Friday, March 4, 2011

Tests of true faith

When do you think that God has the best outcome in His plan for you? It seems so easy to see God's grace and the good in all of the things around you when things are going the way that you want them to. But maybe, have you ever thought that they could be heading the way that you wanted...but just not taking the same path that you would have taken?! And most of the time, that is our fault.

I have learned more about this fact in the last year then I have in the last 23 of my life. I knew what my outcome was going to be. And I knew exactly how I was going to get there...on my own terms. It never crossed my mind that just becuase you feel that you know God's outcome plan for your life doesn't mean you are on the same page about how to get there.

I thought I had things figured out with the fact that I was going to college in a small little town and getting a business degree and then going to hair school and opening a salon and living the sweet little life that I had planned out for myself. The only thing that I actually got right about that was the fact that God wanted me to show His love to others by bringing out the beauty that He gave them and teaching them how to live with that everyday. While in college, i could never get on the right track! I changed my major so many times continually telling myself that I couldn't figure out God's plan for my life and questioning whether there really was one, when really the only problem was that I couldn't stay away from the bar long enough to even remember what I was praying to have answered, much less be able to hear God's voice in answeing it. I was constantly jumping from group to group, from friend to friend, and from boy to boy just to find answers and a purpose. The only voice of God that I could hear between hangovers was the best friend that he put in my life to help keep this whole mess straight. He knew I needed this from the beginning when he put her in my life first semester or freshman year...it was like he knew before it even started that my life was about to get a little more than chaotic... This was NOT God's road plan to my outcome. In my shallow thinking through this whole thing, I was just a young college kid having fun and nothing was hurting anyone...But I can't even imagine how much damage I caused to people around me not to mention to myself.

My point in writing this is to get it in words. Not only for myself, but maybe to help someone else. Sometimes you can get off the path. And sometimes its really easy to feel that you are just making your own way or that what you do while you are young doesn't matter as long as it works out for you in the end. This is not true. The tests of true faith happen when you are young. Its easier to have blind faith when you are a child and you don't have problems of your own to decifer through. And when you are older and it is more acceptable to live by your beliefs. But for those of us who are young, struggling to find our way in this world and make new beginnings for ourselves; Don't stray from the path that you started when you were that young child with blind faith. God has given you a path and an outcome and He has made the way to get there one that will do nothing but good for you and bring you to your dreams, the trick is to continually follow him. Make the decisions to put your faith in Him and only Him when you are young. This way, you won't make the same mistakes that I did and try to make your own way so much so that you can't even hear His voice for your paths anymore.

It is true that He will never leave you and that when you make the decisions to make your way back He will be there for you with open arms. But my advice, make that decision sooner rather then later!

These are the tests of true faith to me. When you are young and things are harder to figure out...what do you do? Are these the times when you feel He has your best outcomes in His plans...or are these the times that you give up and try to figure them out for yourself?!

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