Fatih & Suffering

"Untried faith may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain stunted as long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers as well as when all things are against her. ...let the howling winds rush forth, and let the waves lift up themselves, Though the vessel may rock, her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway toward her desired haven. Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid the flooding waters. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious, too." ~Charles Spurgeon


In today's world we so often hear of FAITH...but is it a true faith that will carry a person through life's storms or is it faith just to get what we want from God? 

What is faith?  Is it just wanting something?  There are alot of things I WANT...most of them good things.  I want our church to grow, I want Selah healed,  I want to help get more orphans home, I'd like a bigger house and big van and lots of money so we could hire nurses and adopt more kids....I want to be able to give more to others.....I even want to buy a new bed....BUT my faith is not me "believing God" for these things, even for the good spiritual things.  Faith is so much more....

My faith is God has grown so much in the past year.  I can look back over my life and see events when I trusted God and stepped out of the boat.  When I left home to go to Bible College, all alone with no money, that was FAITH!  Looking back to that time builds my faith.  I knew I had heard from God and I did what He told me to do regardless of the naysayers all around me.  My faith grew...

When we stepped out of the boat and adopted Shad....wow....we knew we had heard from God and we did what He said despite the naysayers all around us  (btw those naysayers have shut their mouths~they all want a Shad now LOL)   Our FAITH grew....

When Jon became the pastor of Grace Church and stepped into that role, we realized that was where God wanted us to be, that took Faith!  As we faced struggles and triumphs in the church, our Faith has grown...

We when heard the little whisper "go get that little girl" and we stepped out by Faith, oh how our faith has grown.  That little girl, soon became two little girls that needed us and that we needed to make our family complete.  Oh our faith grew as we knew that only God could make that adoption happen...and He did....

Now this accident...it's been like strength training for our faith....we have gone deeper, dismissed the fluff in our lives and held on to God, not knowing what the outcome would be....we still don't know the outcome, we have more hope than ever before but we still don't know what is ahead for us and Selah, but we know Who will be with us.  Oh but our faith has grown....

So for me FAITH is not so much what God can do for me....it's what I do for Him. JFK said in his inaugural address the famous line "Ask not what your country can do for you , but rather ask what you can do for your country"   In a spiritual sense most Christians ask what can God do for me rather than what can I do for God.  They think God owes them the perfect middle class American life without any suffering at all.   But as we have walked down the pathways He has shown us, we have learn to trust.  We have learned by our faith being tested.  And it has been sweet.....NOW I can testify to you that without shinigins or craziness that God will be with you no matter what.  I will not tell you things will go the way you want them to go but that you can have peace.  I will not tell you to claim promises, speak Life, rebuke the devil, demand healing, or any of those things that the pentecostal/charismatic movement will often tell you to do in a hard situation...but I will tell you to throw yourself on the mercy of God, to bow your heart to Him, even when your heart is breaking.  I will tell you to trust the ONE who holds this crazy messed up world in the palm of His hand.  I will tell you that eternity is forever and these present sufferings will be as nothing on THAT day....I will tell you that life will test your faith and that God will allow that, because that is how we grow. 

"For I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" Romans 8:18   (Look Paul was southern ~  He RECKONED LOL

Romans 5:3-5
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us
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1Peter 4:12
 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

These scriptures thrill my heart!  They give me peace and a hope!  But you won't find them in the cute little "Promise Books"  or "God's Promise Books"  No one wants to hear about suffering...but it is there and it will come to you.  How will you react when it comes?


Let me tell you a story...I've been walking for years, often miles a day.  So a couple of summers ago we were given a week in a cabin in North Carolina.  Oh did we have fun!  We walked up and down mountains and hills and I thought I would die!  WHY?  Because even tho I was walking miles a day, I was walking on a flat Florida walking path....it wasn't the same as walking up hills and down....  Once I got home. I started walking a path that had built in hills so I would be better conditioned to handle hills!  

So compare that to our faith....faith that is never tested, is a weak faith that tires out easily.  But when we face adversities we can grow!  We can get stronger in our faith.  We are all on a one way ticket on planet earth, we don't know when our ticket expires or when we will either.  So I encourage you to use your faith, not for foolishness or personal gain but for trusting in God and doing what He asks of you!  Let your faith grow so that on the day your ticket expires, you will have that strong faith to trust Him to walk with you through the valley of the shadow of death.