Faith Comes

I think the way that God speaks to us is so interesting.  I believe that God has a different method for interacting with each of us, according to what represents the best way "in."  (And isn't that true in how we interact with our partners, friends and children?  Relationships are not "one size fits all.")

For Jesus, the relationship with our Heavenly Father was extremely intimate.  God spoke to him in an audible voice.  And Jesus was completely obedient to the voice of God.

How does God speak to you?  I ask this because for me, it has made all the difference in the world to say out loud to the Lord each day, "I want to be guided by You and I believe You are guiding me."  And for me, God's voice usually shows up in the readings that I do every morning; and also in conversations with others on a similar path in life.

I won't lie or sugar coat it.  I have been in a funk for about two weeks (and it's been no secret to those around me).  My emotions got really revved up, to the point of feeling like everything was NOT as it should be in my life.  (Of course, that is not true, but for me, that is what emotional reactivity can produce.)  Some struggles are real in the way I experience their intensity and effect.  And some, I exaggerate, because I am beautifully human.  

The other day, this is what I read in one of my devotionals: "Amid the twists and turns of life, faith comes."  I love that.  I can't manipulate or manufacture the precise moment when faith comes.  I know there are times I feel an incredible sense of urgency and want things to move in my time, not God's time.  But sticking with my routine, talking things out with friends and my spouse, and praying without ceasing somehow keep me going.  Eventually, a small crack occurs in the chink of the armor that represents feeling "stuck."  And then the Light rushes in and I feel renewed; reset.

The twists and turns of life are the very thing that allow God to crack us wide open.  Of course, it's a terrible feeling -- being cracked wide open.  And yet, how else are we to be transformed into the image of Christ? Was Jesus not cracked open in His pain and suffering and death?   

Without twists and turns, there is no growth.  Without the extreme "heat," the crucible, we remain as we are.  And that is not a journey; that is a stand-still.  So thank you Lord, now that I am on the other side of it again, for the twists and turns of life.  Help me to hold on when I'm in it and remember those times in the past when you have delivered me, either from the normal struggles of life or from myself. 

Thank you that through these experiences, faith comes.

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