faith.
why is it so easy to say you have faith when things are going great? however, when things are going the complete opposite direction of how you planned, faith becomes such a foreign word. this is what i've been realizing about myself. i always try to have faith in every situation. and i'm pretty good about it...but only when things are going well. i remind myself to keep trusting the Lord in hard situations but when i'm in it, i find myself trying to fix it all.
since i've been given the opportunity to go to Thailand, i've been praying that the Lord would prepare my heart in every way. the last thing i wanted to do was sit around and be so consumed with everything around me that i forget my purpose for the summer. when i found out the trip to Thailand was going to be $6000, i had to remind myself over and over that the Lord would provide, especially if that's where He wanted me. however, i found myself worrying and feeling hopeless when support raising wasn't going as fast as i wanted it to go.
what i didn't know was that the Lord was there even through my confusion and doubt. he put people in my life who were constantly encouraging me and leading me to the truth. i started to spend more time in the word and through it, i found more hope than i could've dreamt of. this motivated me to pray for the Lord to provide and for Him to give me the desire to want more of Him, even when i thought i've had enough. i was amazed to see the power of prayer. the Lord works in mysterious ways. he provided for me through the most random ways and kept revealing to me of His sovereignty. but most importantly, he has drawn me closer to Him in times i've felt the weakest.
whatever season you're in your life, just remember, He knows you far better than you know yourself. as hard as it is, trust Him because in His timing, everything will come together. no matter what happens, there's always hope in the Lord.
-milc
