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“Deeply the Christian believes that beneath all the flux and
change of this mortal life, God is seeking to work out a profound
purpose.”—W.E. Sangster
Every man of faith is convinced that God moves
in his life. And the more profound is one’s faith, the stronger is
the belief that everything that happens is somehow, some way a part
of the greater plan of God in his life. That does not exclude pain
and setbacks. The man of faith understands and accept that as he
walks the long and winding road of life. He is convicted that God
walks with Him, leading him and guiding him through good days and
bad days.
It is easy enough to accept this when all is
going well and you are on a winning streak that is marked by a great
measure of happiness and success. When, however, there is a change
of fortune and disappointment and even despair set in, trusting in
God’s leadership is something else again. Believing that there is
real purpose to the pain can create a crisis of faith. You might be
tempted to abandon God’s ways and strike out on your own. You
might get discouraged and tire of God’s mysterious workings in
your life.
If there is something that we cannot handle very
well, it is the unknown. When we cannot make sense of what is
happening to us, we start to get crazy. And when we cannot make
sense about what God is up to in our lives, we tend to give up
thinking He still walks with us. Instead, we start believing that He
has either abandoned us and is upset with us, or, maybe He simply
has stopped caring for us.
Intellectually if we have faith we know
that is nonsense. We are, however, human, and feelings are very much
part of our humanity. A conflict erupts between our feelings and
what we believe. And if our feelings run away from us, we will run
with them and be carried away by them. They will undermine our
faith. Once this happens to the man of faith, he feels lost. His
deepest meaning his inner beliefs break loose from their anchor his
faith.
When we pray to God to increase our faith,
what we really mean is for Him to strengthen our ability to handle
pain and setbacks. Rarely will we have difficulty dealing with
happiness and success. It is the hurt, the betrayals, the smashed
expectations and the reversals that challenge our faith. If we are
to “keep the faith,” as they say, we need to prepare ourselves
for the dark days that will, sooner or later, come our way.
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If you have problems about drugs, alcohol and
behavior/attitude call my office at 8206107 or 8251771 or e-mail me
at gvcbuenca@vasia.com or write me at P.O. Box 2099 MCPO, Makati
City.
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