I would like to take some time and share a part of the lessons that God has been teaching me during this journey I call the "walk of faith." Over these four posts I want us to experience together the assurance that even in the dark times we can find peace. We can journey through the dark times.
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”- 1 Corinthians 13:13
Imagine yourself sitting in a dark corner of a darkened room. Though the environment is somewhat gloomy, you feel that it matches your heart and emotions rather well at that time. For, you see, you are in a time of heartache. Now this heartache could have been caused by any number of factors, but however it came to be, you still hurt. For some, you have seen the breakdown of a relationship that you thought would last a life time. For others, well you and your family have been caught in the financial crises that have enveloped your world and community. Perhaps your hurt is one so much more deep; for you have seen that one you loved so deeply be taken from you in the cold embrace of death. And then, there are so many of us who have come face to face with our own sins and shortcomings and wonder how we will ever crawl out of the holes we have dug around ourselves.
Whatever may be the cause of our hurt, pain or shame we find ourselves coming to one inescapable question; God, are you there? For anyone who has ever found themselves in those dark moments of life they can begin to feel alone and separated. For many this is the beginning of a depression so deep they wonder if they will ever find their way out. Yet, for many it is not a “clinical depression” with which they struggle, but rather a time of spiritual oppression when they can feel as if their entire belief system is coming apart. They have believed in and given their lives to Christ. They have sought to live their lives in a way that honors and pleases Him. Yet here they are, in the quagmire of life and just trying to find solid ground on which to stand.
Recently, this is where I found my own life. Life’s situations and struggles had brought me to a point of just wanting to know if God still cared. Is He really going to let my unborn baby girl die before she even has the chance to experience life? Did He still have a call for my life and somewhere that He wanted my family and me to serve? Was there still a message He wanted me to preach and lessons He wanted me to teach? And during this time of hurt, doubt and questions I found myself sitting in a small chapel just talking and sharing my heart and thoughts with God. I literally asked Him if He had taken His call from me, was I ever going to stand in a pulpit again and preach His word. And then, He decided to answer my question with a question of His own. “Do you believe the words of 1 Corinthians 13:13?”
Let me explain for you how this simple question came to be and how He used it to encourage and brighten my dark days. In this small chapel, as I sat on the steps of the platform trying to sound all spiritual in my questions and thoughts I began to really take note of where I was sitting. This chapel had been built in the shape of the cross. At the foot of this cross you found the doors through which God’s people would come into His presence. Needless to say, when I came through those doors that is exactly what I needed to do; come into His wonderful presence. Now as I sat there taking in the feel and design of this place of worship I looked to my right and there at the rightmost point of the cross’s “cross bar” was a beautiful stained glass window that had one simple word enmeshed in its design…FAITH.
(to be continued)
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