For a while, things in my life have been going great, which makes me very happy, for obvious reasons, but it seems as though God hasn't been as close as He is during the tough times. I've prayed, and I've read my Bible, but no matter what I did, I just couldn't find that calming reassurance that has pulled me out of the worst times in my life. I began to get worried. I couldn't let this separation happen, just because there aren't many challenges in my life at this moment.
I didn't want bad things to start happening, but I wanted to feel God again, I didn't want this slow drift apart. Then, today, Never Alone by Barlow Girl came on when I was listening to music. At first thought, it seems like it's meant to help during the low points in our life, times when everything seems to be going wrong, when no matter what we do, we are constantly falling down. Then I thought, no, I can connect to this, even though I've had very little to overcome recently.
It has always been fairly easy for me to have Faith in God, because there have been very few moments when I haven't felt Him, so this has been an extremely odd experience for me. But, of course, God is still there, and that's what Faith is, isn't it? Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance in what we do not see."
I'm beginning to learn that having a strong Faith has very little to do with how we respond when we can feel God's presence, but how we respond when we cannot. Deuteronomy 31:6 says "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you." God will never leave us alone. Never. Not when we're furious and screaming at Him, not when we've locked ourselves in our bedrooms crying, not when we're filled with nothing but joy.
Our Faith can be tested at any time, not just in our struggles, as I believed until just recently. So even when it seems as though God has abandoned us, we must trust that He is still with us, still walking through life with us. When we believe otherwise, we are believing lies.
