I don’t know about you, but I love times of ease. I love it when all the kids are doing well, there is enough money in the bank, no one is sick, everyone likes me… Those are good times. But (and why is there always a but?) But, in the sermon last week, Pastor Paul made this statement: “Strong character and enduring faith do not grow in a climate of ease.”
Though a life of ease sounds wonderful, I realize that the above statement is true. If my life was always easy, I don’t think I would ever feel the need to trust God. I don’t think my prayer life would be very vigorous. I would become very good at trusting in myself and in my own abilities. But when crisis hits, when life gets hard, suddenly I see my own inadequacies, my failures, and my inability to control my own environment. Suddenly, my relationship with God, my trust in Him, becomes the center of my focus.
It is during the hard times, the times of crisis, where I must exercise my muscles of faith and trust in God. It is during these times where my faith is tested, and it grows, because God proves Himself faithful once again