Fighting for the Faith

April 5, 2017 Restoration Magazine 0 Comments

How do you fight for it?

I was reading a post online by a friend of mine where she talked about how she was leaving her church and religion behind. She discussed in depth how she knew that she needed a relationship with God, but she just didn’t feel like she was getting it where she was. All of her life she had dedicated to an organization that she felt didn’t dedicate anything to her but more drama and heartache – but she struggled with why she should fight for it because she knows it is right to have a relationship with God and a covering.

Honestly I have to admit I understand this struggle more than you may know. I have been in this same type of fight at home, at work, as well as with the church. You pour and pour and pour some more but you feel you aren’t getting the desired result. Here is what I have found….

YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE FULL RESULTS ARE NOT NECESSARILY YOURS TO CREATE!

My bad, I apologize for yelling…but I had to yell at myself for this. I came to a point that I realized, I made up what my expectations of the results should be in my situations. I will use the church as an example.

My expectations were that I would go in and be filled with this unimaginable feeling that made me feel closer to God. I felt like once I went in on a Sabbath to attend worship, I should come out each and every time feeling like a new person….a different person. I felt like every Sabbath I should leave service feeling like this:

For the most part, I was correct. You should have that kind of feeling after you attend worship service. But what I missed is what I needed to do in order to add to that. So many times we get to a point where we get a little selfish. We come in with the “What’s in it for me?” attitude. I tore myself away from the church because I was expecting someone to come up to me and say “here, do this or that” instead of finding my place. I expected people to mind read and know what my talents and interests were and then make me use them instead of sitting down and talking to someone to say “Hey you know I am good at xyz. I can probably lend a hand in that ministry.”

Now believe me I am not saying that this one thing would have kept my head in the game. There are other factors that contributed to me wanting to give up in different instances. What I am trying to assert here is that sometimes taking ownership for yourself will save YOU. In the instances of work, home, church, etc. I needed to find out what I could deposit in order to be able to get reasonable withdrawals. You can’t expect to go to the ATM to get money out if you haven’t put any money in….but you can be happy when you earn interest on your deposits!