sorry...struggling with a lot right now. Kinda feel like I am out here on my own. My faith has never been in doubt my entire life, but now it seems to be

Phil 1.6 -- "...He who BEGAN a good work in you WILL complete it..."

YBIC - Mike <><

Philippians 4:19

Jer 29:11

M

Psalm 42 and 63.

Hi,

When it's a question of faith, though the Bible may remind me that others have been there, sometimes I still have to work things through. God is faithful, even when I'm not. Hang in there.

You are stronger than you realise. You have been an insparation to a lot of us in here, including me. You are in my prayers.

Lorie,

I can't quote verses for you and I don't see myself as a good example of a man of faith. But I do know that faith isn't something that a good person has and a bad person lacks; if you feel challenged in your faith that just shows you're human. Faith isn't something we can "get" like turning on the lights. I wish it were!

A text I read with my medieval theology students has a fantastic message on this issue - or at least it helped me a lot. The author, a Muslim writing about the year 1110, points out that when we are young and naive our faith is like a vase on the shelf. It may wobble and tip from time to time and we save it intact; but sometimes it gets knocked on the floor and smashed into a million bits.

When that happens there's no point in just patching the bits together and trying to say, "Here is my vase, as before". It just isn't true. It's a jumble of broken bits glued together again, and just looking at it we can see it will never hold water again. It isn't really a vase anymore - it's just a reminder of what that vase used to look like.

To restore the vase we have to put the broken pieces of glass back into the fire, melt them, and blow ourselves a vase that will contain the same glass but be something new at the same time. New and stronger than before, depending on the skills, care and dedication we put into blowing the new vase.

Just a thought.

Much love,
Larry

Your in my thoughts and prayers. Glad that you reached out and glad that you are who you are. Let us be there for you.

B

I can not determine if this will help, only you can decide, but someone else was hung out to dry 2000 yrs. ago and he spoke words that I feel many misinterpret to this day. You may wish to read Psalm 22, a Psalm of David.