faith unfaded

That’s what I was told today when I reached the top of the stairs on the way to my Sunday School class.

By then, I’d gotten ready for church, stopped a torrent of tears that threatened to ruin my makeup, decided I wasn’t going to church after all, then drug myself to the car and went anyway.

I’m glad I did.

Even if the much-needed words of encouragement were cut short from someone in my Dad’s Sunday School class stepping out and telling us we were disturbing their class.

I had to laugh.

I haven’t gotten in trouble at the church since 1985. Made me feel young again! 🤪

I’d hesitated on going because I didn’t want to answer the question, “How are you doing?” The truth was, the answer changes from minute to minute.

Sure enough, I was asked that about a hundred times. But it was neither intrusive nor nosy, it was genuine love and care. And that’s why gathering together with other believers is so important. They lift you up when you can hardly stand on your own.

I gave the only answer I could. “It’s a roller coaster.”

The good news is, we aren’t talking the Texas Cyclone. We are talking the inchworm kiddie coaster. The highs and lows aren’t as dramatic as they’ve been before in my life, and I completely attribute this to an unshakable faith. There are cheers—and there are tears. Sometimes both in the same hour. But the one constant is Jesus.

Even in the midst of grief and uncertainty, I still see it all through a lens of faith. A pair of Christian rose-colored glasses, if you will.

Things don’t have to be okay to know that they are going to be okay.

I don’t have to know what the future holds to know that the Lord has good plans for me.

And I don’t have to put so much pressure on myself to always be perfect when I know that I was made in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27)