Milestones, Mountains, and Questions--Is My Faith Being Tested?

"Real faith cannot be reduced to spiritual bromides and merchandised success stories. It is refined in the fires and storms of pain." -Eugene H. Peterson, The Message//Remix

Have you ever asked yourself, "Why am I doing this?"

I have done everything that I was supposed to do, and yet, here I am, struggling through trials. If I am doing what I am supposed to, if I'm living the right way, if I'm "fighting the good fight," then why do I experience trials?

Am I doing something wrong?

The answer is no.

The calling and purpose of our lives cannot be vanquished by issues so insignificant. We are not just human beings muddling through the problems of life, merely trying to "get through."

No.

We are called to live victoriously, to call attention not to ourselves in these times, but instead bearing witness to the One who sustains and enables us to not just survive, but thrive.

Because our trials and struggles aren't some kind of divine punishment. I can't tell you exactly why they are allowed to happen, because I honestly do not know.

But what I do know is this: God doesn't simply leave us in our trials because He wants us to grow stronger, to fight harder. He wants us to also be an example of who WE are because of who HE is.

It's much easier said than done-- I'm well aware. Hence, I've enlisted the help of the profound prophet, Miley Cyrus, who writes, "There's always going to be another mountain. We're always going to want to make it move. It's always going to be an uphill battle. Sometimes we're going to have to lose."

Let's break that down.

1. There's always going to be another mountain.

Just because we walk with the Lord doesn't mean that we are always going to walk beside "green pastures and still waters." There will be plenty of times in which we're walking through the "Valley of the Shadow of Death."

Yet, God remains with us. He's not merely leaving us there to prove a point. He's not going to leave you there to suffer for all of eternity. 

He's not cruel.

He's merely given us freewill, and as Spiderman's uncle is so fond of saying, "With great power comes great responsibility." We don't realize the full extent and implications of the power that He has blessed us with, but with freewill comes the freedom for us to make mistakes. We may be affected by mistakes that we didn't even make, that weren't our faults, but are hurting us all the same.

These "mountains" that we face may seem endless and insurmountable, but God is there to pick us up when our faith fails, when our feet can carry us no longer.

 

 

The strength that we might maintain during times of trial is not because of our own resilience, but because of the all-powerful strength of the One who created us.

2. It's always going to be an uphill battle.

I don't know about you, but I always had this idealistic picture in my head of what the ideal Christian lifestyle looked like-- sunshine, happiness, nothing to worry about, and NO problems.

But just because Jesus has saved us does not mean that everything is lollipops and rainbows from here on out.

Take Paul, for example.

Formerly known as "Saul," this guy radically transformed from a vehement Christian-hunter to the guy who wrote the majority of the New Testament. "Wow," you might say. "This Paul guy seemed like once he got 'on track with God,' he totally knew what he was doing! His life must have been awesome!"

But let me assure you, Paul had a pretty rough go of it. He was beaten within a few inches of his life multiple times, unjustly accused and arrested, jailed, bitten by poisonous snakes, shipwrecked, and ultimately martyred for his faith.

Sounds like a whole lot of fun, right?

But, Paul knew that everything that he was going through was all a part of his story. He probably never figured out exactly why every single challenging event in his life occurred, but he knew who he served, and that His plan was greater than his own.

All that God requires from us is to take a leap of faith.

We grow stronger everyday, through every trouble, through every circumstance, because He is for us and He gives us the strength that we need to not just "get through" but get up and start going.

Not every battle that we fight is going to be a victory in our lives, but it is how we handle the defeat and continue on that is the true victory. Struggles, shortcomings, and losses are not things that are to be dealt with by hiding them, but instead with patience and redemption.

It's always going to be an uphill battle.

3. Sometimes we're going to have to lose.

Not everything is going to work out the way that we want it to. We are going to have failings and shortcomings. Crazy, I know.

The "ships" that previously harbored my dreams have been sunk, my plans have been altered, my health has failed, my friends have abandoned me, and ultimately a surprising amount of things have gone wrong in my relatively short lifetime.

I know that sometimes in order to win ultimately, I'm going to have to lose temporarily.

Psalm 145:13- "The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made."

That's why my prayer today is this:

Lord, help me to seek you in all that I do, and keep your plans in mind, even when my own seem to be falling apart. Help me to remember that you are faithful in all that you do, and that as a loving Father, your plans are the best ones for my life. Thank you for challenging me and pushing me, even when all that I wanted was to stay where I was. I do not know all of the plans that you have in store for me, but I know that you are with me, "directing my steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

Amen.