Today seems like one of those days where I just want to fall apart.  I want to go in a room, alone, and just cry.  Just when everything seems to be going right something goes wrong. For a few weeks we’ve been on a high.  The high of finally getting through the first trimester.  Finally able to carry a baby.  Work is good.  Husband is good.  Life in general is just good.  Then within an instant, things change.  The clouds move in and the storm begins.  Just when you think everything in this moment is perfect, you’re hit with something unexpected.  Something so unexpected that it makes you wonder what else is behind that closed door. What else is going to pop out and go BOO! Gotcha!  My bible study this semester talks about The Armor of God. This week it’s been about the Shield of Faith.

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  Ephesians 6:13-17

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about we do not see.  Another way of saying it is that faith is believing something is a certain way, just because God said so, even when it appears to be otherwise.  Faith is trusting in God, his will, and his timing.  I know that my life will be filled with turmoil, stress, and disappointment. Everyone on this planet will experience these things because we are human and live in world ran by the evil one.  But, I also know that I have the shield of faith to protect me from those destructive times.  I know that if I put my trust in him, he will prevail.  I have faith that God has a plan for me.  I have faith that after this storm the rainbow will shine.  I have faith that this experience is suppose to teach me something and make me stronger.  But we have to remember faith doesn’t make God move, it allows us to access what God has already done. WHAT HE’S ALREADY DONE!  Everything God is ever going to do for you he’s already done.  So if you don’t have faith in anything, have faith in that.  He knows our future before we are born.  He knows what struggles we will go through.  And although he may not take those struggles away immediately, he promises to walk with us during them.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not spared the insanely blazing fire they were thrown into.  God did not take them out of it.  But he did stand there with them.  He went through that hardship with them and never left them.  That is faith.  Believing and knowing that no matter what life throws at you that God will be there.  It’s the lowest points in my life when I feel the closest to God.  So, even though today is a struggle, even though today I want to scream and cry and yell, I know that my savior is with me.  I know that when I feel like I’m alone, that I am not.  I have laid down my struggles at his feet and picked up the Shield of Faith.