things are good. No problem exclaiming how good He is because life is going great. But when things start falling apart, that’s when people start questioning if there is really a God. Seconds after whatever bad happens, not even minutes or hours or days after, we begin to think there is no One out there. Because, if there was, why in the world would He give us this burden? Because to us it doesn’t seem fair that we did everything right, we followed all of His rules, we told people about His goodness, we attended church every weekend & we still were slammed with this mountain. A mountain so large that it seems impossible that you would ever be able to successfully climb it. But the thing is, faith wouldn’t really be faith if we only believed when things were good. Because sometimes things just happen & we don’t get to know why. And in the Bible, when we read all about these good people who have done all these good & kind things, do we realize that no one was an exception to the rule. No one was exempt from pain & suffering. Not even His own son. So when we get dished a heaping mountain of crap, we shouldn’t stop believing. We should start climbing & realizing all of the tools He has given us up to this point were for a reason. How He built this mountain with a purpose. Those hand holes & ledges were made so you wouldn’t fall despite the numerous times you think you are about ready to. The climb will still be hard, for sure. But not impossible. And knowing that, that it’s not impossible because you have a higher power watching over you, is what faith is all about. Doing the hard, dirty work of life even though you have no clue what’s around that next corner, but still continuing onward & upward. Faith isn’t just blindly following. It’s about reading all the stories from those that believed before you & learning from them. Not learning how to avoid the pain & suffering, because that actually is impossible. But to learn how to keep carrying on with your cross & how to not just dump it off on the side of the road because it was heavy & you think God didn’t make you strong enough to carry it. Because He did. I promise. There will be times it doesn’t seem like He did, but He did.

It’s easy to give up Hope & Faith. And in life, we all have moments that put ours to the test. Rough waters & unsteady mountains will cause uncertainty but as long as our foundation is strong, our faith will not crumble. And just like homes after earthquakes & tornados, Faith can be rebuilt. It will take time & energy and sometimes the project won’t even be completed before the next disaster passes through, but as long as your foundation is there, you’ll always have the opportunity to rebuild again. So don’t let your foundation crumble. Carry your cross with hope & Faith. And never stop believing because you can’t actually see Him. Because if you base your theory on seeing is believing, then your belief should be unquestionable. Because we witness His miracles every single day. With me being one. 5% ain’t much. But it’s something & God pulled off a miracle in my books.

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