Testing

It's so much easier to be a fan for your favorite sports team when they're doing well.

Likewise, it is so much easier to be a follower of Christ when things are going well.

But true faith is refined by the fires of life.

Faith is seeing that there is an end in sight.

Faith is seeing that even when we are being tested, God is still there.

In the blessings and testings, God is faithful.

Just like a plant that has to be pruned, we too must be redirected in our lives. Sometimes it takes the mighty hand of God, the magnificent Gardener, to shape us into the plants that we need to be. To grow closer and closer to the sun/Son.

True faith boils down to the amount of love that we can have for God in the midst of it all.

It's okay to be mad at God. It's okay to ask questions. It's okay to get frustrated. 

Don't just give praise and pretend like everything is okay when things obviously are not.

Ask God, "Why? Why must this happen to me?"

Sanctification: being made holy, being made into the image of God. God is preparing us for something greater whenever we are being put through tests. Each trial and tribulation is not pointless and meaningless. 

God is still there. God is still here.