As my readers know, I’m going through a tough time right now.\u00a0 Being out of work for 6 months (tomorrow) is very difficult.<\/p>\n
I have often heard people make statements about people going through difficult times (unemployment, death in the family, personal health problems) along the lines of “he\/she has his\/her faith to comfort him\/her”.\u00a0 Or people speak about how their faith has been a comfort to them, creating a feeling of peace.<\/p>\n
I don’t get that.\u00a0 I can’t think of a single experience when my life was difficult where my faith was a comfort to me.\u00a0 I can think of several happy times where I’ve felt something akin to “God in the room” and once akin to “God in my heart”.\u00a0 But those have never been difficult times.\u00a0 When life gets tough for me, it seems like God is absent.<\/p>\n
For me, faith has always been more of a discomfort.\u00a0 I’m Presbyterian, and like all Reformed people I believe that we are not as good as we can be and must always strive to better ourselves.\u00a0 For me, faith is part of what pushes me to be a better person.\u00a0 Faith is a Dis<\/em>comfort.\u00a0 Faith is a way to push me off of my comfortable pattern of behavior in order to better myself or help others more.\u00a0 I’ll never be perfect.\u00a0 Faith pushes me to be better.<\/p>\n My pastor did a sermon on this that clearly stuck with me as I remember it over 2 years later:\u00a0 The Discomforter<\/a><\/p>\n That’s great while things are good.\u00a0 When things are bad, faith is still pushing me to improve.\u00a0 At that point I’m in a more fragile state – needing to be reminded that I am<\/em> good.\u00a0 And my faith is telling me otherwise – that I can be better.\u00a0 The conclusion that is easy to draw is that my lack of perfection (or distance from perfection) is the reason for what happened to me.\u00a0 This is particularly true in work-related trouble – it’s easier to take a pass on personal reponsibility with a bad situation in a family member or a health situation.<\/p>\n Depressive symptoms ensuing including booze would possibly indeed constitute quite difficult to be able to decrease, However, exactly as because of anything, a person’s more person works to be found at the problem, the better the most important probabilities of pfizer viagra 100mg<\/a> success. Some men were able to get the erection but failed to sustain the erection for the sufficient amount of time http:\/\/djpaulkom.tv\/get-up-wit-me-remix-video\/<\/a> buy levitra australia takes to work varies from person to person. cialis can work as early as 30 minutes after consumption and last for four to six hours. Unlike other medicines, it is not required in offshore countries. buy cialis overnight djpaulkom.tv<\/a> Other statin side effects have been seen, however, which, although rare, are still of some concern. djpaulkom.tv<\/a> viagra 50 mg <\/span>I’ll also note a previous post that mentions the situation (coincidence?) that the worst parts of my life have been preceded by heavy church involvement.\u00a0 I’m not sure what the cause-effect relationship is there.<\/p>\n So for me, faith is more of a discomfort.<\/p>\n There is one exception.\u00a0 When life gets me down, the people who help me the most (aside from Carolyn) are church people.\u00a0 They do their best to understand what is happening with me, and to try to keep up with my life even though that might involve hearing unwanted bad news.\u00a0 Church people will pray for you, and even if God is not hearing those prayers you know that someone out there cares for you – and usually not someone who wants something from you.\u00a0 I’ll admit it – I’m not an easy person to deal with when experiencing heavy negative emotions, but they keep trying.<\/p>\n I know what you’re thinking.\u00a0 You’re saying to yourself, “Hey, Mark!\u00a0 Those people ARE God’s presence for you.”\u00a0 And you’re probably right.\u00a0 And I do realize that and appreciate it (though that appreciation may not make it through the emotions that I’m feeling to the surface).<\/p>\n I just don’t get faith as comfort.<\/p>\n So God – thank you for your people who you have sent to help me.\u00a0 There are too many of them to list here, but know that I see their efforts and appreciate them.\u00a0 Amen.