#mvcblog

There is a point, a stretching in and of your faith, where God is maturing you taking you beyond the parameter of what you feel is possible or in fact fair.

There is pain, heartbreak and fear—that’s what an honest person will tell you.

2 Timothy 1:7 says For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (NKJV)

Which is all very well and good, but if you ever been in a season where you felt that you were so very clearly hearing from God, you’ve stepped out on faith in crazy irrational ways i.e resigning your job, offering an entire months’ salary, going to a distant place expecting to be met by someone or something. All in the name of purpose, things you’ve been praying for and pouring out to receive and none of it, absolutely none of it being seen as of yet.

What do you do then? Especially when the seeds of the purpose weren’t planted by you, not that they weren’t grand, but wherever you were, you were committed to serving God faithfully—even with all you wanted to improve upon. Knowing you can always do better and go further but with an open heart willing to reach for that better you in Christ and submit to His will. You don’t need to be known anymore than what you already were, but you were told there was more, so you trusted that voice and did everything that went against conventional wisdom.

The call to pick up your cross and leave it all behind, became a literal command to you, I think the gospels of the New Testament makes that look a little too easy seeing how Jesus was right there, I mean what would you choose fishing or following the Messiah—but I digress. You’ve done as much as you can the best you can: you left, you tithed, you prayed, you went where you were sent and like the hollow echo of a cave, it appears there is nothing showing for it.

Surely whatever was supposed to take place would’ve happened by now; especially since there is no new instruction, the marching orders have stopped flowing from up top and you are supremely confused.

What do you do then?

It’s a question I desperately want the answer to, not only to give, but to have for myself. My faith isn’t over, it isn’t dead; it’s in the middle. Smack dab in the middle taking turns crying, wailing, rallying and repeat. I’ve cried until I physically couldn’t cry anymore and I’ve cried some more, I turned on that worship song that speaks directly to my situation and on a smaller level grates on my nerves-ever-so-slightly.  My prayers have been earnest and angry, bold petitions sounding more like a list of demands because ‘hey you started this, so you better finish it Lord. Amen’.

This is probably why people wait until they receive the answer to their hopes before they share the storm they had to go through. Who wants to hear the story of how you were beaten up in the middle without the victory at the end?

The shift in events [to victory] is what helps inspire people to keep pressing on in their faith, the concept is easily grasped, but before the shift happens, the people in those stories didn’t know there was ever one coming. Most people will come to the brink of giving up; they will be at the end of their faith and what’s the game plan when you’re at the end and you can’t see the comeback?

I have a suggestion, not as one on the other side, but still on the way.

When you are at the end of your faith--extend your faith.

In the same way that you have felt like God has put you past the point of breaking, demand the same thing of your faith. Stretch it, increase it, and ask more of it than you’ve thought possible. The end is not the end it’s just an area you haven’t stepped into yet.

Remember the things you were promised, trust the relationship you have with him (and if you can’t that means you need to pray more), find your joy, but most of all stand firm in your resolve to follow Christ.

In Matthew 7:7 it says “…seek, and ye, shall find…”

I wholeheartedly believe that’s not just about looking for new things, but finding what you felt was lost in this season, it’s still there. Go back to the remains and pick it up again, dust it off and shine it up.

Is it hard? Absolutely

But what we do when things are uncertain is who we are and it’s what our faith is ultimately made of—this doesn’t mean you’ll get to this point without a hitch or a trip, but the important thing is to get to it however you do.

When are you going to see the turnaround if you don’t?

At the end of your faith, extend it.

I think I over think… or at least I think I do.

So many of us are filled with this great vision and purpose of what we believe God wants to do in our lives, but we often get scared. There is a terrifying fear of paranoia that we allow to overwhelm and block us because ‘what if we fail?’ No matter how earnest and impassioned the beginning was we eventually all hit a wall, because the truth is starting is easy but finishing is difficult.

Of course we find ourselves over complicating starting too. We have this unrealistic expectation of perfection we put upon ourselves when, at least in the world of writing, despite what we attempt it’s slush pile material. Sadly, that’s how the beginning always starts; no traffic, no readers, no reblogs and depending on the subject matter you’re kind of playing to an empty house.

And I’m here to talk about Jesus.

I’ve started and restarted this blog, mentally dusted it off then placed it right back on the shelf to collect more cobwebs and allergens, going back and forth with it as long as I’ve been it’s a wonder I just don’t give up on it completely.

But I am reminded that nothing successful started out that way, it had to become successful. Bloggers, entrepreneurs, what-have-you, had to slog day in and day out dedicated to their task with a vision that went further than their present circumstance of ‘failure.’ In spite of insecurities and doubts they faced it because they believed the reward was worth it.

What’s my reward?

You

My purpose is to encourage believers to go further and deeper into their faith.

That’s why I’m here.

 Let me tell you, nothing can quite describe the inner loneliness of being a newfound Christian. Most people are the first of their friends or the only one in their family to choose Christ. For others the very people who introduced you to Him end up falling away while you remain faithful. And what may be against your best efforts, you begin seeing things differently--correctly, you find you cannot laugh at the same jokes or behave the same way, but you realize that’s not a bad thing. You are at the same time transformed and more yourself than you’ve ever been.

However, it also means you don’t fit in with everyone else anymore and in all that newness; you’re still learning--still changing, still getting it wrong in a few (cough) lot of areas. It’s hard not to have a support system, not to have advice that’s going to challenge you and empower you to continue in the way that you’re going, knowing that you should because it saved your life.

And while we can’t follow Jesus Christ for anyone else, I and He don’t want you to do it by yourself.

24) Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25) And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)

Honest hearts and honestly imperfect people seeking one God together.

So let’s begin again, upholding the standard set before us. We cannot get back the time we missed, but we can decide to do better with the time we have now.