True Faith

"Faith when everything in your life is going right isn't true faith. True faith makes itself known when everything is falling apart." -Taken from the movie, Amish Grace

Today, I watched a movie about the Amish during a tragedy that struck their community. In the movie, a man, a milk truck driver who took milk from the Amish and transported it to the city to be sold, plotted and executed a plan to murder little girls and then himself. By the time the police arrived, the man had killed 5 little girls and seriously injured many others. Despite the malicious crime that this man committed, the entire Amish community followed their faith and openly forgave him. The story chronicled a woman, the mother of one of the girls who died, struggling with this tenant of her faith. Watching this movie really had me thinking, if something horrible happened to me or to someone I loved, would I be able to put my anger and resentment aside and remain faithful?

The quote from the movie especially resonated with me. It is easy to remain faithful in something--regardless of whether that something is a relationship, a particular career, or a religion-- when everything is going well. The true test of faith really is when everything is falling apart. Is my faith strong enough to withstand the extreme trials and tribulations of life?? If I were to ask myself this same question 10 years ago my answer would undoubtedly be no.

Ten years ago, my parents got divorced. While divorce most certainly isn't the same as the crime committed in the movie, my world at the time was still destroyed. Among the many emotions I had during that time period, the most resounding of them was anger. I was angry with my religion for allowing this to happen. Just 3 years out of Christian school, I was devoutly religious. I did everything that the Bible said that one should do and still, something bad happened to me. In my naivety, I took my anger out on God. Needless to say, my faith at that time was not true. Now that I am older and wiser, I know that everything happens for a reason and that the bad times in life are ways to prepare us to receive and appreciate bigger, better blessings to come. While I know this to be a tenant of my religion, the question still remains: when times are bad for me, will I be able to remain steadfast to my faith? Should something happen to test my faith again, I can only hope that instead of letting all of my ill-feelings overcome me, that I am able to remain faithful in my relationships, in my career, and in my religion.

Has something ever happened to you to cause you to lose faith?