faithful

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens" - Tolkien.

"Faith is the willingness to receive whatever He wants to give, or the willingness not to have what He does not want to give. Sometimes we want things we were not meant to have. Because He loves us, the Father says no. Faith trust that no. Faith is willing not to have what God is not willing to give. Furthermore, faith does not insist upon an explanation. It is enough to know His promise to give us what is good - He knows so much more about that than we do." - Elisabeth Elliot

Seasons sometimes really stink and sometimes they are awesome and you wish you could stay there forever. Valleys. Mountaintops. Flat roads. It all ebbs and flows and we just have to walk the path through each one, right? All the while holding onto the same peace and Joy and grace through each one. I have yet to learn how to do that, but gosh, I really want to. 2016 has begun. I'm sure there are others out there, like me, who are praying for things in 2016 and really believing that they will come to fruition. But what happens, if at the end of 2016 we have yet to see some of the answers we are so desperately seeking? What happens if our situations don't change? Should we then conclude that He isn't good and has forgotten us once again? No. Although I, at times, struggle with my reality vs what He promises in his Word, I KNOW that He is faithful (Hebrews 10:23). I KNOW that He has yet to let me down. I KNOW that His path is better than my own (Jeremiah 29:11). And I KNOW that He withholds no good thing (Psalm 84:11). So even if 2016 doesn't yield me the dreams I have deep in my heart, I am going to trust and believe that He has every step planned out and it's my choice whether or not I want to follow Him. There are so many times when worry gets the best of me...when the world says that my life should look like __________. The feeling of not being where I am "supposed" to be sometimes overwhelms my ability to trust God. Feelings are so faulty. They shouldn't be trusted. If I have learned anything, it's that God is committed in spite of how I feel. He stands firm even though I'm flopping around like a fish out of water. I long to exercise patience and submit to His timing and plans. I long to live uncomfortably and go after a life of love as if my life depended on it - because it does (1 Corinthians 13). I want to constantly remember that every single thing I have ever wanted is in Him. Why is it that we learn more when we are a little broken? For me, brokenness makes me re-learn dependency on Him and not myself. Becoming unaware of who He really is and who I really am because of Him usually precedes a season of hurt. When my heart is unsettled, my Spirit is stirred. Isn't it neat that He works like that? Even though I want to be consistent all the time in my dependency upon Him, I just love the fact that when we are desperate, He is still standing outside our door...not kicking us to the curb. He is welcoming us back. Sometimes that's hard to fathom. I do believe that sometimes seasons of hurt come because of sin in our life. Consequences are inevitable, whether they are good or bad, but even in correction we know that our Father is working for our good just like a good earthly father would discipline his children. Until the season passes, it's our duty as His children to wait and be persistent in pursuing Him. I pray 2016 is the year that God's Kingdom is advanced further than ever imagined, that His work is done and we realize that whatever He has planned will never lack His supply. May we rest in the fact that He opens doors that we can't open and He closes doors that we can't close. May we know more of Jesus and His Word and see His faithfulness in every decision made - whether we were the ones who made it or someone made it for us. May our manner of life be worthy of the Lord and ENTIRELY pleasing to Him (Colossians 1:10). This is my prayer.