Standing Firm

Isaiah 7:9  "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."

How am I doing with this?  Do I always stand firm in my faith?  Or do I sometimes "forget" it so that I can seem to go with a more popular, more socially acceptable choice or way of thinking?  And what about when I worry?  I know full well that by worrying, I'm basically saying that I don't trust in God to take care of me.  My faith is certainly not firm then.  It's also not firm when I'm worrying about whether I'm doing right by God; I worry more about what PEOPLE say is right in relation to my walk with Christ.  I forget that it is by God's grace alone that I am saved, not by any works.  God isn't counting how many times I go to church or how many prayers I say.  He knows my heart.  Yet I'm still in that (Catholic) rut of feeling like I have to measure up somehow.  I will NEVER measure up to the perfect model of Christ.  The best I can do is follow Him with all my heart, mind, and soul and strive to live a life that He would be proud of.

Right now, a little girl and her family are suffering greatly.  Ava is the niece of my friend Lizzy, and the grand-daughter of Pastor Joel Hunter of Northland Church, a man I admire greatly.  Ava was recently diagnosed with a fierce form of cancer.  Since all this began about two weeks ago, her dad has been blogging about the experience.  If you want an illustration of standing firm in faith, this family is IT.  Although of course you can tell they are very troubled by this news, what comes through loud and clear in each post is their faith and trust in God and His will for Ava.  I don't know if I would have their strength; I pray that if and when the time comes, I do.  They are facing this cancer head on, knowing that ultimately, what happens with Ava is God's will. 

Is God's will always easy to accept?  Nope.  We don't know the grand plan.  I read one or two quotes last week that illustrated this--that our lives are a book--we only see one page at a time, but God sees the whole story.  A little corny and cliche perhaps, but true nonetheless.  Is that hard to accept when we are going through trials?  Sure it is.  We're human.  God knows that we're going to worry, stress, cry, hurt, get angry, question, etc.  But when we've exhausted all those emotions, He's there waiting for us.  And no matter how many times that cycle repeats itself, the end result will always be--God waiting for us with open arms to comfort us and give us peace.  Our "job" is to let Him.