Keeping the Faith

 

I'm never going to pretend to be a "perfect Christian." I have my ups and my downs just like everyone else. That's the whole purpose of me creating this blog. I'm just a Christian girl with the same struggles as any other teenaged Christian. I'm hoping that by sharing the things that I've struggled with, and how God has helped me overcome them, I can provide a sense of hope to those going through similar situations. Originally I had planned to write about a completely different topic tonight, but apparently God had different plans.




    I have never been one to doubt my faith or question God. That is up until this week. For as long as I can remember I have always believed in an amazing, forgiving, loving God, who sent his only Son so that we could have eternal life with him in Heaven. Earlier this week though, ideas and questions started popping up in my head at random times. Is there really a Heaven? Does God really hear my prayers? Heck, does God even exist? Those questions absolutely terrified me to say the least. However, through the uncertainty I continued on with my everyday life just trying to push those thoughts away, thinking that maybe if I ignored them they would go away. They didn't. In fact, they grew stronger and I grew even more scared. Let me just tell you, it is absolutely terrifying to think that my entire life could have been a lie.

    I finally got to the point that I was so scared, I was on my knees by my bed crying out to God to just show himself to me, to just help me get out of this pit of doubt I had fallen into. Honestly I was an emotional wreck. After I finished my prayer something awesome happened... I decided to open the bible App on my phone to see what I could find and the verse of the day popped up on the screen...

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." 

 Romans 1:17

    Although that should have been enough evidence to convince me that God was answering my prayers, I still had my doubts. I thought, "that could easily just be a coincidence." I had decided that I was done for the night and I just needed to sleep on it so I decided to check my Facebook one last time before going to sleep and you won't believe the first thing I saw on my timeline. A post from my old youth paster...

If we hope for God's presence, faith is the reality of our hope because in faith we have the Spirit's presence in our lives.

    Now for any normal person that would probably have been more than enough evidence of a God who loves me and wants me to see him, but no, I still had that one little thought, "this could still just be a coincidence." And do you know what happens next? I scroll down a little bit more and this is what I see...

While the Law can justify death, only faith will justify life. #Christianity

    That was it for me. I was in awe. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was bawling like a baby. God had literally just sent me the answer to my prayer not once, but three times. FAITH. Faith is key in Christianity. Christianity is believing even without seeing. Christianity is surrendering your life to someone you have no physical evidence of. Christianity IS Faith.

    I also believe that the reason I was having those doubts is because my relationship with Christ had never been better then it has been this last month with this new blog and speaking at my church more often. Satan wasn't okay with that. I believe that Satan planted the seed of doubt in my head because he hated what I was becoming. But you know what Satan? I overcame the doubt. God showed himself to me, and now I'm even closer to Him! So take that Satan!!


    It's okay to have doubts. In fact, everyone experiences doubt sometimes. I promise, you are not alone. But don't try to ignore the doubt and the questions. Thinking through your faith can actually make it stronger. Ask God when you are questioning him to show himself to you and to help you find the answers your looking for as you study his Word.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering.                   

                                             1 Peter 5:8-9

Check out one of my favorite songs at the moment! Kutless- What Faith can do