I was visiting friends last
night who are facing an impossible situation as a family. It’s something that
as an outsider i can see has pushed them and everything they know and believe
to the limits; their relationship, their friendships and their faith. My heart
was breaking for them because i can totally empathise (i have got my own impossible
challenges at the moment) with the emotional and mental strain that we
sometimes have to endure because circumstances and situations in our lives have
become hard, sometimes so much so that you wonder where you get the strength to
get up in the morning and keep going. You’ve done all that you know to do, you’ve
fasted, you’ve prayed and sometimes that prayer is nothing more than a silent
one, marked by warm tears running down your face because the words elude you. Yet
after all the earnest “performance” of having faith and believing, the
difficulties relent, and just when you thought it could not get any worse, it
does!
It’s hit me, that God never said that by
having faith, that things would be easy. But somehow, it’s been a theology that
i have believed. I have equated my having/standing in faith with
things/situations becoming easier. And when instead things get tougher, i
somehow then believe that i don’t have enough faith! I’m sure many of us can
identify with this feeling. So i decided to pray and ask God “What is your
truth regarding faith and ease? I have faith, i believe that all things are
possible for him who believes (Mark 9:23); but why is it so hard? Why don’t i see the changes coming, why don’t i see even a
moment of relief from the pressure, even if it is for just a day?” I then remembered something that our Senior Pastor
is always saying to us – “His Grace is enough for whatever the situation/circumstance
we’re facing. It is there to empower us to push THROUGH the strenuous, stretching
and sometimes breaking times that we’re facing in our lives”. 2 Corinthians
12:8-10 speaks of how Paul was pleading with God for a swift resolution to a
problem he was facing. Instead God tells him “My grace is sufficient for you; for
my strength is made perfect in weakness”.
My friends’ outlook and attitude are
a testament to me that despite all the drama that they in the middle of right
now, they know that there will come a time when they will look back and say, “you
know we once faced something that threatened to break us, and destroy our
faith, but yet we pulled through...” James 1:2- 4 says “Count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your
faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that
you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”
Having faith keeps us in the
realm of hope, believing and knowing that we will emerge from the storm better
for it. In the meantime, God’s grace will sustain us through the storm. He has
promised that He does not give us more than we can bear.
His grace allows/enables us to
continue standing in the face of the impossible.
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