If you are a believer in Jesus, there will come a season such as this. Seasons of testing, trials, and hardships that are not meant to make us fall but intended to grow us in our faith.  This process almost always makes you think you are in a desert where you are not hearing from God and leaving you wondering if He is even there.

God did not create us to carry tomorrow’s burdens today.  We know that medical science has proven over and over again what worry, fear, and anxiety can do to our mental and physical wellbeing.  It robs us of our peace, and it affects our life in every aspect.  Our mind, emotions, body, and spirit cannot manage that heavy of a load.  We were not designed to carry the weight of tomorrow because it is simply too much to bear. 

Let me clarify right here and now: we do not work for our salvation. Jesus sacrificed his life so that we could receive the forgiveness of our sins and this marvelous grace – a grace that we absolutely did nothing to deserve but was freely given to us.

You may have yet to discover exactly what God has destined for you to be – your place in this world.  In fact, you may even feel like you are floundering around trying to figure out exactly what you are supposed to do.  Take heart!  You are not alone!

God’s Word assures me that no matter how this life rages around me, I am held in the Father’s hand, and nothing can “snatch” me away.

When faced with crisis or trauma, I process it all by talking/praying out my feelings of frustration, thoughts, questions, rants, cries of anguish and heartaches.  And, eventually, my words and cries slow down, my heart shifts focus, and it’s then that I begin to remember where my faith rests and in who I place my hope and trust in. 

Are you a giver?  A taker?  An observer?  I believe that whether a Christian or not, this is a valid question for all of us to ask ourselves.  Why?  Because how we answer this self-evaluation will directly affect the impact of all of those in our realm of influence.  

The older I get, the more I realize that it is all of this filled with its ups and downs and “God-wink” moments that make this journey called life truly a gift from God.   

And thousands of years later, the question still stands, “Do you believe this?” Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe that he came to this world, born of a virgin?  Do you believe that Jesus lived as a man and died on a cross to pay the price for our sins? And then three days later, Jesus was resurrected providing the way for us to have eternal life? 

Jesus sees you.  Jesus loves you.  And yes, today, Jesus presents the same message of truth to whosever will receive it: follow me.