trust.

Oh, what a week! I have been itching to blog for days now, but between a computer break-down, three tests and everything else in between, it just hasn't been happening. Now that I have five seconds to sit down and breathe, I am going to share what has been lingering in my thoughts this week.

Let me preface this post by saying I am sharing a lot of material that was given to during my bible study last Thursday. Let me just say also, that I am so extremely blessed by this bible study. Jane's teaching and being surrounded by such wonderful, kind, and spirit-filled girls has been the hugest blessing this semester. Like, I would have to be in the emergency room getting stitches, it's THAT great.

We've been digging into the book of Habakkuk recently (if you've never done a study on Habakkuk before, I would highly recommend it). I had never read Habakkuk before so this was an entirely new experience for me, and boy has it been a challenging and convicting book. Last week one of the themes of our discussion was faith. First, a little background info-God has revealed to Habakkuk that He is going to give the Israelites over to the Babylonians for 70 years because they have turned their backs on God. God is telling Habakkuk all of this so that he can be prepared for what is to come, and Habakkuk is totally caught off guard because God is allowing His people to be handed over to the vile and awful Babylonians. Habakkuk is bewildered and saying," Woooahh, God, this is crazy. Why on earth would you allow this to happen?"

I feel like we definitely can admit to asking God this many times in our life. I mean, let's face it, crap happens that we don't understand. God uses these times of uncertainty in our lives to grow our faith in Him to be solid enough to stand on, even in the worst of times. God is looking at our future, and we must therefore trust that He's got it under control for the present and future. In Hebrews 10:38 it says, "...the righteous live by faith."

One thing that really stood out to me that Jane said that has been etched in my memory was," A faith that has never been tested cannot be trusted." So true. I dug deeper for more scripture on this topic, and found Romans 1: 2-18. Verses 2 and 3 say,"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." Later in verse 6, James writes, "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, tossed and blown by the wind." We are commanded to live by faith, and verse 12 reminds us of our reward for our steadfast trust. "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." Wow.

Obviously, most of us don't ask for hardship in our lives. We want smooth sailing. But how do we learn to rely on God and his power if our faith in him is never tested? 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that as believers we are called to, "Live by faith, not by sight." We are offered a crown and eternal life with Christ by following this command. You don't learn any other discipline without trial before you begin to see results, and our faith in God works the same way. We see God developing fruits and workings in our lives when we allow Him to lead the way, and trusting in His methods and timing.

This is a principle in our walk as Christians. We are promised struggles and hardships, but we are also promised the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. Our faith needs to be our rock that we stand on, with God being our solid ground. He is ready to come to our rescue.