Sad

It makes me so sad when people bad-mouth Christianity. I know we are all entitled to our own beliefs. To be honest, God created us that way. He gives us free will; He lets us choose whether or not we will proclaim Him as God and His Son as the Lord of our life. But if someone is not a Christian or if they profess not to believe anything and then say "they gave religion a chance and nothing changed," it saddens me.

Christianity isn't like wearing a coat. You can't wrap it around you for a while then discard it like the fit wasn't right or it was the wrong color for you. A walk with the Lord is just that...a walk. It's a relationship: just like the one I have with anyone else I love...my husband, my children, etc. It's getting to know them better, serving them, sacrificing for them. It's spending time with them, and when I mess up, it's asking for forgiveness and starting over.

It also makes me sad and ever so humbled when I hear the same people state that they tried religion and they were so let down by the so-called Christians that they stopped believing. Christians aren't God. He alone is the one to look to, the one to emulate. Every single Christian in this world is going to let others down; we are going to mess up. You can count on it. Only the Lord won't.

I'm not judging those who feel this way. I just hope that some of them somehow see this post and realize that my words are true...that it will cause them to come to the Lord and submit, to understand that He will not let them down. But he isn't a magic genie. Just because God doesn't always answer prayers like we wish, it doesn't mean He can't hear them or that He is not listening. I know He is. Not only does the Bible tell us He does (and that should settle it), I know from experience what a personal and caring Savior the Lord is.

Did my experience with losing a child make my faith deeper? I can say that this walk has extended the roots of my faith deeper, more solidly because it has shown me how intimate God is. I believed by faith that He was with me. I believed by faith everything the Bible told me. Now I believe by experience and it makes my faith much richer.

God loves you. He loves every single one of us intimately and personally. Let Him minister to you in whatever you need. Believe in Him. Believe even when it hurts, believe even when someone tells you that you are silly or crazy. But in order to grow your relationship with Him you have to be intentional. Don't expect him to do all the work. Relationships on earth don't run that way. Why should they with the Creator of the Universe?