Food for Thought

Food for thought: So this January I challenged myself to the 30 day K-Love challenge, which is basically going all of January with only listening to Christian music. I'll be honest in saying that this is a struggle for me, mostly because I feel like all the songs I hear on the radio or even my Pandora are ones I've heard before and am frankly tired of. However, I heard this quote the other day on K-Love, "Sometimes God redeems us from our struggles. Sometimes He redeems us through our struggles." This was an eye-opening moment for me because this last year I have not been on the right path. I don't want to go into specifics, but this year it felt like I was being hit day after day with hardships. I was being broken down week after week and instead of running to God for comfort, I was yelling at him. I was furious for what he was putting me through, and honestly I was doubting Him. Doubting the Word and even doubting His existence. But hearing that quote made me realize that God was breaking me for a reason. The only way it seemed that I would come back to Him was if I was as low as I could be, and that's exactly where it felt like I was. I'm hoping this year is going to be one of rebuilding for me in my faith and just getting back on the right track spiritually. I'm ashamed that this is what it took, a year of what felt like pure hell, just so I would run back to my God.
So I guess what I'm hoping you get out of all of this is that the next time you find yourself in a tough place and especially when you find yourself questioning God, maybe you should be questioning yourself. Are you in the place you want to be? Maybe there's a reason that God is putting you through these hardships. If you're like me, you might not be where you're supposed to, and you gotta spit out your pride and just trust God. Run back to Him because even though the Lord may not be joyful per se in our behavior, He's never going to give up on us. So we shouldn't give up on Him either.