Faith . . . Do You Ever Struggle With It?

Personally, I know in my heart I struggle with Faith. Faith in myself. Faith that God still loves me. Faith that I can hear His direction. I think this is a battle we all face Daily! I know this is why we are warned to put on our spiritual armor.

Today I found myself elated. I have a friend on facebook that had responded to a status of mine the other day basically saying she was angry at God. I sent her some hugs and prayed for her.

Today, I posted a reply on another friends status. He had asked this, "May I please ask you a question please! How do we stop letting life's hurts and hardships knock us down?" 

Without Hesitation, I replied, "Can't stop the hurts or we wouldn't have 'heart' . . . sometimes the hardship is so hard it does knock us down . . . it is Hope and Faith that you need to regain your footing and get back up!"

When I got back from lunch I saw he had responded to me and I went to see what he had said . . . thanks and blessings was the gist. What happened next though I questioned. I felt encouraged to post part of this as a status. I questioned the idea at first but knew that feeling came from the Holy Spirit inside of me. I was drawn more to the second part of my reply so I posted my status as this: " Sometimes the hardship is so hard it does knock us down. It is Hope and Faith that you need to regain your footing and get back up!"

This is where things get interesting though, instantly I saw that the person from yesterday had commented under my status with this, "I am having a hard time with the hope and faith right now. I need to give it to God but right now I am so angry with him and myself."

My heart instantly went out to her. I asked in my head, "Father, How do I help her with this?"

As most days, my bible was beside me. I knew there was an index in the back where you could look up topics. I flipped to Faithful and nothing jumped out . . . next was Faithfulness and again . . . no lights or tugs on my heart as I skimmed down the line. I was just about to look up Hope when I thought to check back a page and see if there was a heading for Faith itself and there is! As you can tell I am just learning my way around the Holy Bible! Anyway, instantly 4 references jumped out at me. Not having scripture memorized AT ALL I jotted down the verses I was led to share. I typed them for her as I read them myself. . . here is my reply to her!

"(((hugs))) I was led to share this with you: Last sentence from Isahia 7:9 : But this is what the Sovereign Lord says, "Unless your faith is firm I cannot make you stand firm." Also Luke 12:28 "And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown in the fire tomorrow he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?" next he gave me Romans 1:12 "When we get together I want to encourage you in your faith but I also want to be encouraged by yours." Lastly 2nd Corinthians 1:24 "But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm"

As soon as I finished typing it in I hit the enter key and THEN I read what I had sent to her. I was left with a smile on my face. It instantly hit me. Yesterday I had struggled with my blog. To the point of not finishing it. I questioned my purpose among other things . . . yes . . . my faith faltered. Here was what I wrote her next: "I too struggle with Trust as well as Faith . . . I'm not sure if this was meant more for you or for me LOL . . . ((((hugs)))) I have to say I am elated by this Truth. Stand Firm  You and I both know you would not have shared God with your mother if you yourself were without faith in Him!"

I'm not sure who else God intends to read this message I just know He is control of my blogs and this was on my heart to share here.

My challenge for anyone who reads this post is simply this, "What ever you are struggling with, there is something in the Bible that will speak to you. I pray you take the time needed to look for it until you find it."

Hugs, 

Wendy, Mom of Many