Faith and Trust

Quick notice.....My mojo is missing.  If anyone finds it, please return it to me.  I haven't been working out.  The heel spur has me not wanting to do anything.  I'm trying to make myself hop on the bike with the kids whenever it's nice out and if I can drag myself to the gym, I get in a weight-training workout.  But it's not as often as I'd like and it's really starting to bug me.  I need to find some way around the damn heel spur so I can get back into the groove!

Okay, I have a huge favor to ask of those of you who choose to read this.  Read it with a completely open mind.  I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do the topic justice or manage to get my thoughts on things down exactly as I want them to come across.  But, I'm hoping I can convey things in a way that won't offend and just may have the ability to inspire!

Faith is a life-long journey.  Mine has already been a very long one.  I have some ideas about Faith and God that others don't hold.  I know not everyone is a believer and to be honest, it doesn't bother me much when someone tells me they don't believe.  Unless I truly care for that person and then, I have to admit, I really wish I could convince them to see things the way that I do.  Not because I worry that they'll end up in Hell if they don't believe, but more so because I know the comfort and security that belief can bring.  You see, I was once an ATHEIST.  I put that in caps for a reason.  I would have sworn up and down that there is no way God could possibly exist.  I looked at the world we lived in and I saw all the bad, horrendous things that happen and all the bad things that had happened in my life and I thought....if there was a God, why would he let any of these things happen?  Sound familiar to anyone?  Or how about this one....I'll believe in God if he gives me a reason to believe in Him (AKA: send me a miracle so that I know You are there).  I demanded proof of his existence and didn't believe for a second that He truly was real.

I'm not sure where things changed for me or exactly why.  Somewhere along the way, I stopped demanding proof and decided to just BELIEVE.  I stopped focusing on the "why would He allow these things to happen" things and started looking at the good things.  I met my husband and as I looked at him and got to know him, the belief that a person that good and wonderful existed in this world and that this amazing person was handcrafted by a greater being took root.  And then our babies were born and the idea that these small beings were meant just for me, were gifts to me for some purpose beyond just loving and raising to go out in the world took root.

So....here are some of my understandings of God and just what he is and what he's done......

God is Creator.  He made our world.  He's an artist who handcrafts each and every soul.  I do not believe that God punishes with infertility or rewards with children.  I think that's all on us.  As He made our world and each person, He made the decision to give us free-will.  The world is a gift and it's ours to do with as we will.  We destroy it with toxins and ill-will or we enrich it with care for the earth and its people.  Our choice.  But I do believe that each and every person was made by a loving hand, was given talents and abilities that could either be used for good or evil.  And regardless of what we choose, God as our creator/parent, loves us as we do our children.

Free-will means that we make the choices in our world.  I do believe that God has the ability to intercede.  But since we have free-will, it's up to us to ask Him to play a part in our lives.  We can go through life completely on our own or we can ask Him to walk through it with us, protecting us and guiding us down the right path.  This is why bad things happen in our world.  Not because God "allows" them, but because he wasn't asked to play a part.  Bad things may still happen because not everyone asks for God to be with them and to have a hand in their lives.  But the peace that comes from knowing that He is holding your hand and walking through this with you is incredible!

Belief in God requires trust.  I still don't understand everything that happens.  I don't get why some truly wonderful, amazing people have bad things happen to them.  I don't understand why someone who does something horrible to others isn't punished in a divine way.  But I TRUST.  I trust that God will help us through, if we just ask Him to.  I trust that good can come from bad.  I trust that no matter what things we've done, we are all still loved by Him.  For all intents and purposes, God is the Perfect Parent.  He interferes only when asked, He lends a hand when needed, and His love is completely unconditional.  That is an incredible gift!

Okay, I'll get down off my pulpit now.  I don't mean to preach and I'm not quite sure what my purpose in writing this is.  I just felt compelled to share my understandings and beliefs.  Now I'm going to go back to searching high and low for my missing mojo......