Lost Faith or Emotions?

Tyler should get to go home today!  We are waiting on the doctor to make his rounds.  Doctor thinks it was impetigo which is a rash.  Eighmy and Ethan have held up well.  I had an interesting conversation with Eighmy this morning and I share it with you only because we are all human!  We both have struggled, understandably so, with our emotions this past week.  How do we know if something is just our emotions or if we have lost our faith?

This is a great question.  First of all, we have to remember that our faith is not based on what God will or will not do for us, but rather in a Heavenly Father who knows what is best for us.  Christians are not immune to the muck of life here in Satan’s garbage pit of earth.  Tornadoes, famine, death, disease, etc… happen to Christians.  Is God punishing us?  Has He not heard us?  No!!!  He is allowing these things to happen to prune us, and it hurts when you get a limb chopped off!  It’s okay to cry and be angry and have emotions in the midst.  This does not mean that you are not trusting God.  Get the emotions out by talking, running, screaming, crying, etc… Then remember God in the midst.  He is still there to comfort, direct, teach, and love you.

We may never know why Tyler spent this time in the hospital.  Did the antibiotic ward off something?  Did a nurse see Ethan and Eighmy’s faith and seek God?  Did another mother remember them and know that she is missing a relationship with a Heavenly Father?  Did God need to prune all of us from pride, unbelief, or something else?  We probably won’t know until we get to heaven.  But we can trust God’s heart when we can’t see His hand!  He makes all things work together for our good.  He doesn’t make us live in all happiness and goodness; no we live in a garbage pit.  We are promised troubles and tribulation here on earth, but God makes all things work out for our good.  That we can trust. 

Does God hear our prayers even when we don’t like the answer?  Yes!  He hears and walks along beside us.  He upholds us and give us hope and joy in the midst.  Joy is the quiet hope and peace and sense of well-being that can be ours as we wait out the hard times and look to eternity.