Having Faith in the Bigger Picture

“No matter how steep the mountain – the Lord is going to climb it with you.”

~Helen Steiner Rice 

I am not a stranger to struggle.  I have been knocked down time and time again and even when I get back up sometimes I get knocked right back down within seconds, but I just keep on getting right back up. 2011 inparticular was a really bad year for me, quite possibly the worst I’ve had, but yet I find myself optimistic for the coming year of 2012.  I heard someone earlier say that this year doesn’t feel any different than the last year but I disagree.  For some reason, to me, this year feels like it will be the beginning of bigger and better things that are to come for me.  Maybe it’s just the optimist in me.  Maybe it’s just sheer faith in God and in the person that he created me to be.  

Every time I go through something my mom constantly asks me how I can be so calm and nonchalant and not be worried about whatever it is.  I tell her that I just have faith that God has got my back and that I’m not walking this journey alone as long as I am doing what he asks of me.  In reality what I want to say is that I am worried (terrified really) when things start going wrong and that I am not really calm about it, deep inside I am panicking.  However, I realize more and more that I have a lot more faith than even I thought I had.  Of course I worry but I don’t think that I am nearly as terrified about things going wrong as I probably should be.  

It’s because I have so much faith.  Not only do I have an enormous amount of faith in God, but I have faith that he knows where I will end up (it is his plan after all) and just the trials and tribulations that I need to go through to get me there.  Everything I come up against challenges me but it also strengthens me and obstacle by obstacle I realize that I am stronger than I ever thought I could be.  

For anyone who knows me, they know that I am not the religious type, per say.  I don’t go to church (although deep down I feel I probably should) but I am a very spiritual person.  I don’t always get why certain struggles have to be placed on my shoulders and I admit that I get frustrated because I am that person who likes to know that everything is going be alright and hopefully that it will have a happy ending.  However, because I can’t fully see what God’s plan for me is and I don’t know what will be the end result of his journey for me, I have no other choice but to walk the path that he has laid out with faith.  God has already brought me through so much already, so I have to have faith that he will bring me through the rest.  

My message today is for you to have faith.  Even in times of struggle.  Even if there is nothing that is going the way you want it to.  Even if nothing that is happening to you makes sense.  Even if you feel like you can’t get back up and you want to just quit.  Even when you can no longer see the bigger picture for yourself.  You have to have faith.  We are human and we will worry but in the end you should know that God will never let you down.  Until tomorrow…Have faith that you are stronger than your greatest obstacles!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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