A Shaken Faith

All my life, I worshiped and prayed to the same God. The God that created the world in seven days. The same God who loved his children so much he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for sin so that one day those who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life. All my life, I was Christian.

So what changed? Out of, what seemed like, nowhere I was questioning my beliefs. I knew there was a God, but I wondered if he was whom I believed him to be. There are so many areas in my life where I would love to feel God’s presence, but instead, I feel abandoned. If God didn’t want me associated with specific people, why did he allow an opportunity for them to enter my life? If God put me on Earth for a divine purpose, why hasn’t he made that purpose clear? If he did not want me to sin, why was I born a sinner in a sin-filled world? These questions and a plethora of other thoughts encouraged my heart to stray away, but God is funny like that. Anytime I wander off, he pulls me right back. It soon came to my attention that I was not questioning God himself, but rather my faith in him.

I was sitting in church a few Sundays ago, and my pastor, Dr. A.R Bernard, gave a sermon that was curtailed to my current struggle. He said as believers there are four things we need to know about God:
1. He loves you
2. He created you for a purpose
3. He designed you for fulfillment and achievements
4. He believes in you
While he listed these things, I knew in my heart that I did not honestly believe any of that.

My foundation in Christianity is weak. I know the stories and the people of the Bible through word of mouth when that knowledge should come from intentional time with God and his word.

As a Christian, I cannot afford to be illiterate. I have to study the word, make time for consistent prayer, fast, and continuously work on developing my relationship between God and I. Complacency won’t do.

With all of that said, I would like to welcome you all to the Spiritual Maintenance portion of my blog. The word maintenance means to care and upkeep, and that is what we have to do with our relationship with Christ. As believers, we will always fall short, but it is our responsibility to get back on track.

Hebrews 11

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.

** Thank you for taking the time to read my first post under Spiritual Maintenance. Stay tuned for next week’s post.

~Shauna