“urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: "Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times." Acts 14:21-22
It was the night of my 19th birthday. I had just received Jesus as my savior. I was driving home that night and I remember saying to God with tears in my eyes “I know it’s going to be hard, but I know it will be worth it!”
The 15 min drive home felt like an eternity. I felt the Holy Spirit so strong that I cried the entire time. I realized from the beginning that Christianity would not be easy. I knew that following Christ would mean I would have to stop following my own desires. I remember counting the cost! I made a laundry list of things that needed to go! I made my decision, right there in the car. I would follow Christ through thick and thin, mountain and valley, victory and defeat – because in the end I knew “it will be worth it”!
It breaks my heart to see how many people lose faith in God when things get difficult. We must realize that hard times are not an excuse to fall away; rather they are an avenue for faith to grow. We must understand that faith grows! In order for God to grow faith in our hearts, sometimes He allows it to rain in our lives. Rain can be a wet, nasty, and difficult experience; but without rain nothing grows. In the Bible, God compares your faith to a mustard seed. A seed cannot grow without water and our faith cannot grow without rain. God is growing the faith of Higher Praise Church, so that we can believe even more that “it’s going to be worth it”! One day we will look back on this moment in time and thank God that He loved us enough to allow temporary despair to birth eternal growth!
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