Building faith through sorrow, adversity and loss::The christian bible in your life

Some people believe faith is instilled in you when as a Christian you invite Jesus to a personal relationship in your life. While I agree this is the beginning of your faith, I believe the depth and breadth of your faith is built through the passage of time and the collection of tragedies, challenges and sorrows you face. You see faith is a matter than can only be increased through actively practicing your relationship with God.

There is a multitude of Christian books with tips on how a new Christian should begin their spiritual journey. These faith books take their turn at bible teaching much as a church pastor would explaining how faith and life can coexist as we naviagte this fallen world. Our spiritual journey must be made with the understanding of the bible teachings deeply rooted in our heart and minds for proper guidance when life brings us challenges.

I must say I was blessed to have someone come into my life very early to help me build my faith into what it is today. Minnie Bryan was the inspiration for my faith as she delivered the primary child care in my life as well as a superb example of faith in Christ. Minnie took me to church and made sure I understood the importance of God, the bible and faith in my life. I knew I could count on Minnie to pray for me from the time she began to care for me as well as when I began to mature and make the important life decisions that would shape my future.

Understand this the grace supplied to you by God through the holy spirit can make such a differnce in your life that you will marvel at the change. This alone however will not stave off the depression that may accompany grief. Losing anyone is somethin that is expected in our mortal life. With the beginning of life comes a date with death.

In truth, the first real tragedy in my life that strengthened my faith was when we received the news from my mom that my twenty eight year old brother had cancer. At that time our cancer experience was much less than it is now, but I believe that with God all things are possible, including a cure. I think I will always remember the time I spent with my brother the afternoon I found out, talking with him about his faith. The thoughts about the potential he might die and how to deal with his death were absent, yet present all the same.

I knew my brother was a Christian, so it was probably more to settle my heart and mind than his, but as I sat with just him that afternoon I asked him to confirm my knowledge. He said, “Yes, of course I am.” I told him that this was the most important thing and together we could deal with the rest.

It was a short three months from the time of diagnosis to the end of his life. During this time we enjoyed an outpouring of support and care from so many people in our family, church and community. I felt like there was also an extra strength that came from God to strengthen my faith as I had an indescribable peace through this horrible experience. Death is never a preferred end, but sometimes as it is said there are worse things than dying.

The next summer, my faith was given a further opportunity to grow as Minnie was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Even with the fresh experience with my brother’s cancer I still believed in an all powerful God that can bring miracles to any situation. Again, there was an indescribable feeling of peace in this situation. Minnie’s place in eternity was in no doubt, allowing me to devote my attention to caring for this special person in my life.

It was my extreme pleasure to share what this woman had meant in my life at her funeral. I was so proud to stand before a full chapel and explain to her loved ones and friends how her faith inspired mine. This was another blessing of my faith I will always cherish.

By now this is beginning to sound like a repetitive pattern, and it was, but just over a year later, I lost my dad to cancer too. There is nothing like losing a parent. Parents are your anchors, the two known solid bases you can cling to when things are difficult. By this time, though I had developed another pair of solid anchors.

At this time I was seven years into my marriage and my wife Libby was someone with a faith just as rich and strong as mine. She stood with me as I faced all these struggles and helped remind me who was in charge and who could be counted on for all of eternity. Of course, God is the most secure and enduring anchor.

Through all of these events I feel my faith was broadened and deepened be leaps and bounds. The development of faith like this can serve you in so many instances if you continue to study and understand what God intends for your life. It certainly helped to prepare me for the next difficulty to enter my life.

As many people can recount these days I found myself on the bad end of a job downsizing. It was interesting the way it happened because the man who was my boss at the time was actually a year younger than me, another strong Christian and my friend. I can still remember when he came to my office to share the news. It was another moment when an overwhelming peace calmed my soul. I knew everything would be fine and God would be with me.

Through five years of experimentation as an entrepreneur, God supplied me with endless faith, strength and blessings, never letting my family have to sacrifice or do without the things we needed. How can you not proclaim faith in One who provides such to you in times of your greatest need? To deny the graciousness of such a wonderful God would be abominable.

My faith was rewarded again as I received an opportunity to return to the workforce in a job that is the greatest I have ever had. There is a saying about certain situations being “A God Thing.” To me this certainly was, because even though I had a pertinent college degree, there were so many people vying for so few jobs, I feel only through His intervention was it ever possible for me to get this chance.

Finally, my faith is currently bringing me through yet another event of sorrow. On February 26, 2010, my mother died just over a month after her sixty ninth birthday. This experience is still fresh, but seems to be the hardest one yet. I think it is because I know all the members of my original family are gone. There is no one to share home memories with any more. I can tell the stories, but it is not quite the same. I will be leaning on my faith so much more now than ever before.

For the second time, I stepped behind a podium at our funeral home to give a eulogy for an important woman in my life. As before, this was an opportunity to not only present a tribute to an unbelievably strong, loving and faithful woman in my life, but to present the truth of how faith influenced her life to some who do not share the faith we have.

Many times I am asked if I ever get angry with God over what has happened in my life. To me it seems short sided to allow my relationsip with the creator of the universe to degrade to that level. He has so much more knowledge about the why, when and where that my miniscule reckoning pales mightily in comparison. Anger with God can only harm my witness as I try to model a good christian attitude for others to observe.

So this is my explanation of how faith can be strengthened and developed over the course of dealing with tragedies, sorrow, loss and adversity. The key is to remember that God is in charge and can supply all your needs, no matter what they are. Turn to him when your needs exceed your abilities, which will likely be every day.

Every commerical book rack in every retail establishment is chock full of chirstian books with tips and tricks about how to combine your faith and life. Bible study in the word of God will supply you with the words to soothe your sould when the vagaries of this mortal life threaten to overcome your faith. In truth faith is a never ending well for those who develop their christian faith on a regular basis through their spiritual journey.

My faith development continues as i adjust to a new world where I am the sole memeber of my original family still walking this earth. My faith and life are intertwined and that is the way I prefer it to be. The baptist church I attend has a pastor who is a great communicator of the word of God and i am confident his bible teaching will help to augment my Christian faith. I am sure the things i face in the future will also help to increase this virtue.