Faith

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

I had an MRI scan last week. Having been having health problems since last June and the doctors still can't figure out what's wrong with me after countless tests, they decided to take photos of my brain instead. Sort of exciting (almost like caving except you can't move at all), but sort of scary in a way because I didn't know what to expect. I had some fun with the nurse who proceeded to put one of those IV thingys in my arm but popped the vein instead. She then moved onto the second vein which was equally as painful, attached the IV thing to a long tube and put two syringes at the end of it. Then they counted down and squirted the contrast dye at high speed into my vein causing copious amounts of blood to leak out of the IV. Gross! Lucky for me, I couldn't see any of this; could only feel my blood dripping everywhere (I hope there's no squeamish people in Renewal Youth reading this). My arm still hurts!
Which brings me to a word that I still haven't quite grasped the full meaning of.

FAITH

Did you ever wonder if you weren't healed from something or it took a long time, that meant you didn't have enough faith? Or if it was because you didn't pray enough? Or had sin in your life that hadn't been dealt with? If God has the power to heal then why doesn't He? I have been wrestling with these thoughts for awhile now and wondering how on earth people who are diagnosed with cancer and don't ever get healed, cope. How do they stay happy? How do they explain to non-believers why their loving Heavenly Father hasn't made them whole? I was talking with a good friend about this subject recently. She's been through a lot herself so I knew I'd find some wisdom in what she had to say. Sometimes I believe God cares more about our character then about our comfort and well-being. So I've come to think of it a little something like this:

Faith is implicit trust in a sovereign God who knows exactly what He is doing and is in total control. Faith doesn't just fall from the sky conveniently whenever you need it. It involves the heart, as well as the choices you make. Here's a question that really challenged me... Will you still serve God while you're sick? Will you still pursue what He has called you to do? Or will you believe the lie that there must be something wrong with you for this to have happened and therefore God must be punishing you.

A guy who definitely knows what it's like to trust God has this blogsite that I quite often visit. You can check it out here.