Do I trust God and believe He is who He says He is? Do I have faith to believe without doubting? These questions are invoked when I think of the Christians who have gone before, who walked the talk and saw people’s hearts changed. Do I take God at His word, and am I willing to stand on the front lines professing God to be the one He says He is, the One and Only true God?

It’s so easy to go with the flow. Who wants to be the salmon swimming up stream? Yet, I think that is what we are called to do. We need not be guided by what society says is right or wrong but guided by what God says is. We live in a society that encourages us to do whatever comes naturally, or makes us feel good, but is this really for our benefit or detriment?

Financial distress, natural disasters, death, illness, the list goes on of the tragedies that happen on a daily basis, yet, if we aren’t personally involved with these tragedies, does it really affect us? We sit comfortable in our cozy homes with our bellies filled and our priorities set. We plan for the future and try not to dwell on the pain that others are experiencing. Perhaps we say a prayer or watch the news with sympathy in our hearts. Sometimes, if we are directly affected we make changes. Perhaps we start praying fervently over fear of the unexpected, but as weeks and months pass so does our urgency to change. Why does it take so much for our heart to be softened, to change our actions before negative consequences ensue, or to have compassion on those dealing with tragedies enough to become involved?

What must one experience before they bend their knee? Whether we are a Christian or not we still struggle with our independent ways. Although we may not think it, sometimes our actions portray that we think our ways are higher than Gods, as we follow our “own” path, whatever feels good or makes sense at the time, even if it is sinning, and not beneficial. God cares about us too much for that. So He will draw us to Him with whatever means necessary.

I am so thankful for second chances. Life is such a journey filled with ups and downs. Sometimes we are on our “A” game, other times we fail. We are reminded in our human state how imperfect we are. Yet, through our moments of imperfection, we are humbled with the realization of Gods grace and mercy as He forgives us and gives us a second chance.

Procrastination, oh how you taunt me! Our list is a mile long of things to do, people we want to encourage, people we need to address. It is easy to push some things to the bottom of the list and literally never get around to them. And because we are staying busy, it relieves some of the guilt involved of achieving those things on the “to-do” list.

Life doesn’t always seem fair. We struggle with seeing the big picture because we are so fixated on our current struggle. We feel overwhelmed and wonder why God would allow us to walk through this. But God will use even the darkest moments of our life, and breathe purpose into them, if we let Him.

We lay a prayer before God, a prayer for healing, financial stability, or perhaps for the salvation of a loved one. Whatever the case may be, these prayers resonate in our hearts. We sit; we wait. We check the clock and calendar for time passed on unanswered prayers. Maybe being still and patient is what is required of you, but sometimes God wants us to put our money where our mouth is. He wants us to establish our faith by an action.

Today’s the day. We lay our prayer before God, the same prayer we’ve prayed for months, possibly years. Waiting for a miracle. Waiting for a loving God to bestow mercy on our particular request. What is the delay?

In our self gratification society, the idea of making the right choice out of pure obedience kind of blows our minds. Shouldn’t we be able to pick and choose what seems right to us? Where does faith and trust fall into this limited world view of obedience? Why is the difference between obeying God out of choice versus emotion so important?