Having Faith Ain't Easy

                                 

Can I keep it really, real with you? FAITH AIN'T EASY.

As human beings, we are constantly hitting points in life where we're stuck between what world logic/society says we should believe, what our flesh (sinful nature)/inner fear says we should believe, and what God says we should believe.

I'm in this season RIGHT NOW. I keep hitting these "hard rock" moments one after the other and I have to choose what I'm going to believe. Whoever says faith is easy is a LIAR!! Walking in faith in Jesus Christ has been the hardest endeavor I've ever done in my entire life. Some of the feelings I'm going through relate to believing words God has spoken over me, having an expectation, praying for them, and then having opposite things happen, and feeling disappointed.

I remember these were the same exact feelings I felt while I was praying to God for healing from herpes. God's word said I could be healed, I believed it, I prayed for healing, I expected to be healed, and then boom the opposite happens, I'd get an outbreak. I had a hope for healing that was constantly being challenged by what I saw and what I was going through. Now, here I am six years later, healed of herpes, yet still facing the same feelings of disappointment. But I thank God for these Hope Letters because as I'm writing, God is encouraging me through my own testimony.

In a previous Hope Letter wrote about us having hope as long as we're alive. Well, I'm seeing the same truth exist in the reverse: as long as we're alive we will face opposition to our hope. Why? Because we live in a fallen/broken world due to sin and perfect lives with perfect stories just don't exist. However, there IS A PERFECT GOD WHO HAS A PERFECT PLAN TO USE EVERYTHING (EXCITEMENT AND DISAPPOINTMENT) FOR OUR GOOD (Rom 8:28).

I may not like feeling disappointed or being in this place where my hope is constantly challenged, but one thing I can do is look to what God has done before. If I gave up hope while I was waiting for my healing, I literally would have never gotten healed and would never be able to testify to you today. God used my continued hope to give you hope years later. Hope births hope!

God never said it would be easy in the Bible, but He said it would be POSSIBLE. So today as hard as it is, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I choose to believe God's word despite what I see and trust His timing because through the hope of today, there will be a greater hope for someone else tomorrow.

I leave you with Jesus' last words to the disciples in Acts 1:6-8

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Tell someone about Jesus while you wait.

May your hope be in Jesus Christ,

Anreka