On Faith and Circumstances...
Hello Everyone. You know, I was thinking...
Faith is great when you have it for someone else; it's fine when you pray for someone else, or tell someone a stupid, pathetic cliche, like, "It'll all work out alright," or worse, "Everything happens for a reason." When someone else's life sucks, it's easy to reassure them and make promises for someone else. After all, your life is perfect, so why should THEY have any worries, right? We're content, and see no reason why 'they' shouldn't be also.
Then life decides to wake US up and see if our faith (in what or whomever) is strong enough for US.
You know, when it's ME who has to practice faith and believe that my God is bigger than my circumstances, the act of faith a lot harder than it looks on paper. While I believe that God is who He says He is, can He really overcome THESE odds? Can He perform a--GASP--miracle? Well, I believe He can, but I have little hope, given the news, given the certainty of it all...to be honest, I just don't know.
I was singing a song in church a couple of weeks ago; the chorus says, "When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm. Father you are King over the flood; I will be still and know that you are God." As I sang and led the congregation, I felt something inside of me ask, "Do you believe this for all of THEM, or is this true for you as well? Do you believe this or NOT, Ruiz?" And, as if illuminated by a single spotlight, the idea of faith was posed to me as a 'take it or leave it' item, not able to be dumped because I am hurt or confused or perplexed. If there is a track record, if there is hindsight, if Eternal Prividence exists, then I am aware that I need to have faith in whom I have chosen to belive, and to know that, just as with all circumstances (I truly belive this to be true, by the way--isn't it crazy how chaos theory works out?), God will work out masterpieces from seeming mistakes and mishaps...
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." You know, it's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, but I'm managing, and will continue to hold fast to my Rock, my Anchor, Jesus Christ.
Most honestly on a difficult night, and admitting that sometimes I have lingering questions too,
- El Ruiz
Faith is great when you have it for someone else; it's fine when you pray for someone else, or tell someone a stupid, pathetic cliche, like, "It'll all work out alright," or worse, "Everything happens for a reason." When someone else's life sucks, it's easy to reassure them and make promises for someone else. After all, your life is perfect, so why should THEY have any worries, right? We're content, and see no reason why 'they' shouldn't be also.
Then life decides to wake US up and see if our faith (in what or whomever) is strong enough for US.
You know, when it's ME who has to practice faith and believe that my God is bigger than my circumstances, the act of faith a lot harder than it looks on paper. While I believe that God is who He says He is, can He really overcome THESE odds? Can He perform a--GASP--miracle? Well, I believe He can, but I have little hope, given the news, given the certainty of it all...to be honest, I just don't know.
I was singing a song in church a couple of weeks ago; the chorus says, "When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm. Father you are King over the flood; I will be still and know that you are God." As I sang and led the congregation, I felt something inside of me ask, "Do you believe this for all of THEM, or is this true for you as well? Do you believe this or NOT, Ruiz?" And, as if illuminated by a single spotlight, the idea of faith was posed to me as a 'take it or leave it' item, not able to be dumped because I am hurt or confused or perplexed. If there is a track record, if there is hindsight, if Eternal Prividence exists, then I am aware that I need to have faith in whom I have chosen to belive, and to know that, just as with all circumstances (I truly belive this to be true, by the way--isn't it crazy how chaos theory works out?), God will work out masterpieces from seeming mistakes and mishaps...
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." You know, it's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, but I'm managing, and will continue to hold fast to my Rock, my Anchor, Jesus Christ.
Most honestly on a difficult night, and admitting that sometimes I have lingering questions too,
- El Ruiz