I gained some powerful insight recently. God is developing and strengthening my faith in this season of my life. Previously, He had me build my trust in Him by looking to Him to help me pull through my trials. Then, I had to receive by faith the prayers I made to Him would be released. Once I received the answers to my prayers, I was stripped of those things I had been praying for. I was literally thrown back to square one! I immediately looked to the Book of Job and the life of Abraham.
God’s testing is rigorous and efficient in perfecting our faith and thereby our reliance on Him. The question I could hear most prevalently during my struggles was, “Will you continue to follow me on the path I’ve led you on through the worst of times even after great loss?” I will be transparent and admit I wrestled with the prospect. I couldn’t wrap my mind around why I would have to suffer multiple losses (some similar in nature). Was I meant to cry out to God in sadness and not joy? Would my victories be sparse and my failures plentiful? It took me a while to finally understand. Besides just the perfecting of my faith, my eyes and ears were being finely tuned to a supernatural frequency. They were being refocused.
Stress and loss can pull us down and burden us. Yet when we have been disciplined to tune into a higher frequency, the confusion of the world falls away. This past Sunday my pastor preached on hope. One of the reiterations in his sermon was that our hope comes from above. And indeed, our hope “….comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the One who watches over you will not slumber” (Psalm 121:2-3, NLT). He wants all my trust all the time, and He will not settle for anything less.
Though the process is painful, I am encouraged by the fact He watches over me every moment. He watches over me throughout the good and bad, during my waking hours and slumber. He guards me in the mist of it all. I can rest in that knowledge. It gives me peace.
