Building Our Faith- One Trial At A Time

We had our Pastor and his family over this past Friday night for supper. It was a good time of fellow shipping while the kids played together. We shared a little bit of our testimony that dealt with our first pregnancy. It prompted me to see the bigger picture.

When I got pregnant with our first son, I was waiting to be added to my husband's insurance. We did not qualify for medicaid either. We only made $200 over the limit to qualify. I was so angry at God. How could He do this to us? We were barely making it as it was. Now, we have Doctor visits and bills to pay. Soon we'd have a baby to provide for. Before this, my faith hadn't been tested much at all. I was fresh out of Bible college and a newlywed of 4 months to be exact. This isn't how I exactly wanted to be "tested" or "refined". The mission field is where that kind of stuff happens and that is where I wanted to go since 2003 and it was 2007. God came in and took care of us the whole time. It was a miracle for us. Looking back at the things He done during that time always gets my mind back into perspective. We got free rent in exchange for my husband being the courtesy officer at our apartment (he's a State Trooper). That was the amount we now needed for the monthly Nurse Midwife visits. Simply amazing.

The hard things we go through can either refine us or define us. We can choose to let God take care of us in the way He wants or we can struggle on our own. God wants to take care of us. He wants us to completely trust Him with our lives,every detail and every situation. He has our best interest in mind always. He never wants to harm us even though it may feel like it at the time of the trial. We should expect trials in this life. If we never had a trial we would never know the One who can bring us through it more intimately. I remember telling God how it was unfair that we couldn't get any help (this was before our landlord came to us) and He said to me don't expect the world to reward you for living for Me. Pretty simple,but profound. God wants to reward us so many times,but we look for our reward else where.

We have went through many other trying times in our short 6 years of marriage and raising children. God has never ceased to provide for us. Each time He came through for us, He was just building our faith for the next trial or trying time. It's not easy to see that when you are going through something,but once you look back you can see what God was doing. Now that we are waiting for God to move us to a new home we need a strong faith. It is not easy waiting when you have family and friends moving into their new homes. We get discouraged and we get tired of looking. It gets frustrating trying to find something within our budget that will meet our needs and wants. When I look back and see the miraculous things God has done for us in the past,I know He will take care of this too. He will never fail us or forsake us. He already knows what house we will get next.

God wants us to share the things He does for us with others to help encourage and build their faith. So let us not keep the awesome things God does for us to ourselves,but let us share it with others in our lives. You never know how it may help them through the trial they are facing.