Enduring without God

Greetings Dear Reader,

It occurred to me as I was reading some C.S. Lewis yesterday that this long dark would end me were it not for faith.  I cannot imagine how people who do not know or have abandoned Christ weather the harder times of life without him. 

Several times during this present distress I have pondered where I would be were it not for my faith.  That is a precipice I refuse to breach.  Someone actually tried to tell me yesterday that I would not be feeling as I do were my faith intact.  This reminds me of the “caring Christian” who tried to comfort me when my Daughter Rachel passed away.  They patted me on the back as I stood in the hospital corridor and said, “I am sorry for your loss.  Your faith must not have been deep enough.” 

Being a Christ follower does not make me immune to pain and suffering.  It does not give me some magic shield from troubled times.  It does not keep me from walking in the long dark.  It gives me light and sustenance in the darkness.  Christ is the balm for the pain because he suffered much more than I did.  Christ is my shield in troubled times because he died so I could live.  Where do those who have not found Christ find hope? 

I hate this part of the journey because of the ways in which it besieges me.  I love it because it refines my faith.  I have found a new depth to it.  The only way out is through but I am not alone.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."